"Crocodile Tears" of Joy!

There's nothing phony about this cheese. This is the real deal. From Greenville Indiana comes yet another of my favorite goatelicious creations. 'Crocodile Tear" is made by Capriole, a farmstead cheese company owned by Larry & Judith Schad since 1976 (although the Schads later learned that the property had once belonged to Larry's great-great Grandfather in the 1800s). A success story that would certainly make great-great Grandpa proud, the Schads turned this plot of family land into a home for a herd of over 400 Alpine, Nubian and Saanen goats. These goats provide the milk that is used to make more than a dozen handcrafted cheeses.

Creamy yet dense, Crocodile Tear is a hand-molded cone of pasteurized goat cheese aged about three weeks. It has a bloomy rind that is flecked with paprika, and as it ripens the cheese inside becomes firmer and more pungeant. I personally love this cheese with a couple of extra weeks of ripening time.

Crocodile Tear isn't Capriole's only little droplet of rich deliciousness worth sampling. For more information on the rest of the lineup, check out their website. To get it locally, simply ask your friendly neighborhood cheesemonger to bring it in for you.