Hella Dry Vella

Vella‘s Dry Aged Jack Cheese is a San Francsco Bay Area culinary treasure. Prized for its sharp, sweet, yet slightly-nutty in character with a rind inflluence that hints at black pepper and unsweetened cocoa.The aged cheese is so low in moisture that if well wrapped will remain delicious in your refrigerator long after the cows come home.

Monterey first became known for its local “Jack” cheese in the 19th century when Franciscan friars began crafting a mild white cheese similar to those found in southern Spain. The name was given to the cheese when a slum lord and dairy-owner David Jack, (a man whom the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson once recommended be strung-up for abusing his tenants) started marketing his own version of the friar’s style of cheese. First sold under the name “Jack’s Cheese”, it later gained global acclaim as “Monterey Jack Cheese” .

Vella’s dense, sharp, crumbly, palate-stimulating dry-aged Jack makes a toothsome suitor to a ripe heirloom tomato and a heel of seeded rye bread. It also pairs up well with toasted pumpernickel walnut rolls, sliced avocadoes, and fig jam. Finely grated, its tangy salinity makes it a fine finishing cheese for pastas served with rich wild-game based sauces.