stlbites.com – st. louis food blog of bill burge

Let’s Talk About Cheese: Baetje Farms – Coeur de la Creme

Dec 14, 2007 farming, groceries

Thanks to years in St. Louis, even with my terrible grasp of the French language, learned only to avoid asking lots of questions when people don’t translate menus, I know (and probably you know) this is Heart of the Cream cheese.

Impressionnant, non?

A truly artisan farmstead cheese, the Baetjes hand craft this and two other cheeses, just south of St. Louis in Bloomsdale, MO using milk from their own herd, and although I’m not sure how they manage their goats, the milky white cheese tastes wonderfully fresh with a distinctive tang that hints at well cared for goats happily frolicking in green pastures. I haven’t been able to completely put my finger on what it is about the tang I like so much. I want to say it is more mild than others I’ve had, but it’s not so much mild as it is less harsh.

For those of you that eat fresh goat cheese you’ll know what I mean when I say some have an overly crumbly texture that sometimes even leans towards fine grit. The Baetjes, however, has an incredibly creamy texture making it the smoothest I can recall ever having tasted.

From the little info online about the Baetjes, I’ve found they also make two other cheeses: Coeur du Clos, an aged raw milk surface-ripened cheese and Fleur de la Vallee, another raw milk aged cheese; and the Coeur de la Creme is also available with herbs.

I’ve been trying to get a hold of the Baetjes today to ask them a few more questions about their cheeses, and especially where we might be able to buy the two I haven’t had locally, but I haven’t managed to reach them yet. Hopefully I’ll have more info about that in the future.

For now you can find the Baetjes at the Clayton Farmers’ Market during summer, and Veronica personally delivers fresh cheese to The Wine Merchant (where I bought mine) year round. “Made with love” is how they described the heart shaped cheese when I bought it, and while goat cheese is generally the leanest cheese, which means it won’t really be effecting your heart any time soon, what it will do is touch your soul because it is outstanding.

You can contact the Baetjes directly as well:

Steve & Veronica Baetje
8932 Jackson School Rd.
Bloomsdale, MO 63627
(573) 483-9021
E-mail: baetjefarms@earthlink.net

Hours of Operation: By appointment, please call.
Directions: Take I-55 to Exit 157 for MO-Y
toward Bloomsdale. Turn right at MO-Y. Turn
right at Jackson School Rd.

Farm store open spring 2008.

Tags: Baetje-Farms-Coeur-de-la-Creme-goat-cheese