Carol' Top 5 Picks for Ohio Cheese

If you have ever traveled to Holmes County, Ohio, you know that this Amish area is famous for Ohio Cheese.   Almost every tourist that visits Amish Country goes home with some kind of cheese.  Garden Gate Get-A-Way Bed & Breakfast owner, Carol Steffey, is sharing her five favorite cheeses in the area:

1. Guggisberg Cheese:  Baby Swiss. This cheese is so smooth and that it will melt in your mouth.  It is great to snack of with a glass of your favorite wine or to enhance the flavor of a sandwich.
2. Walnut Creek Cheese:  Smoked Swiss Cheese.  If you don't like sharp or strong cheese but you want something with a full body flavor this is your cheese.  My favorite way to eat it is on crackers but it is also very good in an omelette.
3. Pearl Valley Cheese: Emmentaler.  This cheese has a bold, nutty flavor and is part of the Swiss cheese family.  We love to use this in our breakfast dishes at the bed and breakfast to add some extra flavor. 
4. Broad Run Cheese: Smokey Sharp Cheddar.  Words like smokey and sharp may suggest a very strong cheese, but it is just right.  It puts a burst of flavor in your mouth and is great by itself or on crackers.
5. Heini's Bunker Hill Cheese:  Vegetable Cream Cheese Spread.  You can sample about 50 kinds of cheese at this cheese factory and they are all good.  This unique spread is full of flavors!  For a quick appetizer, spread it on a slice of ham or turkey and roll it up.  Slice it like pinwheels and enjoy.

There are so many flavors to choose from with Ohio Cheese that you could try a different one every week and still barely tap the surface.  When you visit Holmes County, and the surrounding area, if you should find a cheese factory that doesn't have samples sitting out just ask for a sample.  They are happy to oblige.

Written by Carol Steffey, Garden Gate Get-A-Way Bed & Breakfast, Millersburg, Ohio (330) 674-7608 www.garden-gate.com