Tunawerth Creamery. In this issue of the Spoonful, you’ll find a coupon for 50¢ off your purchase of any of the Co-op’s wonderful selection of Tunawerth cheeses. These artisanal cheeses come from the Tunawerth Creamery, a local dairy located in Rochester, Washington, on 36 acres of pasture land.

Anita and Peter de Boer, who left The Netherlands in 1996, purchased this local dairy property five years ago, bringing with them ancestral cheese-making recipes from home. Even their dairy’s name, Tunawerth (or Thunder of Mounds) is the medieval name for Ternaard, their small town that sits up on a hill at the edge of the North Sea.

Anita finds that morning milk makes the best cheese and yogurt. Using low pasteurized raw milk, her gouda recipe comes from a cheesemaker back home, and is flavored either with cumin, red pepper, hops, nettles, or garlic and parsley. While not possessing organic certification (something common to many small dairy farmers, due to the great expense) Tunawerth is careful to follow organic practices. Their cows are fed on grass in their soon-to-be-certified organic pasture and supplemented with GMO free barley and canola.

They offer gouda, feta, cream cheese, and ricotta (plain or brined in red wine), in addition to their excellent yogurt and milk. Contact them here