Abruzze Jawn

oil on wood, 12x12"

Abruzze Jawn, original artwork by Mike Geno

Check out this jawn! This is a delicious experiment was made on a lark and turned into a first place winner for the flavored cheeses category at the American Cheese Society's annual competitions in 2015.

The cheesemakers at Cherry Grove Farm are friends of mine and they told me the story behind this cheese. At the end of the year, shortly before new years eve, they had the rare occasion to have 5 cheesemakers (they usually only have 2 in the makeroom) with the plan to get everything done, cleaned up after the holiday sales season and get out of there. "The tail end of holiday sales and cheese production is like one long bloomy production hangover, and a little goofy variation was in order. ". They hadn't expected the curd would taste of "a splendid spectrum of tasty cured meats". Excited by the early wheels, they submitted it to the ACS and were pleasantly taken aback when it was crowned. "There is still a confetti tossing thrill to mixing all the different peppers in rapidly by hand!"

The cheese tastes like salami one would find at the Italian Market, in Philadelphia. They used a lot of spices and a variety of peppercorns that would be used in cured meats. The result is truly an addictive and balanced peppercorn jack that I loved the moment I first tried it at the "Festival of Cheese" after it won 1st place. AND I might add, at this festival I had over 1,779 cheeses available to taste and I still had a 2nd and 3rd taste of this one!

Paul and Jamie, the cheesemakers decided to enjoy the playfulness of this cheese concept and named it "Abruzze (referring to Italy) Jawn (a nod to unique Philly colloquialism that can be used as just about anything - almost like a blank tile in scrabble). Feel free to watch the latest Rocky movie, Creed, to get a jawn explanation or simply visit urban dictionary.

Country of Origin: USA, New Jersey

Price: $800

Additional Image:

Additional Image of Abruzze Jawn, original artwork by Mike Geno

Detail View:

Detail View of Abruzze Jawn, original artwork by Mike Geno