Lamb Chopper is a pasteurized sheep milk cheese made in Holland exclusively for Cypress Grove, a goat cheese company based in Arcata, California. Cypress Grove sells it aged three months, and Culture magazine's cheese library files it as a Gouda-like cheese.
On the melting question, Cypress Grove's own meatball sandwich recipe shows how the maker uses it: twice, mixed into the meat and melted on top.
In This Article
Why Is Lamb Chopper Made in Holland for a California Creamery?
Cypress Grove's creamery in Arcata makes its younger goat cheeses. According to Culture's cheese library, the company added a range of matured Gouda-style cheeses in 1998 that are produced in the Netherlands and sold under the Cypress Grove label.
Culture gives two reasons for the arrangement: it avoids cross contamination between different kinds of cheese, and aging cheeses of this type takes a lot of extra space. Lamb Chopper came out in 2003, and the producer calls it its only sheep milk cheese.
Culture's library dates Cypress Grove to 1983, when founder Mary Keehn began making goat cheese, and says Swiss company Emmi made the 2010 proposal she judged the first acquisition offer that fit. The Dutch range began in 1998, so the Holland arrangement is 12 years older than Emmi's proposal.
Depending on where you look, its country is given as the United States, the Netherlands or both. Culture's library lists the United States, Cheese.com lists the Netherlands and the United States, and the producer's own page says only that it is made exclusively for Cypress Grove in Holland.
How Did Lamb Chopper Get Its Name?
Founder Mary Keehn first planned to call the cheese Lamborghini, but the car maker's legal team stopped that, according to a 2017 Culture magazine article. The idea of a lamb on wheels stayed, and the label shows a lamb riding a Harley through redwoods and poppies.
California painter Nancy Norman made the label image to match the tagline “born to be mild.” Keehn told Culture she believes the label helped the cheese sell, and the magazine calls the wheel one of the creamery's best sellers.
Keehn's reasoning, as Culture quotes it, goes back to her first years of selling goat cheese, when every goat cheese carried a French name that she says buyers found difficult to pronounce and relate to. She wanted people celebrating with a nice cheese to find it fun and casual rather than stuffy, and she describes the company as serious about cheese quality and equally serious about having a good time.
What Does Lamb Chopper Taste and Feel Like?
Three published descriptions line up closely on color, smoothness and a mild, buttery-nutty flavor, which the table sets side by side.
| Detail | Cypress Grove | Culture cheese library | Cheese.com |
|---|---|---|---|
| Color | Buttery color | Ivory white interior | Ivory |
| Texture | Smooth, semi-firm | Smooth, firm paste | Smooth, semi-firm |
| Flavor | Mild, nutty, subtly sweet | Butter and cream with gentle acidity | Buttery, nutty, sweet |
| Age | Three months | At least three months | Three months |
Culture's tasting notes describe a “mild and yet full flavored” cheese in which butter and cream are balanced by gentle acidity. Cypress Grove makes a similar point from the other side, telling you not to equate mild with a lack of complexity.
If you are new to sheep's milk cheese, Culture and Cypress Grove both present that mildness as the appeal. Culture's 2017 article calls Lamb Chopper an ideal introduction to sheep's milk cheese, and its library entry calls it accessible.
Cypress Grove describes a crowd pleaser and a favorite with kids, and adds that some might call it the “type O” cheese.
Firmness is where the descriptions part: Cypress Grove and Cheese.com say semi-firm, and Culture's library classes the cheese as firm. All three call the paste smooth.
The stated age differs by date. A 2017 Culture article gives three to six months, while the producer's current page says three months.
Is Lamb Chopper a Good Melting Cheese?
By its maker's account, yes: Cypress Grove calls the cheese semi-firm and meltable “thanks to the higher fat in sheep milk.”
Cypress Grove puts that claim to work in its meatball sandwich for four. Eggs, parsley, garlic and 2 cups (about 8 oz) of grated Lamb Chopper are mixed together before 2 lb of ground lamb and breadcrumbs go in, and the producer says you can use ground beef too.
Cheese makes up about a quarter of the meat's weight in that mixture. The eight meatballs bake at 350°F for 15 minutes.
