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.

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.

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.