Ameribella is a raw cow's-milk, washed-rind cheese from Jacobs & Brichford in Indiana. Its soft interior and savoury flavour suit bread, a cheese plate or a cooked dish where you want the cheese's aroma to remain noticeable.
The maker describes a rectangular brick inspired by northern Italian cheeses. It is an American farmstead cheese in its own right, rather than an imported Taleggio or a generic orange block cheese.
In This Article
What Does Ameribella Taste Like?
Jacobs & Brichford describes an earthy, bread-dough aroma and a salty, savoury, mildly lactic flavour. The interior is pale yellow, while the rind ranges from cream to orange-brown.
The maker also says the flavour becomes sweeter and the body smoother with age. Those descriptions explain why a younger, firmer piece may handle differently from a softer mature one; they do not establish the condition of a particular cut portion.
The rind's aroma and the taste of the centre are separate impressions. Trying a small piece with and without the rind can help you decide how much rind you enjoy, provided the cheese has been stored correctly and remains suitable to eat.
Why Is Ameribella Called a Farmstead Cheese?
The producer says all its cheeses use raw milk from its own grass-fed herd. That connection between the farm's animals and the cheese gives the farmstead description a concrete meaning.
Culture's cheese profile describes Ameribella maturing for at least 60 days: brine wiping during the first 45 days, then ripening in paper for 15 days. This is a published account of the cheese's production, rather than instructions for aging a purchased piece at home.
The brine treatment develops the washed rind that distinguishes Ameribella from a white-rind cheese such as Brie. Neither the wash nor the aging period turns raw milk into pasteurized milk.
How Should You Buy and Serve Ameribella?
The maker describes a 4 × 6 inch rectangular brick and sells portions in quarter-pound increments in its online shop. A quarter-pound order is a cut portion, not necessarily a miniature whole brick.
A smaller portion is useful when you want to try the rind and aroma before committing to more. The label and seller's opening instructions are better guides to quantity than assuming every washed-rind cheese keeps for the same number of weeks.
Crusty bread makes a simple accompaniment, and pear or cucumber provides a crisp contrast to the soft interior. Culture specifically suggests those fresh accompaniments and also identifies risotto and macaroni and cheese as possible uses.
For a cooked dish, cutting the portion into small pieces makes it easier to distribute, while trimming rind avoids visible rind fragments if you want a smoother result. Add other salty ingredients cautiously until you know how much flavour the cheese contributes.
These cooking suggestions do not establish a safety treatment: cheese that has softened into warm rice may not have reached a food-safety heating condition throughout.
Taleggio is a useful alternative for a similar soft, washed-rind serving role, though its protected identity and milk-label options differ from Ameribella's. Fresh chèvre offers tang and spreadability but changes both the rind and the flavour, so it is less close when those are the reason for choosing Ameribella.
Is Ameribella Safe During Pregnancy and How Do You Store It?
For pregnancy in the US, CDC lists cheese made from raw milk among riskier choices. Ameribella's age does not remove that raw-milk distinction, and a casual suggestion to melt it is not enough to establish a safer meal.
Someone following that guidance should choose a cheese and preparation that meet the agency's stated conditions instead. The producer's product page and the cheese's normal aroma cannot provide a pregnancy safety clearance.
Keep Ameribella refrigerated at 40°F (4°C) or below, covered and within its label's storage instructions.
Set out only the portion needed for serving; FDA's general limit for food needing refrigeration is two hours at room temperature, or one hour above 90°F (32°C).
A normal appearance or smell cannot prove a cheese is free of harmful bacteria. If its cold-storage history is unsafe or unknown, tasting it is not a way to check.
