So kidding season has begun and our first kids were born yesterday. I have been gone during the day for the last two days, attending cheese class at UVM/VIAC, so I missed Katie's kiddings but of course my mom and Meghan (our new intern) had things well under control. I admit it was very nice to be able to get up early and head off to class in Burlington instead of having to get up even earlier and go do morning feedings before I could even think about getting ready for class. Meghan just started last week but she has jumped right in and is doing a spectacular job of assuming a key role in the general day to day function of the farm.
Off I went to class this morning, knowing full well that after 8+ hours in the classroom I was going to have to make the hour drive back home at the end of the day and head straight to the cheese room to pasturize milk and set my weekly batch of chevre. When I got back home around 7 the only doe left to kid was Nimbus so Meghan joined me in the cheese room and we checked in on Nimbus periodically so my mom would get a break from goat monitoring. At about 10:30pm we headed out, chevre setting for the night, and I was just starting to think about warming up the dinner I'd brought home earlier - only to find Nimbus in labor.
Unfortunately it was not an easy one for Nimbus and after quite a bit of extra effort by all hands on deck she did give birth to 3 live kids - all bucklings. So, a full day of cheese class, cheesemaking, goat kidding, and 1 vet visit later, it's almost 1:45 am and my head is finally about the hit my pillow for a few hours of sleep before I have to get up and milk.
Yup! Kidding season has definitely begun :)
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Tale of Three Bellies
So as of this morning there were still not kids - here are the aerial belly shots (L to R: Nimbus, Tatum & Katie). Of course it was pretty much a guarantee that someone would kid today during the day since I was off at a cheese chemistry class at UVM all day!
And the winner is.....
Katie!
She had 1 doeling and 1 buckling, both were nice weights and are active and healthy!
With that, kidding season has officially begun!
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Nope, no kids yet!
While we expect kids any day now there aren't any yet! All three moms-to-be have been moved inside the barn into the kidding area for the night, and there is definitely some serious nesting behavior going on, but nope - no kids yet.
Kids won't be coming soon enough from a cheese perspective. The does we milked through this winter and dwindling and milk production is pretty darn low. The last of our feta cheese was made up into packages of marinated feta and most of them sold at market today in Montpelier, as did most of our newer aged raw milk cheese, Tweed River.
Tweed River Tomme started out as an experiment in cheesemaking to produce an "old school" hand made cheese from our farms milk in a French tradition that would be unique to our farm and we couldn't be more pleased with the result - other than the fact that we are almost out of stock!
Kids won't be coming soon enough from a cheese perspective. The does we milked through this winter and dwindling and milk production is pretty darn low. The last of our feta cheese was made up into packages of marinated feta and most of them sold at market today in Montpelier, as did most of our newer aged raw milk cheese, Tweed River.
Tweed River Tomme started out as an experiment in cheesemaking to produce an "old school" hand made cheese from our farms milk in a French tradition that would be unique to our farm and we couldn't be more pleased with the result - other than the fact that we are almost out of stock!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
To Blog, Or Not?
I guess I'm just not cut out for daily blogging. Or maybe it's my lifestyle? Well we'll see. Kidding season is about to get underway and I'm hoping to post information here about all the new kids as they arrive.
To start with I'll be posting a link to guess which doe will kid first on the farm this season. Last year was a little anticlimatic due to the unexpected arrival of Kim-Oh-No, our first kid of the season who arrived in December - on my birthday as a matter of fact! She was not expected so her early, pre-new year arrival was a surprise. Thus her name - Kim, oh no! Her parents names had Japanese roots so naming her after a traditional Japanese dress seemed only fitting.
As we start to get into kidding season a little I'll post a couple contests where subscribers can win free cheese! So stay tuned.
To start with I'll be posting a link to guess which doe will kid first on the farm this season. Last year was a little anticlimatic due to the unexpected arrival of Kim-Oh-No, our first kid of the season who arrived in December - on my birthday as a matter of fact! She was not expected so her early, pre-new year arrival was a surprise. Thus her name - Kim, oh no! Her parents names had Japanese roots so naming her after a traditional Japanese dress seemed only fitting.
As we start to get into kidding season a little I'll post a couple contests where subscribers can win free cheese! So stay tuned.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Who's On First?
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Artisan or Farmstead??
