Tis The Season

Wreath - check.  Lights - check.  Bows -check.  We are officially decorated for the holidays!  Next up, stocking the farm store.  Post flood we've managed to make preserves, harvest honey, make some lucious goat milk soaps, make some cool goat notecards, and of course work on increasing the variety of cheeses well be offering.  I'll also be making truffles and goat milk fudge later this week to bring to market this weekend and also feature in the farm store.  Of course we will also have special dog cookies made from chèvre as well!

Yesterday we took samples of two of our developing cheeses.  The first is a Spanish style cheese from pasteurized goat milk.  We opted to go with a pasteurized milk vs raw milk as our goal is to sell the cheese when it is young.  Although I have to say that I recently tried a piece of the same type of cheese from Spain that was a bit older and YUUUUMMMM!  Our version is looking lovely.  With its earthy blue-grey rind it resembles the surface of a rock, but once I pulled a plug from the center of the cheese a beautiful, creamy white center was revealed which melted in my mouth, full of flavor. I can't wait to see what it is like in another couple weeks.

The second cheese represents our first attempt at a goat milk blue cheese. Blues are tough, but in my opinion, when they are good they are among the best.  When they aren't good thought they can be horrible, really horrible.  I've been told that its just not possible to make a good blue cheese with goat milk.  But after tasting a Italian Goat Gorgonzola, I respectfully disagree.  So, a few months and a fair amount of research later I've come up with a modified recipe for a blue that I hope will lead us somewhere.  Also on the table for future development is a goat/cow blue, in the style of a Spanish Valdeon (a traditional aged Spanish cheese, wrapped in sycamore maple or chestnut  leaves), but wrapping our version in a more Vermont leaf: sugar maple. This will be a project farther down the road as it isn't exactly the right season for fresh maple sugar leaves, and I'd like to gain a little more hands on experience with making blues first.

While our all goat blue is months away from being available, if all goes well our newest Spanish style aged cheese will be available before Christmas.