Jasper Hill Moses Reaper

It is a tradition for us to have the Jasper Hill Halloween special. Last year it was Moses Screamer, this year it is Moses Reaper. Based on the recipe for Moses Sleeper, the Reaper is a brie-style, but then doctored up in many ways to give it the Halloween feel. First of, the cheesemakers at Jasper Hill give it a pumpkin orange color by adding Annatto (a natural colorant derived from the seeds of the Achiote tree that has been used to color cheeses for a long, long time), then they made it extra spooky by giving it a coating of vegetable ash. They age the cheese for 7 weeks or so and achieve a complex tasting little gem. Tasting notes: think nutty, creamy, milky with cauliflower undertones.