All Blue Heron Farm cheeses are made with a vegetarian-friendly rennet alternative.

Chevre
Chevre is a soft, fresh goat cheese. If you've never heard of it before, it's probably because, more often than not, it is just called "goat cheese. (Which is pretty much what "chevre" means in French). When you order a salad and it says "with goat cheese" - it's chevre.

Chevre can range widely in flavor and texture. Blue Heron Farm chevre is different from most in that it is exceptionally creamy and extremely mild - with little to no discernible "goat" flavor. This is largely because we have chosen a breed known for its sweet milk and high butterfat content. Few commercial dairies use Nubians, as we do, because their output is not generally high enough, volume-wise, for commercial production. We decided quality is more important than quantity.

Blue Heron Farm produces several different chevre varieties. See below for descriptions. We think the best way to eat them is just out of the container with a spoon, but if that's too extreme for you, we have included some super-easy recipes and serving suggestions. …or you can always just put it on a cracker.

Perfectly Plain - Fresh chevre with only salt added. Pure. Unadulterated. Delicious.

Serving Suggestion: Simple Pasta with Tomato, Goat Cheese and Basil

Spicy Mediterranean - Fresh chevre seasoned with sun-dried tomato, basil garlic and other herbs with a kick of crushed red chile.

Serving Suggestion: I'm Too Lazy to Cook Pasta

Greek - Fresh chevre seasoned with onion, garlic, oregano, mint and other herbs, plus a hint of lemon.

Serving Suggestion: Weekday Spinach Pie

Chipotle Blend - Fresh chevre with a smoky kick of chipotle, paprika, cayenne, oregano and other herbs.

Serving Suggestion: Ten-minute Tostadas

Green Goddess - Fresh chevre seasoned with dill, basil, celery, garlic and other herbs and spices

Serving Suggestion: Lisa's Favorite Lunch: Like a Sandwich, Only Better

Breakfast Spread - Fresh chevre slightly sweetened with brown sugar and studded with chopped, dried apricot and crystallized ginger.

Serving Suggestion: Faux-fancy Waffles

Feta
Feta is a semi-firm, salty cheese that originated in Greece. Traditional feta is more often made with sheep's milk, but goat feta is common as well. And many large commercial dairies now make cow feta, as well.

Some feta actually comes in brine, or salt water, but at Blue Heron Farm we salt and age it and then package it dry. It's just nicer to pick it up and crumble it or chop it without fishing in a bottle of salt water. Our feta is super mild, very creamy and not too salty – it really is a special cheese. If you think you aren’t crazy about feta, you should give ours a try.

Feta is great on a Greek salad or in a traditional tiropita (cheese pie) or spanikopita (spinach pie) - but you can also use it in place of, or combined with, chevre in my super easy Weekday Spinach Pie.

Cajeta (Cah-hay-tah)

Cajeta is a Mexican goat milk caramel. If you’ve never had real caramel (meaning caramel without corn syrup and other voo-doo ingredients) you do not know what you are missing.

Blue Heron Farm cajeta has only three ingredients: milk, sugar and a teeny touch of baking soda. That’s it. The consistency is between pourable and spoonable – and in our opinion, the cajeta is best served over plain vanilla ice cream. It also makes a wonderful dip for sliced apples.

Be warned – this stuff is downright addictive.