By Dana McMahan
FoodConnect Louisville
dana@foodconnect.com

Peaches and ... Cheese?

A bonus to visiting the farmer’s market is discovering new and delicious food combinations. Though I say every week that I’m through with the Bardstown Road Farmer’s Market — it’s too crowded, too noisy (with two and sometimes three sets of musicians competing in a parking lot of a 60-member church), too yuppy and I can never get there early enough for the eggs — inevitably I return every week. One of the draws is the Capriole Farms booth, where they dole out cheese samples with abandon.

For more than 30 years, Capriole has hand made their beautiful chevres from the milk of their own goat herd, and for nearly four years, I’ve delighted in trying a couple (or more) varieties on Saturday mornings.

I discovered what I think is my all-time favorite last weekend, when I tasted their Wabash Cannonball on a wedge of fresh peach. The Cannonball is an aged, surface-ripened goat cheese similar to a French chevre. A 3-ounce boulet was $6 but I was so captivated by the creamy, light but complex flavor paired with the peach that I couldn’t wait to get home and try it with the luscious organic peaches from my farm share that week.

As much as I love goat cheese, and as many ways as I’ve consumed it, I had never thought to pair it with a peach. Though I tried to make it last, the cheese was gone in two days, along with my stash of peaches. It was the simplest snack ever, yet elegant, and soul-satisfying in the way that only local, seasonal bounty can be. I enjoyed it with a glass of Reisling.

If you’re ever near Louisville on a Saturday morning, make it a point to stop at the Bardstown Road Farmer’s Market and go directly to the line of happy people nibbling goat cheese.

Learn more about the Wabash Cannonball cheese, featured in Saveur magazine.