Goot Essa Cheese Winner & John’s 10 Favorite Pairings

We’ve got a winner in the Goot Essa Cheese Assortment Giveaway.

Before I share that, I just want to say a big thank you from both me and John, for all the wonderful comments that you left about the cheese, cheese cave post, and this site/email newsletter.

We got about 200 comments on that post, and I tried to respond to as many as I could As I wrote to Karen, your kind words felt like an early Christmas present 🙂

Before I share the winner (or – just jump down the post if you can’t wait 😀 ), I wanted to share two things. One is this second video from the extended talk I had with John.

In it, I ask John as simple, somewhat tongue-in-cheek question: “Is Amish life hard?” I hope you enjoy his answer.

Secondly, the cheese is great on it’s own, but often goes well partnered with a condiment like a jam, honey, apple butter, or mustard.

So I asked John to share some of his favorite cheese pairings. Here are John’s 10 favorite pairings to try.

John Esh’s 10 Favorite Cheese Pairings

If you visit for a tasting you’ll be able to try some of these. I believe many of these are packaged together in the gift assortments as well.

Personally I’m partial to just about anything apple butter, or sweet and spicy mustard. Oh, and strawberry rhubarb. You can see there are a wide variety of tasty-sounding combos here.

Old German Weissa Kase – Autumn Dawn Apple Butter
Der Mutterschaf – Aunt Ruth’s Strawberry Rhubarb
Marn Vom Berge – Rebecca’s Strawberry Cranberry
Mt. Valley Sharp Cheddar- Sweet & Spicy Mustard
Der Gouda Cheese – Henry’s Horseradish Mustard & Cacciatorie Salami
Der Edel Bleu Cheese – Dutch Treat Red Beet Raspberry
Der Weichen Gehl – Nittany Valley Pure Honey
Der Vauden Swiss – Reuben’s Stone Ground Mustard & Boneless Ham
Woodsmoked Cheddar – Sweet & Spicy Mustard & Hot Soppressato
Emanuel Vom Tal – Auth Ruth’s Strawberry Rhubarb

Goot Essa “Amish Tastes” Basket Winner

So I just used random.org to draw a winner of Goot Essa’s “Amish Tastes” basket. And the winner is…

Comment #70, Nancy Hankey!

Congrats, Nancy! Please email me a shipping address for Goot Essa to send your assortment.

If you’d like to try some Goot Essa cheeses, check out the gift baskets here, individual cheese blocks here, or everything (including condiments and fudge) on one page here.

Goot Essa Shipping Deadlines (For Delivery by Christmas)

Important: if you’d like to get your cheeses in time for Christmas, you’ve got until next week to order (specific day depending on where you live).

The deadlines for ordering: