It wasn’t that long ago that goat-milk cheese was an exotic ingredient like truffles or caviar imported from far away, but now it’s almost become a cliché of California cooking. That’s not so bad, for goat cheese — or chèvre — is tasty and perhaps even a little healthier than cow-milk products.
Many say Laura Chanel started the revolution with fresh cheese from her Sonoma goats, and Alice Waters set it in concrete with her iconic baked goat cheese salad at Chez Panisse.
Now, fresh goat cheese has been joined by a wide range of goat-milk products, including goat milk itself, yogurt, kefir and an array of tasty cheeses.
Napa County has one small goat cheese producer, Goat’s Leap, and used to be home to Skyhill Farms.
But now, Sonoma County is the epicenter of goat-milk products in America. Among the producers are Laura Chanel’s old company, now owned by Stornetta and housed at the facility where Napa Road turns off Highway 12.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Napa Valley Register
