If you don’t already know this milky, yeasty, pudgy California-original cheese, it’s time you did. It’s delicate and tangy, buttery, and crème fraiche-y. It’s a big soft pillow with an open, yielding texture. The rind is dusted in rice flour, and a cut piece of it looks like a chunk of bread dough. Franklin Peluso’s grandfather Giovanni developed the cheese in 1919, and then Franklin resurrected (and perfected) the recipe in 1980. In 2018, Franklin (then 73 years old) lost his production space, and for the next five years it seemed like that might be it for Franklin’s Teleme. Then in 2023 Franklin and his son Adam began leasing a production space in Modesto. With the help of his son, today Franklin is turning out more Teleme than ever before, and we are thrilled to be carrying it!