Goot Essa - Howard

My brother got me this as a gift, because I casually mentioned that I would love to get it for myself but I didn't have any extra money at the moment. I love it. My cats were climbing all over me when I was trying to open the packages, so I gave them some pieces and they loved it too.

Need a date idea? How about a cheese tasting! ?We stopped by Goot Essa in Howard, Pa this morning and enjoyed a tasteful journey through their array of unique farm made cheeses.Each cheese had its own special style and flavors that make it stand out from the rest. We even got to try a selection of their farm made mustards, honey, preserves and other spreads and got to get creative on what cheese paired perfectly with each.The retail shop has tastings that are available for walk ins during their hours of operations and reservations are encouraged for larger parties.Not local to the State College area? No worries! Goot Essa ships their artisan products anywhere in the US! They even have a subscription box available at a 1 month, 3 month, 6 month and 12 month basis. I mean, who wouldn’t want delicious farm made cheese delivered right to their door!?!?I never realized how much truly goes into the cheese making process! During my visit, I got to see how much love, care, patience, time and SCIENCE it really takes!Goot Essa began back in 2001 when a family of Amish dairy farmers decided to take their love of cheese to the next level. For 21 years, this local Pennsylvania business perfected their methods to create some of the most tasty and unique cheeses that I have ever had the pleasure of tasting.The goal at Goot Essa is to “keep families on the farm and create work for the community.” Their name is rather fitting as in Pennsylvania Dutch, “Goot Essa” means “good food” or “good eating”…and that’s exactly what you get with these artisan cheeses.After my cheese tasting, we got to take a tour to see the equipment and were told a bit about how the cheese gets made and the quality control that goes into creating all the different types.We also went down into the “cheese caves” to see all of the cheeses at different stages of aging. Their longest aged cheese is their sharp cheddar which is aged at 3.5 years!

Best cheese ever. So flavorful, it is unreal. 12/10!

Excellent selection of cheese. Tasting of various cheese lead to the purchase of 6 different kinds. The blue cheese is my favorite. Thanks for a fun outing to Goot Essa...which translates to Good Food. And yes, it sure is good!

Got to try samples before making our purchase. Has goat, sheep and cow cheese. Nice owner.