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| Beyond Curds and Whey by Peggy Shinn At the Woodcock Farm outside Weston, wheels of cheese sit in the cheesemaking room waiting to be turned, and a half-a-wheel of an alpine-style cheese sits on a stainless steel table waiting to be sampled. Outside the cheese house, 130 pregnant ewes mill about in the barnyard grazing on hay while Mark Fischer cleans out the barn. In the dooryard, three Border Collies—Boots, Ben, and Ellie—try to gently herd anything that crosses their paths. Over at the Grafton Cheese Factory, cheesemakers flip the slabs of cheddar to drain the whey. At the shop, a mile up the road, bits of the aged cheddar await tasting. In Londonderry, at the Taylor Farm, a herd of 50 black-and-white Holsteins and brown Jerseys graze in pastures fenced by old maple-lined stonewalls. These girls contribute their milk to the farm’s handcrafted European-style Gouda, a cheese so sophisticated in flavor that it isn’t even comparable to washed-out grocery-store Gouda. You could say the same thing for all the unique cheeses made by the 41 members of the Vermont Cheese Trail, a concept created by the Vermont Cheese Council to promote a product the state is known for. These 41 cheese-makers produce over 150 varieties of farmstead and artisan cheese—from camembert to feta. And the industry is on the rise, with five cheesemakers added to the Vermont Cheese Trail in the past year. “It’s growing more than any other industry,” commented the Woodcock Farm’s Mark Fischer. Vermont has become the Napa Valley of cheese. With the Vermont Cheese Trail pointing out where the artisan cheesemakers are, people can now drive around the state sampling cheese, much like tourists visiting vineyards in Northern California. Visiting the farms and their cheesemaking operations also illustrates that cheese—the kind to be savored with bread and wine, or simply by itself—is more than a cellophane-wrapped wedge on the grocer’s shelf. Each cheese is a unique blend of milk and cultures that individual cheese-makers craft—and let age—into a delicacy, often from their own herds of cows, sheep, and goats. “Tasting cheese on the farm is quite a different experience than tasting it in a store, a restaurant or standing at your kitchen counter,” Ellen Ecker Ogden writes on her website, www.vermontcheesebook.com. Ecker Ogden is the author of The Vermont Cheese Book. “The smell of the animals in the barn, the view of the verdant fields, and sight of farmers moving fences for crop rotation or tenderly ushering their animals into milking stalls—these are the special ingredients that make Vermont Cheese so exceptional,” she continues. It is these smells, sounds, and sights that are remembered with
each nibble of a particular cheese, making cheese an edible—and delicious—souvenir.
And each cheese is unique. “Cheese is very simple,” says Galen Jones, investor in Crowley Cheese. “It’s very simple ingredients—milk, culture, salt. But how those go together is very complicated. The science is very profound.” Around Ludlow are several cheesemakers, from small enterprises like the Woodcock Farm to the Grafton Village Cheese Company, which produces 4 million pounds of cheddar each year. Each produces different types of cheeses on varying scales. ** Crowley Cheese Not much has changed at the factory since then—although equipment has no doubt been modernized, and the cheese has won many awards. Walk in through the front door, and you first pass through the room where they dip the finished cheese into wax. The main room features a window to the cheese operation, where cheesemakers rake the curd, as well as drain, wash, and press it into molds. The unpasteurized milk itself comes from one farm in Tinmouth, Vermont. The factory shut down briefly last year when new investors came in but has been back at full production since June 2009. They only make one type of cheese here—technically a Colby—but aging creates different varieties, from mild to extra sharp. Crowley also sells flavored cheese, such as sage, hot pepper, and garlic/chive. A favorite is the Muffaletta with olives and garlic mixed into a mild Crowley. Crowley cheese has a lower acid content than cheddar—4 percent versus 17 percent acid from cheddar, explains Galen Jones. “Crowley is a sweeter and purer taste [than cheddar],” he adds. It’s also moister and doesn’t crumble like cheddar. The cheese doesn’t “oil” when melted either. For this reason, a couple of young Crowley devotees say the mild cheese makes “awesome” grilled cheese sandwiches and quesadillas, while their Mom adds that the sharp and hot pepper varieties make delicious macaroni and cheese. The factory is open Monday through Friday, although they might extend into Saturdays on busy holiday weekends. To see the cheesemakers at work, the best time to stop by is between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. And ask about cheesemaking-for-a-day programs that Crowley hopes to offer soon. Grafton Village Cheese Company Although the factory was founded in 1890, fire destroyed it in 1912. The Windham Foundation, which is responsible for restoring much of the Village of Grafton and helping other rural communities in Vermont, resurrected the company in 1965. The Grafton Village Cheese Company now actually has two factories—one in Brattleboro that opened in 2008 and the original factory in out-of-the-way, picturesque Grafton. At both facilities, visitors can watch cheesemakers handcraft the cheddar, from raking the curd to flipping the curd slabs. And a video shows the whole cheesemaking process from beginning to end. Hand-cheddaring is important, says Grafton Cheese spokeswoman Meri Spicer, because Grafton’s flavor profile can only be achieved with human involvement. “Each vat of milk varies, depending on the season and other factors,” she says, adding that cheesemakers always test the milk before the process starts. Flipping the curd mats can also change the favor, texture, and