Pepper Jack is a derivative of Monterey Jack, the original “American” cheese invented by Mexican Franciscan friars of Monterey, California. As the name suggests, the cheese is flavoured with sweet peppers, rosemary, habañero chilies and garlic and spicy jalapeños for an extra kick.
This semi-soft, open textured cheese is spicy to taste yet leaves a delicate and buttery taste in the mouth. It is often eaten with quesadillas, crackers or on hamburgers. Pepper jack can also go well with jalapeno peppers, melons, grapes, pickled vegetables, and olives.

Pepper Jack

Vella Cheese Company

The Vella Cheese Company traces its roots to the 1920s, when Tom Vella arrived in Sonoma and began making cheese at the Sonoma Mission Creamery. The Vella Cheese Company was founded in 1931, and continued to grow and expand over the following decades, eventually moving into its current facility just off the Sonoma Plaza. The company became known for its fresh and dry Jack cheese, their version of an original American cheese created in Monterey during the California Gold Rush.

Vella's Dry Jack is a hard cheese with a delicately brittle consistency. After being coated in oil and cocoa, the wheels are aged for 18-24 months, and develop texture not unlike Parmigiano, along with a sweet flavor, reminiscent of butterscotch.



Dry Jack Special Reserve

Monterey Jack earns the rightful position as a true “American” cheese since it originated in the Mexican Franciscan friars of Monterey, California. Around the 1700s, these monasteries around the Monterey region were making a semi-firm, creamy, mild flavoured cheese from cow’s milk which they aged for a little period.  An American entrepreneur named David Jack realized its commercial value and started selling it all over California. The cheese came to be known as “Monterey Jack's” or “Jack's Monterey,” eventually acquiring the name Monterey Jack.
The cheese is commonly used in Mexican and Spanish cuisine as its mild in flavour and melts really well. It's akin in taste and texture to Colby and Cheddar. Variants of Monterey Jack known as Dry Jack (aged version) and Pepper Jack (pepper spiced) are also quite popular. Monterey Jack is available across all grocery stores and supermarkets in the United States. Consider Pinot Noir and Riesling with Jack cheese.

Monterey Jack

Mezzo Secco, an award winning cheese is partially Dry Monterey Jack cheese made using cow's milk, made by the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative (WSDC), Bruce, Wisconsin, US. The cheese is aged for a minimum of 6 months. Mezzo Secco is smooth and creamy in texture with milky and spicy flavour.
Oro Secco: Aged version of Mezzo Secco, matured for two to four years that gives golden coloured delicious cheese.

Mezzo Secco

Today, Monterey Jack and its derivatives are made by several California cheese makers, but the versions made by companies located in Sonoma County such as Vella Cheese Co., are definitely more superior. Their Jack cheese is rubbed with a mixture of oil, pepper and unsweetened cocoa to give its signature brown rind. The rind protects the cheese but itself doesn’t have any effect on the flavour of the underlying cheese. Original Monterey Jack is the most popular variety of Jack cheese, but the same creaminess and texture can be found in Jacks flavoured with jalapeños, rosemary, habañero chillies and garlic.
Dry Jack adds another dimension to a dazzling variety of mouthwatering Sonoma Jack cheeses. It is sold at different ages from ten months up to four years. The texture is firm, dry and becomes increasingly brittle with age. The flavours of Jack cheese may range from mild and mellow to high moisture Jacks to spicy, delicate and buttery in peppered versions. Dry Jack tends to produce a distinctly sweet, mushroom and earthy flavour. Jack cheeses pair excellently with Pinot Noir, Rose, Shiraz, Zinfandel or Riesling.

Vella Cheese Company

Pepper Jack

Dry Jack Special Reserve

Monterey Jack

Mezzo Secco

Sonoma Jack

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