Holey Cow Isn't Your Typical Swiss Cheese

Can you resist a cheese called Holey Cow? I couldn't.

This new cow's milk wheel from California's Central Coast Creamery derives its inspiration from Switzerland and the category of eye-riddled cheeses, mostly undistinguished, known here by the unfortunate shorthand of "Swiss cheese." It's a crime that the term has come to suggest bland cheeses suitable only for sandwiches. Switzerland's cheeses are numerous, diverse and often sublime.

Creamery owner Reggie Jones categorizes his cheese as a creamy Swiss. I've also seen it labeled as baby Swiss, an industry term usually applied to small-format cheeses aged quickly in closed bags so they never develop rinds.

Jones, who started the creamery in 2008 with his wife, Kellie, says he had Swiss Emmentaler, a rinded cheese, in mind when he devised Holey Cow, but he envisioned a much smaller wheel. Emmentaler can weigh 200 pounds, an impossible size for a small retailer.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: San Francisco Chronicle