Whose Jack?

That's our jack, Jack! And, really, it shouldn't be named Monterey Jack at all, but rather Mori Point cheese. 

When I was a kid, Mori Pt. was a somewhat desolate place where local teens would go to get high. -any trace of the Mori family and their 21-room inn long-since gone. Now, as a part of the California parks system, the area is a bit of a tourist magnet. What was once just overgrown trails and precarious climbs is now clearly defined walk paths dotted with signage noting local history and boasting beautiful views of the Pacific Ocean. The story of Mori's cheese, however, is not included in the visitor information. 

Mori Point Inn, overlooking the Pacific

The origin story of Jack cheese--

In the 1880s, Stefano Mori, Italian immigrant and local landowner, began making cheese on his property (the area on and around Mori Point), using rennet rendered from his livestock. A friend of Stefano, a man called Baldocchi, was said to have brought Mori's cheese recipe down south to Monterey where he began producing the cheese on a commercial scale. I have read that the cheese production was to have taken place on a property called 'Jack Ranch'. And so a cheese called Monterey Jack was born. Modern-day Jack cheese is rather bland in flavor with a somewhat rubbery consistency. The original Mori Point cheese, by contrast, has the consistency of a soft, Italian cheese with a tart, citrus-like finish. I much prefer it. 

It's too bad that the only place where one can buy Pacifica Jack is at the Little Brown Church aka Pacifica Historical Society. I'll say this: What our Jack lacks in reach it makes up for in flavor!