Murray's Cave Aged Limited Sunday Sauce
- Pasteurized
- Vegetarian Rennet
- Age: 6 months
- Cow Milk
- by Murray's Cheese Caves
- United States
- ApproachableAdventurous
- SoftHard
Imagine the crisp edge of lasagna, the sauce concentrating into a savory, fruity tomato essence, mingling with lactic cheese. That’s the experience of Sunday Sauce: rustic, home-cooked, Italian-American perfection. Our caves team was inspired by a classic Tuscan pecorino rubbed in tomato juice. Here, we use Point Reyes Toma—a perfectly buttery snacking cheese—and tomato paste for deeper flavor. Melt it on a burger or serve at a picnic with a swipe of Tempesta ‘Nduja and Z Crackers Garlic & Basil.
“Talk about an eye-catcher. This cheese reminds me of my favorite red sauce joint, capturing the deep essence of tomato and combining it with delicious cheese. I love it on a sandwich with basil!”
- Sunday Sauce takes inspiration from traditional Pecorino Marzolino, a sheep’s milk cheese found throughout Tuscany where some cheesemakers rub the wheels in tomato juice instead of olive oil.
- Our caves team used this cheese as a jumping off point to experiment with a new combination of tomato and cheese.
- We start with small-format, unaged wheels of Toma, from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. in Northern California.
- Toma is modeled after classic Italian table cheeses like fontina and provolone. It’s mild with sweet and nutty notes, firm yet supple.
- Our affineurs rub the wheels in tomato paste for eight weeks as they age our Alpine Cave.
- Once mature, the rind is deep tomato red with patches of white.
- The tomato paste builds a more concentrated fruity tomato flavor than tomato juice—like a lovingly long-cooked red sauce.
- At Murray’s Cheese Caves in Queens, New York, our experts age and mature cheeses to perfection, creating unique products that are exclusive to Murray’s.
- We built our caves to enhance the quality of our products, as well as to honor the craft of cheesemakers across the globe. The practice of aging cheese, known in French as affinage, was relatively rare in the United States when we built our first set of caves in 2004.
- The cheeses that mature in our caves are crafted in a variety of ways, which are reflected on their labels, described below.
- Cave Aged Original cheeses are produced from a Murray’s original recipe—we have a hand in every step of the cheesemaking process.
- Cave Aged Reserve cheeses are made in collaboration with some of our favorite cheesemakers. They send us unaged wheels, and we use unique aging techniques to produce something completely new.
- Cave Aged Limited cheeses are born out of our constant innovation and experimentation, only available for a limited time.
- Cheeses in the Cave Aged category are aged in our caves with methods that replicate the treatment they would’ve received from their original producer. This category is largely populated by bloomy rind cheeses that don’t fare well in transport.
- Murray's operates four caves, designed to ensure that each cheese matures in its ideal environment—the Bloomy Rind Cave, Natural Rind Cave, Washed Rind Cave, and Alpine Cave.
- The temperature, humidity, and microbial activity in each cave are controlled and monitored with the greatest precision.
When you receive your cheese, unpack the order and refrigerate the items. We recommend using the cheese paper we send most of our products in to store the cheese. The cheese paper helps cover the items and stop them from drying out, while also allowing the cheese to breathe. Since cheese is mold, it's a living thing! If you cut off air circulation to the cheese, you can actually cause it to suffocate and spoil at a faster rate.
