They’re doing some wonderful things up at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurant in Upstate New York, and in an effort to reduce waste, have been, for years, turning kitchen waste, including animal bones, into charcoal for reuse in the kitchen. You can imagine the interesting flavour profiles that creates.
That bone ash now costs the rind of a special cheese commissioned by Dan Barber and available at Saxelby Cheesemongers. The Bone Char Pearl, which is 50% cow’s milk and 50% goat, retails at $16 and was only previously available at the restaurant.
A post shared by BlueHillFarm (@bluehillfarm) on May 25, 2017 at 2:44am PDT
It’s inspired by the ashed cheeses of the Loire Valley, where ash was originally added to the rind to protect the cheese from insects. However, traditionally wood or vegetable ash is used, rather than lamb and pig bones, as is the case with the Bone Char Pearl.
Grub Street has tasted it and describes it as “creamier than an all-goat cheese, with a whiff of mushroom and a grassy note or two.”