As January whizzes by, kidding season is fast approaching. While I am primarily a cheesemaker, being a "farmstead" cheesemaker adds a lot more to the definition than just cheese. Being "farmstead" implies that we make our cheese with milk from our own animals raised and milked on the farm where the animals are raised. Our cheese is also "artisan" cheese - produced in small batches, with attention to the tradition of the cheesemaker's art, and using as little mechanization as possible. Cheese made by hand.
With the farmstead chapter comes milking and goat care. In order to get milk - you need them to get pregnant and have kids. Seems simple enough. Well maybe simple isn't the right word. Life during kidding season is definitely not simple. My mom handles most of the kidding watch, but at least one night a week I take that duty. Sometimes it's quiet, othertimes just sleepless, and then here are the busy nights. We are always glad when kidding season is over, but somehow as it rolls around again we still get excited to see the new kids arrive and ramp up the milk production once again.
With the farmstead chapter comes milking and goat care. In order to get milk - you need them to get pregnant and have kids. Seems simple enough. Well maybe simple isn't the right word. Life during kidding season is definitely not simple. My mom handles most of the kidding watch, but at least one night a week I take that duty. Sometimes it's quiet, othertimes just sleepless, and then here are the busy nights. We are always glad when kidding season is over, but somehow as it rolls around again we still get excited to see the new kids arrive and ramp up the milk production once again.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
New Cheese on the Block
I've been working on another new cheese. So far it's just been on paper, lot's of reading and researching, and of course tasting. I actually started this idea when trying to tweak a cheese we already make and liked the results; not for that cheese but certaily for a future project.
As I've written before I have a bit of an obsession with Spanish cheeses. We already have a Garrotxa style cheese that we introduced last year to great reviews from tasters. This next cheese is indeed inspired by a Spanish cheese and will be a raw milk aged goat milk cheese, with a special aging process. I made the first trial cheese today so we'll see. So far so good!
As I've written before I have a bit of an obsession with Spanish cheeses. We already have a Garrotxa style cheese that we introduced last year to great reviews from tasters. This next cheese is indeed inspired by a Spanish cheese and will be a raw milk aged goat milk cheese, with a special aging process. I made the first trial cheese today so we'll see. So far so good!
Monday, January 16, 2012
My Bad
Wow. Things get busy and before I know it a couple weeks have passed since I posted. Not exactly a consistent start to blogging.
Winter has finally settled in, well kind of. We weren't sure if it ever would for a while, there still isn't much snow which leaves us wondering. A better illustration is to look at the numbers for our region. Last year, October 1 to mid January, we received 37.7" of snow. This year we've only had 15.1" inches of snow - and you wouldn't know it looking at the ground cover. We have had plenty of ice though. They say it's "El Nina" vs. "El Nino", combined with the North Atlantic oscillation. I'm not really sure of the technical details, but I hear tell this is also why a small town in Alaska received more than 18 ft. of snow - yikes! My understanding is that this weather pattern is supposed to hold until March, possibly as late into the season as May. I'm not sure if this makes me feel better about spring flooding this year or worries me more. Certainly our frigid January temperatures are more intact, -9 on the porch last night and below zero or close to zero temps yesterday during the day. A good day to work inside, which was a shame because we actually got some snow the day before, enough to play in! Still waiting for our first snowshoe outing.
While the cold affects the work we do outside on the farm, the cheesemaking inside continues. This time of year the chiller in the aging room is unplugged most of the time. The room does a good job of staying close to the right temp, although I do need to send in a little warm air on days like these. Of course it is a bit cold to make cheese in a 50+ degree room so the make room also needs a little heating help too.
The girls are still milking whereas last year we dried everyone off in December. We are also doing farm markets all winter this year, with plenty of aged cheese, feta, and even chevre - something we normally don't see again until March! Milk supplies will begin to rise sometime in late February when the kids begin to arrive.
Even though milk supplies are low right now there is plenty going on. We have a new Spanish Ibores inspired cheese in the works which should hit the market by summer, and of course our Garrotxa inspired cheese, Tordera, is available in small amounts now but we hope that by spring you'll be able to find it in finer cheese stores. So stay tuned!
Winter has finally settled in, well kind of. We weren't sure if it ever would for a while, there still isn't much snow which leaves us wondering. A better illustration is to look at the numbers for our region. Last year, October 1 to mid January, we received 37.7" of snow. This year we've only had 15.1" inches of snow - and you wouldn't know it looking at the ground cover. We have had plenty of ice though. They say it's "El Nina" vs. "El Nino", combined with the North Atlantic oscillation. I'm not really sure of the technical details, but I hear tell this is also why a small town in Alaska received more than 18 ft. of snow - yikes! My understanding is that this weather pattern is supposed to hold until March, possibly as late into the season as May. I'm not sure if this makes me feel better about spring flooding this year or worries me more. Certainly our frigid January temperatures are more intact, -9 on the porch last night and below zero or close to zero temps yesterday during the day. A good day to work inside, which was a shame because we actually got some snow the day before, enough to play in! Still waiting for our first snowshoe outing.