consistency of the cheese. Each vat differs in the number of times slabs are flipped and how high the slabs are stacked based on acid production. Outside the Grafton factory, an authentic covered bridge crosses the Saxton’s River and leads to a walking path along the tree-lined river and picnic benches—perfect for nibbling on a lunch of cheese, bread, fruit, and even apple pie. As an old Grafton saying goes, “Apple pie without some cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze.” Or so says a sign at the factory. The cheese itself is sold at a shop in a colonial house behind The Old Tavern at Grafton in the Village. But the shop doesn’t only feature Grafton cheddar. “We sell 80 to 100 varieties of cheese,” says Spicer, “and a majority are Vermont cheeses.” Also for sale at the shop are fine wines, specialty foods, wooden products like bowls and spoons, and traditional kids’ toys. Spicer points out that when people purchase from the Grafton Cheese Company, part of the proceeds benefits the Windham Foundation. “When you buy cheese, you’re helping the Windham Foundation and rural Vermont,” she says. “It sets us apart from other cheese companies.” Or try cheesemaking for yourself at Grafton this summer and fall. The Grafton Village Cheese Company and The Old Tavern at Grafton are offering Southern Vermont Cheese Tours. These midweek tours feature a cheesemaking session at the Grafton Village Cheese Company, a three-course localvore dinner at The Old Tavern made from only locally raised products, and visits to smaller artisan cheesemakers. “You’ll see the different cheesemaking experiences between here and the smaller farms,” says Spicer. For information on the Southern Vermont Cheese Tours, call 800-843-1801 or go to oldtavern.com. Plymouth Artisan Cheese “We’re making basically the same cheese that’s been made here for over 100 years,” says owner and cheesemaker Jesse Werner. Werner purchased the company in July 2009. “A lot of cheesemakers are more automated,” he explains. “Here, it’s all handwork and attention to detail. We’re not restricted by a time frame. We wait until everything is just right, like the pH of the curds.” The cheese is a granular curd-style cheese made from raw cow’s milk. The recipe was handed down through generations and originally brought to the U.S. by European settlers. Granular curd cheese is very rare. The company states on its website: “to our knowledge Plymouth Artisan Cheese may be the only cheesemaker that still produces this distinctive American heritage cheese and makes it available to the public.” This spring, the company released the distinctive Plymouth Cheese, which Werner believes was Julia Childs’ favorite cheese. Visitors are welcome to stop by and watch Werner make his artisan cheese. But he doesn’t make cheese every day, so call ahead. Taylor Farm While Vermont might be known for its cheddar, Wright makes wonderful and unique Gouda from fresh raw milk, not pasteurized milk, which is the ingredient in store-bought Gouda. The wheels of farmstead and maple-smoked Goudas have won numerous American Cheese Society awards. Taylor Farm Gouda and other Vermont products and gifts are sold at a store on the farm. The cheesemaking room is visible from the shop, and Wright welcomes an audience when making cheese from the herd’s milk (usually two to three days each week). Also, look for Taylor Farm Gouda at a variety of stores throughout New England. Visit their website, enter your zip code, and see a complete list of nearby retail shops. Woodcock Farm Mark says he was inspired by the Vermont Shepherd Farm in Putney, where he learned the basics of cheesemaking. Living on about an acre of land in Weston at the time, the Fischers purchased 10 pregnant ewes, and so began their cheesemaking adventure. They soon purchased the land south of town, built a house, barn and small cheese house, and moved the ewes there. They added to their cheesemaking knowledge at the Vermont Institute of Artisan Cheese (VIAC) at the University of Vermont. VIAC offers a cheesemaking certificate program comprised of one and two-day classes in topics such as cheese chemistry, hygiene and food safety, and basic sensory evaluations of cheese. Mark and Gari craft a variety of cheeses, and they always work together. “We can’t make the cheese alone,” says Mark, chuckling. When asked why, he laughs and says, “We don’t trust each other.” Seriously, though, he says he wanted to work with Gari, and cheesemaking seemed like a challenging and interesting craft to pursue as a couple. One of the most popular Woodcock cheese is Summer Snow, a camembert-like cheese “with hints of mushroom and a lingering flavor of lemony butter,” says their brochure. Another favorite is the Weston Wheel, a hard alpine cheese with a nutty flavor. In all, they make about 9,000 pounds of cheese each year. Woodcock Farm cheeses are available at the Norwich and Londonderry Farmers Markets, as well as at the Woodcock Farm (call first). They are also sold at retail stores throughout New England. ** Other small farms in the Ludlow area that make cheese include Spring Brook Farm in Reading. Spring Brook Farm crafts award-winning Tarentaise cheese from the milk of 40 Jersey cows. Tarentaise is a semi-hard, natural rind, raw milk cheese that originated in the French Alps. Visitors are welcome to stop by on weekdays, and cheesemaker Jeremy Stephenson says the best time to view cheesemaking is early in the morning. If you do start to follow the Vermont cheese trail, remember that none of these cheesemakers—not even Crowley or Grafton—offer Ben-&-Jerry’s-type factory tours. They are mostly family operations where information is best gleaned by asking questions. But do sample the cheese at every opportunity. Then take a slice
of the Vermont Cheese Trail home. If you go ... Grafton Village Cheese Company Plymouth Cheese Factory Spring Brook Farm Taylor Farm Woodcock Farm Cheese Company |
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