Inspired by the full-flavored, elegantly simple taste of Askinosie’s bars we’ve incorporated them into a special mixture of our signature Roadhouse Vanilla Gelato. Exhibiting some of the characteristics of a traditional cookies’n'cream, the El Rustico Gelato is perhaps the best combination of vanilla and chocolate we’ve ever attempted, and we’re happy to say that we have limited quantities available at both the Creamery Shop and the Deli in Ann Arbor. Visit either location for a taste of this exciting new gelato!

Milk — Dutch-Belted Cow
Rennet — Animal Rennet

While we’re using the name Cheshire, our cheese is actually a cousin (twice removed) of the British original. Zingerman’s Cheesemaker John Loomis adapted his Cheshire from a recipe by Welsh cheesemaker Leon Downey, with whom John apprenticed in the late 1980s. Downey, one time viola player in the Halle Orchestra in London, decided to learn cheesemaking when he wanted to leave behind the intensity of city living. Leon and his wife bought a farm in Wales and he set out to make his own Welsh version of Cheshire, which he called Llangloffan. It was smaller in size, a bit tangier in flavor and somewhat wilder in its personality than the more proper English original. John brought the recipe back to Ann Arbor, made his own tweaks over 25 years, and started producing wheels of Great Lakes Cheshire at Zingerman’s Creamery a couple years ago.

Our Cheshire is younger, tarter, and more crumbly than cheddar (a cheese it is often compared to) which is typically aged long and has a creamier texture. Also, Cheshire curd is broken in half many times and run through a traditional peg mill which gives it a finer texture than you’d find with cheddar.

Ours is made with the milk of Dutch-Belted cows from Andy Schneider’s herd in Westphalia, MI. Dutch-Belteds are very rare—there are roughly 200 in the U.S.—and what makes their milk unique is its higher butterfat and protein content. The bonds formed by the protein and butterfat are exceptionally small, creating a supremely dense, rich curd. Andy Schneider takes pains to produce a milk that is significantly better than the norm.

One of America’s oldest sheep’s milk cheeses, the Vermont Shepherd is made and cave-aged by the Ielpi Major family on their 250-acre farm in Westminster West, VT. This farmstead, hand-crafted cheese is only made with the milk of sheep while they graze the healthy, wild pastures of Southeastern Vermont, which leads to a very rich and complex flavor owing to the variety of wild grasses and flowers the sheep ingest. Refusing to compromise on quality, the family only makes 10 to 30 wheel batches 3 days a week during the grazing season, so this cheese is sold in necessarily limited quantities.

The texture of the Vermont Shepherd is smooth and creamy, and the flavor is sweet, rich and earthy with hints of clover, mint and thyme. We are fortunate to have nearly two wheels of it left, so come in soon to taste this New England delight before we sell through it!

The selection of cheeses we make at the Creamery is a reflection of our passion for really good food, and we’re always happy to share our knowledge of and love for these cheeses with others. On the second Sunday of each month we invite you to join us and taste through some of our favorites. These tastings are both educational and delicious, and it is our aim to foster a deeper appreciation for the tradition and just plain goodness of well-made cheese.

$20/person. To make your reservation, or for more information, please give us a call at the Creamery: 734.929.0500

Named after the headwaters of the Kokosing River Northeast of historic Mount Gillead, Ohio, this delicious hand-made cheese comes to us from the Kokoborrego Cheese Company. Made from raw cow’s milk and aged 3 to 4 months, it features a “river” of ash that runs through its center, adding a distinctive look to the cheese and intensifying its sharp flavor. The Headwaters Tomme has a very well-rounded, buttery flavor with slight acidic notes. For those interested in putting together a decadent raclette, this cheese is a great addition owing to its perfect melting characteristics.

Sundays at 2pm

Cheese and gelato-makers extraordinaire, Josh or Aubrey, lead the whey and give the inside scoop on how we make artisan cheeses and old-fashioned gelato (that’s Italian ice cream)! You will learn how and why the Creamery began, get a crash-course in cheesemaking, tour the production area, and taste freshly-stretched mozzarella and just-made gelato, straight out of the machine!

$5/person. You will receive a $5 coupon to spend in The Cheese Shop.
Call 734.929.0500 to make your reservation.

Sunday, January 29th — 4-6pm

To celebrate all the big and beautiful new wheels of Great Lakes Cheshire that are emerging from our aging room this month we are hosting a tasting featuring two cheeses that share a long and intertwined history. The first cheese made in the New World, these days cheddar comes in many different styles and is made from Vermont to Wisconsin. It’s waxed in blocks and cloth wrapped in wheels; aged in plastic and in caves. It comes both with blue and without, and is made from goat’s milk and cow’s milk. It can be earthy, sweet, crunchy—and sometimes smells like sulfur and dirt. Come meet our cheesemakers Aubrey Thomason and John Loomis as they guide you through these cheeses and discuss where our Great Lakes Cheshire fits into the Cheddar and Cheshire Continuum.

$30/person. Call 734-929-0500 to make your reservation.

Sunday, February 12th — 4-6pm

February is Chocolate Gelato Month! Join our expert gelatiere, Josh Miner, and indulge in this year’s selection. You’ll taste no-less-than seven different chocolate gelati, including Dark Chocolate, Chocolate Strawberry Balsamic, Rocky Ride and Chocolate Heat.

$20/person. Call 734.929.0500 to make your reservation.

Unable to care for his herd, the farmer let the sheep go in the wilds of Wisconsin hoping that one day he might be able to round them up when he had the means to properly care for them. A few years go by, and Mark wants to get into sheep dairy and hears a rumor about this rogue herd. He gets a hold of the unlucky farmer and the guy tells him if he can get them to come in from the woods he can have ‘em. Pretty soon Mark heads to Wisconsin in the winter with a trailer of hay and waits for the sheep to come in… And eventually they do! So Mark has now spent several years getting this feral heard of sheep reined in whilst learning the art of cheese making. We think he’s been doing a bang-up job of it—recently he took 1st place at the American Cheese Society for his Dulcinea. Stop by the shop for a taste of something wild!

Rocky Ride: Our take on an old standard, we start with a dark chocolate base then add both vanilla and chocolate marshmallows from Zingerman’s Bakehouse, and some in-house butter-roasted peanuts. (Pictured)

Chocolate Heat: An extraordinarily rich and smooth blend of our dark chocolate with cinnamon, ancho and cayenne. This slightly spicy gelato recalls classic Mexican chocolate, and for a unique treat we recommend using this as the à la to your strawberry shortcake’s mode.

Pistachio: We use 100% pure pistachio paste from the Piedmont in Italy to make this remarkably velvety traditional gelato. Because we want to showcase the amazing taste of the pistachios themselves, we use nothing but Calder dairy milk, Guernsey dairy cream, a little Demerara sugar to highlight the pistachio paste’s natural flavor.

Paul’s Peppermint: We use the very best peppermint oil we can find—Boyajian—and mix that in with some chopped-up Hammond’s peppermint candies for a very clean, bright mint flavor that is just ridiculous on freshly baked brownies.

We’ll be featuring these flavors through the end of February, and in March we’ll start to carry our Spring flavors. Stop by the Creamery to try these awesome wintertime sweets.