America just named this the best cheese in the country (it's not Tillamook)

Move over, cheddar—there’s a new champion in the cheese case.

I believe all cheese is good, but great cheese is transcendent. If anyone should know about the country’s best cheeses, it’s the American Cheese Society, which counts cheesemongers, cheesemakers, cheese-focused academics, and other experts among its membership.

Before its annual convention this summer, the pros evaluated hundreds of different cheddars, bries, and every other type of cheese imaginable, and only one wheel rose to the top: Winnemere, a creamy and complex washed-rind cheese made by Jasper Hill Creamery in Vermont.

Here’s everything you need to know about what the experts deemed America’s best cheese.

What Kind of Cheese Is It? 

Winnimere is a soft cheese made with raw cow’s milk sourced from Jasper Hill’s herd of Ayrshire cows. It’s a “washed rind” cheese, which means that the cheese is washed with a cultured salt brine throughout its 60-day aging process. The rind-washing helps encourage the growth of bacteria that transform the milk into a rich, oozy cheese with a pungent aroma. (Limburger is another well-known washed rind cheese.)

What Does America’s Best Cheese Taste Like? 

If you’re familiar with Brie and Camembert, Winnimere is similar. It has a soft, creamy texture that’s scoopable with a hunk of crusty bread. In addition to the tanginess of the milk, you’ll notice notes of smoky bacon, custard, and spruce. That woodsy spruce flavor comes courtesy of the strips of spruce bark that are harvested from the creamery’s forest and wrapped around each cheese.

One cheese enthusiast describes this cheese as tasting like “slipping into a forest,” while others praise the depth and complexity that the woodsy notes bring to the table.

How Should I Eat This Fancy Cheese? 

As with all artisan cheeses, Winnimere is pretty great on its own—you don’t need much more than a loaf of bread or a seedy cracker to enjoy it. However, you will have to wait a couple of months. This cheese is only made during the winter months, so it won’t be available until November or December.

Once you score a wheel directly from Jasper Hill, your local cheese shop, or an online shop like Murray’s Cheese, cut the hardened rind off the top to reveal the creamy cheese within. Jasper Hill recommends pairing it with a “smoky, meaty red wine,” or a stout porter beer that can stand up to its rich creaminess.

Read the original article on Simply Recipes