Spring = fresh cheese. At least that’s the math at my house. Light, fluffy, spreadable cheese to drizzle with honey or top with chives. It’s what I want on a bagel instead of gummy, clingy cream cheese. It’s what I want on bruschetta topped with roasted asparagus or roasted carrots. Now that spring is official, consider exploring some of the fresh cheese options where you shop. Spread the cheese on crostini, top with a drizzle of peppery olive oil and a sprinkle of dukkah—the perfect accompaniment for all the new rosés that are headed our way. Being in a spring frame of mind, I’ve gathered a half-dozen of my favorite schmear-worthy cheeses to inspire you. (Oops, I chose seven but you’ll forgive my enthusiasm.)
Snøfrisk is produced by Norway’s largest dairy coop, so artisanal cheese this is not. Made with cultured goat’s milk, cow’s cream and salt, it’s packed in its plastic tub when just two or three days old. The color is snow white and the texture like whipped cream cheese—more a spread than a cheese. There’s no goaty aroma whatsoever. It just smells fresh. Slather it on toasted Danish rye bread and top with smoked fish, sliced beets, cucumbers or radishes. Or fold in some chopped scallions and fresh dill and make your own bagel schmear.
Luscious yet low fat: Madame Loïk
Madame Loïk is a soft whipped cheese made by a large dairy co-op in Brittany. No stabilizers, no preservatives, no artificial anything. Just buttermilk, cream, skim milk, cultures and French sel de Guérande. It has a mellow, clean crème fraiche taste, a whisper of salt and a plush texture that makes you think it has a million calories. In fact, as cheese goes, it’s relatively low in fat.
Slice of rye: Green Dirt Farm fresh sheep cheese
Green Dirt Farm Sheep’s Milk Cheese is a light, lemony tub-packed cheese from Missouri. Fold in some chives and cracked black pepper and serve with radishes and pumpernickel. The cheese is at its fluffy best when freshly packed, so check the date stamp. Many Whole Foods stock the 3.5-ounce tubs.
Spring fling: Laychee
Pennyroyal Farm, a small creamery in California’s Anderson Valley, milks goats and sheep. Laychee is the creamery’s fluffy, rindless fresh cheese. It has a lemony, cottage cheese-like aroma. The creamery makes Laychee year round, but spring is its peak moment in my view. That’s when the farm’s ewes really kick into gear, and the proportion of sheep’s milk in Laychee goes up, yielding a more buttery flavor.
Slice and serve: Shepherd’s Hope
Shepherd’s Hope from Shepherd’s Way Farms in Minnesota resembles no other cheese I know. Imagine a very fresh and barely salted feta and you’ll be close. It is rindless, open in texture and so moist that it drips. Still, you can slice it. It doesn’t have the briny flavor of feta but it does have a buttermilk-like tang. The cheese is ready to eat the day after it’s made but will last (if unopened) for eight weeks, becoming softer and tangier with time. It would be a fixture in my fridge if I could find it more easily.
Roasted carrots, Bellwether sheep cheese and dukkah
Bellwether Farms basket ricotta is an impeccable product, tender and sweet when fresh. But Bellwether’s fresh sheep log is less well known and merits a shoutout here, especially given the scarcity of sheep cheese from California. Be sure to let this cheese come to room temperature. It’s brittle when cold, like chilled butter, but luscious and spreadable if you’re patient. The texture is light, the flavor clean, lemony and tangy. Put it in an oiled ramekin and warm it in a moderate oven until it just starts to quiver if you want an elevated experience.
Sierra Nevada Cheese Company (no relation to the brewery) makes a Russian-style farmer cheese under the Gina Marie brand. Many so-called farmer cheeses are made with reduced-fat milk and can be rather dry and curdy. Sierra Nevada veers in the other direction, enriching the milk with cream and using a kefir culture that yields a captivating flavor. Brought fully to room temperature, the cheese is airy on the tongue, like whipped cream cheese. The flavor reminds me of yogurt, sour cream and cottage cheese all at once, rich and lactic with an appealing tang.