When I asked my coworker Lucy what cheese I should feature for 4th of July, she immediately said "Scorpion Cheddar! People can burn their tongues as they burn in the sun". This made me laugh, so I decided to go with her advice.
Meet the current pepper cheddar that is the hottest on the market to date....
Producer: Henning's Wisconsin Cheese
Cheesemaker: Kerry Henning
Location: Kiel, Wisconsin
Milk: Pasteurized cow's milk
Rennet: Microbial (vegetarian)
This cheese is spicy... so spicy that we had to put a sign up warning our customers! I just saw this sign today and I just had to take a picture. I actually wore gloves while I was cutting this cheese and prepping it for this blog post. "This cheese is no joke"!
When you first bite into this cheese, you're lulled by the creamy, cheddar flavor with which we're all so familiar, and then, the heat starts to creep up... I gave a taste to my team members yesterday when we first brought it in and many were fine at first, but every single person was surprised with how spicy the cheddar was. The Scorpion Pepper (a.k.a. Trinidad Moruga Scorpion) has a bit more than 2,000,000 Scoville Units - almost double the spiciness of a Ghost Pepper!!! It's currently listed as the second spiciest pepper in the world.
I took a picture of the inside of the Scorpion Cheddar sticker and the folks at Hennings were nice enough to provide a recipe for some diabolical macaroni and cheese... I haven't tried it myself yet, but it sounds incredible. If you like spicy food, try it!
I would absolutely pair this cheese with a crisp, hoppy double or triple IPA. Try Simtra or Hoparillo from Knee Deep Brewing or Ruination from Stone Brewing. These would all pair very nicely with the Scorpion Cheddar.
We aren't allowed to leave passive samples out for this cheese as it is so spicy, but if you'd like to try it for yourself, ask any of your local Northern California/Reno WFM Cheesemongers and we'd be happy to cut you a sample. I hope everyone has a great 4th!!! Until next time, eat, drink and be happy!
Love this cheese. I can understand why most people would think it was way too hot.
ReplyDeleteI love this cheese too... definitely spices things up!
Deletewent to Whole Foods and tried the cheese made with scorpion peppers. lemme tell ya folks... i thought i could hang.
ReplyDeletei could not hang.
my stomach is still burning and my tongue is numb.
went to Whole Foods and tried the cheese made with scorpion peppers. lemme tell ya folks... i thought i could hang.
ReplyDeletei could not hang.
my stomach is still burning and my tongue is numb.
Oh no! I tried to warn you! I hope you tummy is doing ok now...
ReplyDeleteYour*
ReplyDelete