While the cold affects the work we do outside on the farm, the cheesemaking inside continues. This time of year the chiller in the aging room is unplugged most of the time. The room does a good job of staying close to the right temp, although I do need to send in a little warm air on days like these. Of course it is a bit cold to make cheese in a 50+ degree room so the make room also needs a little heating help too.
The girls are still milking whereas last year we dried everyone off in December. We are also doing farm markets all winter this year, with plenty of aged cheese, feta, and even chevre - something we normally don't see again until March! Milk supplies will begin to rise sometime in late February when the kids begin to arrive.
Even though milk supplies are low right now there is plenty going on. We have a new Spanish Ibores inspired cheese in the works which should hit the market by summer, and of course our Garrotxa inspired cheese, Tordera, is available in small amounts now but we hope that by spring you'll be able to find it in finer cheese stores. So stay tuned!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Dropping the Ball
It has been a few days since I posted, not intentionally. Yesterday was my birthday so I had the day off from the barn - well from the animal care portion at least. Thanks Mom! However, cheese waits for no one so there were cheese things to do, such as brining the feta I made the day before and hanging the chevre I set last night to drain. Of course there is always a little affinage to do.
Even at the height of our production we are considered a micro-dairy. Our large vat insert maxes out at 35 gallons and generally during the higher yield milk months I'm making cheese 3-4 times a weeek. However, currently we are a micro, micro-dairy. My recent batches of feta and also my last two of chevre were just under 5 gallons each. And it took me all of my legal holding time to gather that much milk. At this rate we may be done with active cheesemaking within the next 2 weeks.
Done of course until the 50 or so does that are pregnant start kidding in mid to late February. Enter the time of no sleep... Last year our farm produced around 148 kids between February and July 4th weekend, most of them born between mid/late February and April. We're often asked what we do with all those kids. Well, last year some when back to Old Mountain Farm, friends we were leasing goats from (or in some cases had bought does from with kids back conditions) and a couple groups of young wethers went to a friend who raises them and sells them as pets - goats make great pets or companions animals. All the others we have sold, except for 28 or so that we still have here, some still for sale but others bred this year to kid in the spring or the younger ones who we'll grow out this year and make a decision on them for next year.
I'm please to say that this year we had kids travel to Alabama, Oregon, Washington, Arkansas, Maine, and other points around the new england area. Some even went to show homes which we are very excited about. We are quite busy with the farm and cheese so while we have the milk testing part in hand, we haven't had any goats in the show ring. This year we have goats on the show circuit in a couple places plus just this week 2 of our young does went to 4-H show homes! I can't wait to see what this next season of kids brings.
Even at the height of our production we are considered a micro-dairy. Our large vat insert maxes out at 35 gallons and generally during the higher yield milk months I'm making cheese 3-4 times a weeek. However, currently we are a micro, micro-dairy. My recent batches of feta and also my last two of chevre were just under 5 gallons each. And it took me all of my legal holding time to gather that much milk. At this rate we may be done with active cheesemaking within the next 2 weeks.
Done of course until the 50 or so does that are pregnant start kidding in mid to late February. Enter the time of no sleep... Last year our farm produced around 148 kids between February and July 4th weekend, most of them born between mid/late February and April. We're often asked what we do with all those kids. Well, last year some when back to Old Mountain Farm, friends we were leasing goats from (or in some cases had bought does from with kids back conditions) and a couple groups of young wethers went to a friend who raises them and sells them as pets - goats make great pets or companions animals. All the others we have sold, except for 28 or so that we still have here, some still for sale but others bred this year to kid in the spring or the younger ones who we'll grow out this year and make a decision on them for next year.
I'm please to say that this year we had kids travel to Alabama, Oregon, Washington, Arkansas, Maine, and other points around the new england area. Some even went to show homes which we are very excited about. We are quite busy with the farm and cheese so while we have the milk testing part in hand, we haven't had any goats in the show ring. This year we have goats on the show circuit in a couple places plus just this week 2 of our young does went to 4-H show homes! I can't wait to see what this next season of kids brings.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Cheese - Not just for crackers
I'm always looking for recipes that utilize cheese in a creative way. We try to eat seasonally so I particularly enjoy recipes that make use of seasonal ingredients. Earlier this week I made a stuffed pasta, incorporating fresh ricotta and some Parmigiano-Reggiano. It also called for Swiss chard and sweet peas, however since peas aren't very seasonal right now I opted for fresh, local leeks in place of the peas and a tomato sauce made with diced tomatoes with fresh basil, oregano and garlic, puréed to make a simple, fresh sauce, instead of the heavier more calorie heavy fontina cheese sauce originally paired with the pasta.
Since it is the holiday season and, for me at least, baking is a part of that season, I have been on the look out for a special, holiday-ish treat to make, in addition to our favorite chèvre truffles and goat milk fudge. When I saw this recipe I new this was what I'd been looking for. The recipe was originally featured in Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, and was from Moira Sommers, Co-Owner/Chef of 3 Sisters Cafe in Indianapolis, IN - Blueberry Goat Cheese Pie.
We won't cut into it until tomorrow but looks wise it was a complete success!
We won't cut into it until tomorrow but looks wise it was a complete success!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Mmmm Pie
The last couple days have been a bit busy. We built sleeping benches for the does in the hoop house, did a bunch of repairs (broken dolly, replaced missing ladder step to hay loft, etc, etc.). All in all a lot was accomplished and it feels great to have it all done.
Rob (my boyfriend) works for the Central VT Council on Aging. The Council hosts a senior meal on Christmas day and they were a little pressed for donations of food for the meal this year. So last night I made 2 kinds of cranberry sauce - regular whole berry cranberry sauce and orange cranberry. I was planning to make two pies tonight to donate as well but Rob suggested we do 4 instead - so of course we did!
Clockwise from the top left we made pecan, blueberry (my first blueberry ever!), apple and pumpkin. Tomorrow night I'll make the pies for our own family Christmas celebration: French Silk (Rob's favorite) and a new pie for us this year: Blueberry Goat Cheese Pie with Basil. I'll post picture of those tomorrow.
Rob (my boyfriend) works for the Central VT Council on Aging. The Council hosts a senior meal on Christmas day and they were a little pressed for donations of food for the meal this year. So last night I made 2 kinds of cranberry sauce - regular whole berry cranberry sauce and orange cranberry. I was planning to make two pies tonight to donate as well but Rob suggested we do 4 instead - so of course we did!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Only 5 shopping days left!
I can't believe it's almost Christmas. We are not having gifts here this year, instead we are sharing a meal with family and friends. We have a small family only meal on Christmas Eve, this year a Raclette combined with our usual skillet meal (picture fondue without the oil, on a skillet). Christmas day we have a family breakfast (usually I make eggs benedict), followed by a larger meal with friends and family - standing rib roast with yorkshire pudding, followed by a sinfully delicious desert.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
As if...
As if I don't I have enough to do. Today while out running errands I saw these cute little red felt stockings at the check-out line while at Jo-Ann's and got an idea. Can you say impulse purchase? So what do I do? I go home and customize 5 red felt stockings to put out in the farm store in two different designs: a simple white goat, and peace love and goat.
As if that weren't enough, as I'm looking up information about a local senior citizen Christmas Day meal that I plan to make a couple pies for and read that they are looking for gift donations too. Money is a little tight but I do a little google search for gift ideas for seniors anyway and fine these cute fleece hand/wrist warmers and think well I have some extra fleece in my stash of fabrics, I should make some of these. So I dig out the fleece, thread, etc., make a quick pattern from a picture I found online, and little while later I have 7 pairs of hand/wrist warmers, some to donate and some to gift.
Not bad for an evenings work. And yes, I know I have other things to work on and that Sunday is supposed to be my day off... I think it's a genetic disorder.
Breathe
Now that the last holiday market is done I can breathe a bit. Both markets were great for us and the fudge and truffles, especially the truffles, were a big hit. I even have requests for more truffles! The only flavor right now is honey lemon and from the comments we received that is just fine.
Also a big hit is our new Spanish Garrotxa-styled aged cheese - Tordera. Both markets sold out completely in less than 2 hours. Tordera has been the first aged cheese that was really mine from conception. I am enamored with most Spanish cheeses, most because there are many I haven't even tried yet - all I've tried I have enjoyed. I had quite a bit of expert help with this one too. I had the opportunity to work with Enric Canut at the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese - one of the foremost experts in Spain on cheese. It was through his teaching that I was able to produce this lovely little cheese. We have a little work to do to improve rind development, really want a velvety grey rind, but it will come. In the meantime, the flavor of this semi-soft cheese is right where we wanted.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Holiday Market
Tomorrow is a big holiday market, both in St. Johnsbury and Montpelier (aka Capital City Farmer's Market). Since it is a holiday market we've added a few extra items to the booth to make it more special.
I made Honey Spice Dog Treats (with our chevre), Honey Lemon Truffles (with our chevre), Chocolate Chevre Brownies (they are about ready to go in the oven), and considering some cranberry walnut chevre cookies as well. In addition we have our usual "Goat Note" note cards, goat milk soap, and CHEESE!!!!
The addition we are most excited about though is the first public outing of our new Spanish style goat cheese. Tordera, named for a Spanish river in the Catalonia region, is made from pasteurized milk and aged only 45 days. We are also aging a few wheels at various lengths to consider the potential for producing it from raw milk as well. If you are at the St. Johnsbury or Montpelier area farmer's markets stop in and see us for a sample of the newest addition to our cheese family!
Spanish style cheeses have been a large influence on our recent cheese making. It helps that the cheese maker in charge of making such decisions is smitten with Spanish cheeses and recently had the opportunity to work with one of the foremost cheese experts in Spain, Enric Canut. You might even see another new Spanish influenced cheese (or two!) coming out this spring.
Just a note to market goers, this may be the last market until February where you can get our chevre. The girls are drying out in preparation for kidding, which will begin in mid-February, and eventually we reach a point where we aren't producing enough milk to make cheese.
I made Honey Spice Dog Treats (with our chevre), Honey Lemon Truffles (with our chevre), Chocolate Chevre Brownies (they are about ready to go in the oven), and considering some cranberry walnut chevre cookies as well. In addition we have our usual "Goat Note" note cards, goat milk soap, and CHEESE!!!!
The addition we are most excited about though is the first public outing of our new Spanish style goat cheese. Tordera, named for a Spanish river in the Catalonia region, is made from pasteurized milk and aged only 45 days. We are also aging a few wheels at various lengths to consider the potential for producing it from raw milk as well. If you are at the St. Johnsbury or Montpelier area farmer's markets stop in and see us for a sample of the newest addition to our cheese family!
Just a note to market goers, this may be the last market until February where you can get our chevre. The girls are drying out in preparation for kidding, which will begin in mid-February, and eventually we reach a point where we aren't producing enough milk to make cheese.
Christmas Goat!
Not much of a post today but I just received the results from our visit with Santa and here are the pics!
I was a little worried that she was going to try and eat his beard here but she was a very good goat and just offered a little nuzzling. A good illustration as to why she was the sweet little goat that we selected for a visit to Santa. Not all the young kids in our herd are quite as sweet!
Thank you Montpelier Agway for hosting Lizzari Photography and of course huge thanks to Lizzari for welcoming Andy the Christmas Goat - they were very patient with her and did a great job of taking advantage of moments she offered.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
A friend in cheese
My friend Gail came by yesterday and spent the day here at the farm. She arrived in time to help me with milking, then finishing up animal feedings, then we headed into the cheese room to pasteurize milk for a batch chevre. Not the most exciting batch of cheese to make as things go, but I promised her next time we'll make something a bit more fun.
We took a break around lunch time and shared a wonderful salad of sprouted greens and heirloom tomatoes & avocado, accompanied by what else? Cheese! I brought some cheeses home from my cheese event on Saturday and Gail was kind enough to bring two cheeses from her own home cheesemaking. Along with 3 of our cheeses (2 lactic proovings and our new Spanish cheese), we had quite the cheese plate to accompany our salads.
Among those making an appearance on our cheese plate were Grafton's two new cheeses: Shepsog and Red Vask. Both were good but Shepsog, a mixed milk (cow/sheep) cheese, was our favorite among the two with plenty of lovely earthy flavors and a nice finish. Red Vask was good, but nothing we would go out of our way to buy - just not enough bang for us in the flavor department. However, if you like a nice mellow cheese it's a very good choice.
Our new Spanish cheese, made in the style of a Garrotxa, was also on our cheese plate. We are very happy with it's development. The rind reminds me of a river rock, but when you cut open a wheel a beautiful semi soft snow white paste is revealed. Initial tastings have been great, I can't wait to take it to market for the first time this weekend to see what people think!
I think Gail had a good time "playing cheese" and I hope she comes back again. I had a great time having a partner in an otherwise fairly solitary job.
We took a break around lunch time and shared a wonderful salad of sprouted greens and heirloom tomatoes & avocado, accompanied by what else? Cheese! I brought some cheeses home from my cheese event on Saturday and Gail was kind enough to bring two cheeses from her own home cheesemaking. Along with 3 of our cheeses (2 lactic proovings and our new Spanish cheese), we had quite the cheese plate to accompany our salads.
Among those making an appearance on our cheese plate were Grafton's two new cheeses: Shepsog and Red Vask. Both were good but Shepsog, a mixed milk (cow/sheep) cheese, was our favorite among the two with plenty of lovely earthy flavors and a nice finish. Red Vask was good, but nothing we would go out of our way to buy - just not enough bang for us in the flavor department. However, if you like a nice mellow cheese it's a very good choice.
Our new Spanish cheese, made in the style of a Garrotxa, was also on our cheese plate. We are very happy with it's development. The rind reminds me of a river rock, but when you cut open a wheel a beautiful semi soft snow white paste is revealed. Initial tastings have been great, I can't wait to take it to market for the first time this weekend to see what people think!
I think Gail had a good time "playing cheese" and I hope she comes back again. I had a great time having a partner in an otherwise fairly solitary job.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Santa!
Sunday is normally a day off from farm work, well kind of. I still have to do any affinage that is needed (that's the care of the cheeses in our aging room), and any other odd tasks that require attention. However our milk maid comes morning and early evening to milk and feed all the animals so we at least get a break from the major duties.
Today mom is headed off to Maine to bring some goats back to Olde Mountain Farm, and Rob is off working (some big IT install at one of his offices), so I'm holding down the fort at my house and hers - which really means I'm feeding and pottying all the "house" dogs and making sure there are no major goatastrophes. All in all it makes for a pretty quiet day around here. I did have one special task to do today - pictures with Santa! We selected one of our younger goats to have pictures with Santa and it was hillarious. She was quite the attention getter when we walked into Agway, but admittedly we certainly weren't alone. We were actually in line behind a duck for photos!
The photos are supposed to be ready on Friday so watch for them!
Today mom is headed off to Maine to bring some goats back to Olde Mountain Farm, and Rob is off working (some big IT install at one of his offices), so I'm holding down the fort at my house and hers - which really means I'm feeding and pottying all the "house" dogs and making sure there are no major goatastrophes. All in all it makes for a pretty quiet day around here. I did have one special task to do today - pictures with Santa! We selected one of our younger goats to have pictures with Santa and it was hillarious. She was quite the attention getter when we walked into Agway, but admittedly we certainly weren't alone. We were actually in line behind a duck for photos!
The photos are supposed to be ready on Friday so watch for them!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
It's Alive
Spent most of my day at Provisions Int'l in White River Jct. attending a Vermont Cheese Council event for cheese makers and retailers. It was interesting to hear about the challenges cheese retailers face and also those of other cheese makers. We also heard from Allison Hooper and Peter Dixon on yeasts and molds, confirming that the stuff that grows on my cheese will actually not kill anyone - phew! They provided a great lunch and we got a lesson in wrapping different types of cheeses and saw a variety of different cheese papers available.
Did you ever think about the paper or packaging your cheese comes in? Not a big deal if you just buy Kraft, but for fresh artisan cheeses it actually can make a big difference. Someone from Jasper Hill brought 4 different versions of the same cheese, each packaged in a different paper at the same time. It was interesting to see how the cheese evolved in each of the wrappers, and how it completely ruined it to package it in clear plastic wrap. Artisan cheese are living breathing things and if not given a breathable environment they literally cook themselves to death - this does not make for an attractive cheese.
We even had some great cheese to practice wrapping, of course if we wrapped it we had to take it home :) Guess what I had for dinner!
Did you ever think about the paper or packaging your cheese comes in? Not a big deal if you just buy Kraft, but for fresh artisan cheeses it actually can make a big difference. Someone from Jasper Hill brought 4 different versions of the same cheese, each packaged in a different paper at the same time. It was interesting to see how the cheese evolved in each of the wrappers, and how it completely ruined it to package it in clear plastic wrap. Artisan cheese are living breathing things and if not given a breathable environment they literally cook themselves to death - this does not make for an attractive cheese.
We even had some great cheese to practice wrapping, of course if we wrapped it we had to take it home :) Guess what I had for dinner!
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