The 5 Best Cheeses to Pair with Apple Pie
Apple pie with cheese
Is there a more beloved American dessert than apple pie? People, especially in Vermont take it seriously. So much so that in 1999, Vermont passed a law about how it's served. The law states, when serving a slice, a "good faith effort" must be made to serve it alongside a glass of cold milk, a large scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a slice of cheddar cheese. They go on to amend that the cheddar must weigh a minimum of ½ ounce. This law isn't enforced, but it goes to show that in Vermont, apple pie and cheddar cheese is as classic of a combination as serving it a la mode.
Pairing cheese with pie, specifically with cheddar, began in the 17th-century in England. The British brought it over to our side of the pond. But is cheddar still the best cheese to serve with apple pie? At the Vermont Cheese Festival, we asked cheesemakers and experts which cheese they'd serve with a slice — and how they'd serve it. Most backed cheddar as the perfect pairing, but a few experts had other ideas.
Von Trapp Oma
Molly Semler, the co-owner and head cheesemaker at Von Trapp Farmstead, wants people to think outside the box. "There was a chef a couple of years ago that made our washed-rind cheese, Oma, into an ice cream," she said. "That would be great with warm apple pie." Oma, one of their four flagship cheeses, is a washed rind cow's milk cheese that's aged for 4 months. As it ages, it develops a pudding-like paste and notes of brown butter and peanuts. Semler recommends making a vanilla-Oma ice cream at home. But you can also serve a slice of Oma on top of the apple pie, with a large scoop of ice cream to finish.
Plymouth Cheddar
Jesse Werner, the head cheesemaker at Plymouth Artisan Cheese, doesn't think you need to reinvent the wheel. To him, sharp cheddar and apple is the "perfect combination." But you won't see him shaving the cheddar on top of the pie. Werner recommends trying their Original Plymouth Cheddar, which he touts as the oldest known recipe for cheddar in America, on the side of a slice of apple pie. "I love apple pie and I love cheese, but just next to each other," Werner laughs. "They can share the same plate." The cheese is aged for one year, and its recipe is based on a Coolidge family recipe (as in, the 30th president of the U.S. Calvin Coolidge).
St. Albans
Vermont Creamery is best known for their fresh goat cheese logs, which have, over the past five years, taken over American grocery stores. It's also, according to Austin Zmick, its product development and innovation lead, the number one seller of creme fraiche and mascarpone in the U.S. But Vermont Creamery also makes aged cheese, like St. Albans, its take on the French cheese St. Marcellin. Named after St. Albans, Vermont, this soft-ripened cow's milk cheese is sold in a ceramic crock so it can go straight into the oven, and according to Zmick, produces "very strong" apple aromatics during fermentation. It's a cheese made for melting, and Zmick recommends you do just that: melt it in the crock and dip bites of apple pie into the bubbling cheese, like a fondue.
Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Cabot Creamery, another Vermont producer, is most famous for its cheddar. While any of their cheddars would work with apple pie, Mary Tuthill, the director of supply chain services at Cabot, thinks the Seriously Sharp Cheddar, which is aged for between 16 and 24 months, makes for the best combination. "It has enough sharpness and acidity to cut through the sweetness of a pie, but it's also not going to overwhelm it. So it's a good balance," says Tuthill. At home, she'll thinly slice it and place it on the top of the warm pie crust. "I let it get a little melty," she says. "It's perfection."
Jasper Hill Clothbound Cheddar
Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, made in collaboration between Jasper Hill Farm and Cabot, is an English-style bandaged cheddar, which has less of a bitter sharpness than other Vermont Cheddars. Zoe Brickley, the director of marketing at Jasper Hill Farm, says this is what makes it such a fantastic pairing with apple pie. Brickley finds that its notes of chicken broth, pineapple juice, and caramel "jive really well with apples and warm spice." To serve, Brickley uses a microplane to shave the cheddar into a "fluffy little pile of snow" on top of the pie.