They then go on a split baguette under warmed marinara and 4 oz of sliced Lamb Chopper, and the sandwich bakes another 15 minutes “or until melted and lightly browned.”
For your shopping list, the recipe uses 12 oz of cheese for four servings: 8 oz grated into the meatballs and 4 oz sliced on top, about 3 oz per serving. The grated cheese is shared among 8 meatballs, roughly 1 oz in each.
The cheese inside the meatballs bakes for 30 minutes in all, twice as long as the sliced topper.
Cheese.com suggests two other uses, melting it on bread and shaving it over a melon and prosciutto salad.
What Should You Drink and Eat with Lamb Chopper?
Three sources name pairings, and two of them agree on the same wines and on brown ale.
| Source | Wine | Beer | Food |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cypress Grove | Sauvignon Blanc, unoaked Chardonnay, Vouvray | Brown ale, IPAs, porters | Meatball sandwich recipe |
| Cheese.com | Sauvignon Blanc, unoaked Chardonnay, Vouvray | Brown ale | Melted on bread; shaved over melon and prosciutto salad |
| Culture cheese library | Red or white, nothing too tannic or oaky | None named | None named |
Whichever wine you pour, Culture advises avoiding wines that are too tannic or oaky, and the producer and Cheese.com both name an unoaked Chardonnay.
Which Sizes Does Lamb Chopper Come In?
Culture's undated library entry lists a wheel 9.5 inches across and 3.5 inches high, weighing 9 lb, with a waxed rind.
Cypress Grove explains that many of its cheeses are made in large wheels, so retailers cut and wrap them into smaller wedges. If you want a whole wheel, ask a cheesemonger, who can usually order one.
The company's web store sells 1 lb wedges, and a Good Eggs listing shows a 3.75 oz piece, which Good Eggs priced at $8.99, or $2.39 per ounce, and marked unavailable on October 1, 2026.
If you are buying for the meatball sandwich, its 12 oz of cheese fits in one 1 lb wedge with 4 oz over, but in 3.75 oz pieces you need four of them, since three add up to only 11.25 oz.
Sizes run from the 9 lb wheel, which a cheesemonger can order, to the 1 lb wedge from the producer's web store and retail pieces as small as 3.75 oz. For the producer's meatball sandwich, one 1 lb wedge covers the 12 oz of cheese, and four 3.75 oz pieces are needed.
How Should You Store and Serve Lamb Chopper?
Cypress Grove asks that the cheese be kept at 32°F to 44.6°F (0°C to 7°C) to keep its quality, and wrapped tightly in plastic wrap after cutting to prevent drying.
CDC advises keeping a refrigerator at 40°F or below, and the top of the producer's range is warmer than that. If your refrigerator is held at 40°F or lower, it stays inside both.
The producer's optimal shelf-life figures differ by format, and the wedge clock starts on the date it was cut, not the date it shipped. These are the producer's quality figures, not an NHS or CDC keeping time.
For a wedge cut at a retailer, check the label or ask the shop how long it keeps.
When you serve it, Cypress Grove says to take the cheese out of the refrigerator at least one hour ahead. CDC says perishable food, dairy included, should not stay out for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F, so the producer's one-hour minimum uses half of that limit in a normal room and all of it in a hot one.
Is Lamb Chopper Pasteurized, Vegetarian, and Safe in Pregnancy?
If you avoid animal rennet, the producer's page settles it. The ingredient list on Cypress Grove's page reads pasteurized cultured sheep milk, salt and enzymes, and the page names the rennet as microbial, meaning non-animal.
Culture's library lists vegetable rennet, and the Good Eggs listing declares milk as its allergen.
If you are pregnant, NHS says pasteurised or unpasteurised hard cheeses such as cheddar, gruyère and parmesan are safe in pregnancy, and so are pasteurised semi-hard cheeses such as edam. CDC lists hard cheese made with pasteurized milk among the safer choices.
Neither agency names Lamb Chopper, and the sources split between semi-firm and firm. NHS covers pasteurised cheese of either class, but CDC's hard-cheese line covers cheese made with pasteurized milk and has no semi-hard or semi-firm line, so only the NHS wording fits a semi-firm cheese.
