CHEESE NOTES

A blog dedicated to cheesemaking, cheese tasting and appreciation and all things cheese and dairy related. The author is currently a cheesemaker at Churchtown Dairy in Hudson, NY and was previously a cheesemaker at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, VT. (All Photos by Matt Spiegler unless otherwise credited) Followers: 50,131

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One of my first cheesemaker visits back in the day was at @hawthornevalley, when @peterjkindel was the cheesemaker and this beautiful copper vat was in the creamery. It’s been retired for a more modern vat, but you can still see it hanging above the bulk spices in the Farm Store. (at Hawthorne Valley Farm)

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Vacherin Fribourgeois for breakfast, via @rubinerscheesemongers (at Village of Philmont)

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Half-a-Tomme (at Churchtown Dairy)

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What a difference a couple weeks make. #peggy #oozer #proteolysis (at Churchtown Dairy)

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A winding road through cheese rind topographies 🏞

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Black Friday is for naps and cheese boards. 🧀😴 #BuyNothingDay #exceptcheese Got my first @uplandscheese Rush Creek Reserve for 2017, @adoptanalp Suworow from @talbottandarding , @neals_yard_dairy Stichelton, @mcgrathcheese Victoria and Rascal and @churchtown_dairy Bloomy and Fresh. (at Village of Philmont)

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Nerd alert: when the moisture meter arrives in the mail. 🧀🤓💧🔬 (at Churchtown Dairy)

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Bittersweet pleasures as we dig into this perfect little wheel of Juvindale, a Reblochon-inspired cow's milk wheel from master cheesemaker @vipphotos, at the soon to be closing Meadowood Farms in Cazenovia NY.

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Sterling College: Fundamentals of Artisan Cheesemaking, May 15-24

In addition to being a full time cheesemaker at the creamery, I’ve also recently gotten involved with social media here at Jasper Hill Farm, including managing the Instagram account and writing newsletter content. My recent post, on Sterling College’s “Fundamentals of Artisan Cheesemaking” offering, in May, is one I’d like to share here as well. I had the good fortune to audit several of the classes with Ivan Larcher during the January session, and highly recommend the next session, running May 15-24, to anyone looking for an educational opportunity in cheesemaking. 

Back in 2013 I completed the Cheesemaker Certification course at UVM’s Vermont Institute of Artisan Cheese. Sadly, the educational department within the Institute had to shut its doors soon after, due to financial reasons, ending what was, at that time, the only educational program of it’s kind in the US (I was part of the very last graduating class). 

However, Sterling College soon began offering their own, similar program, and many of the professors from VIAC, including Larcher, have migrated from that program to this one. I can say, from my experience both at VIAC and at Sterling, that this is an excellent program and highly recommended. 

From the Newsletter: 

If you've been dreaming of taking a deep educational dive into cheesemaking, check out this unique opportunity! Sterling College, in collaboration with Jasper Hill, is now accepting applications for the next session of "Fundamentals of Artisan Cheesemaking". This is a two-week intensive intended for practicing and aspiring cheesemakers of all stripes, running May 15th - 24th.

At the end of the course you will leave with a deep understanding of the cheesemaking process — from a technical, scientific, sensory and historical perspective — and a certificate attesting to your completion of the course. Whether you're a dairy farmer looking to turn your milk into a value-added product, the employee of a cheesemaking operation hoping to expand your knowledge base, a cheesemonger wanting to gain a deeper understanding of the wheels and wedges in your counter, or even a home cheesemaker taking it to the next level, this class will have a bounty of knowledge to offer you.

Led by world-renowned French master cheesemaker and educator Ivan Larcher, "Fundamentals of Artisan Cheese" will provide students with all of the practical and scientific knowledge needed to create the highest quality artisanal cheese, as well as covering core concepts and practices on financial, facility design and management, distribution and marketing aspects as well.

Sessions will also be held with members of the Jasper Hill Farm team, including the chance to talk cheese with Mateo Kehler, co-founder of Jasper Hill; sensory and historical sessions with Zoe Brickley; food safety and sanitation & hygiene with Emily Hershberger; cave tours with the affinage team and cheese microbiology with our resident microbiologists.

You can learn more, and sign up, at the Sterling College site. The classes are kept small and are likely to sell out, so I would recommend moving on it if you’re interested. 

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A Very Croton Christmas, featuring a Very VT (and CT) cheese board. (With apologies to @cheesemongrrl for my crude homage to her genius) (at Village of Croton On Hudson)

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Meet the Cheese Grotto, your Personal Cheese Cave

If there’s one thing every cheese lover dreams about having in their homes, it would be a proper cheese cave. What turophile hasn’t looked at the wedges and wheels stuffed into the cheese bin or the vegetable crisper, and wished they had a better solution? The truth is, home refrigerators are death for cheese. It’s not so much the temperature that’s the problem, but the lack of humidity and air circulation. Refrigerators are extremely effective at cooling the space within, but do so in part by extracting as much humidity as possible from the air, resulting in a very dry environment. Air circulation, as well, is not a priority, particularly within the drawers, the most likely storage location for your cheese. Some fancy refrigerators may include vegetable crispers with localized climate control, but odds are you don’t have that.

Result? That $25/Lb wedge of precious cheese begins a process of suffocation pretty much as soon as you get it home. A proper cheese paper can ensure a longer life (you’re not still using saran wrap, I hope?), but even so, the sooner you eat your cheese the better, especially in the case of soft-ripened cheeses with more delicate rinds and pastes (think bloomy’s and washed rinds).

That’s where the Cheese Grotto comes in. Jessica Sennett, a New York City-based cheesemonger with 10 years of industry experience, including at Cowgirl Creamery and Bedford Cheese Shop, as well as the resident cheese expert at 61 Local in Brooklyn and cheese editor for The Feed Feed (you may also recall her from the event we co-hosted a few years ago, the Cheese Speakeasy) found her customers challenged by cheese storage and learned they often had no idea how to maintain their cheese at the optimal stage of ripeness. Jessica set off in search of the perfect solution for home cheese storage, but when she found herself stymied, she set out to develop it herself.

In part, she was inspired by the aesthetic of the traditional French storage solution, a “cheese safe” — a wooden box with open sides, enclosed by screens, which was often stored on the kitchen counters or dining room tables of French homes (Google “French cheese safe” to see what we’re talking about). They look great, but are really not designed for extended storage of cheese, and do nothing to control humidity. After years of research and development in a Brooklyn design and fabrication studio, Sennett created what is, in essence, a cheese humidor. 

Cheese Grotto is a cheese storage solution complete with humidity and airflow controls found inside a glass and bamboo frame. Designed in conjunction with an engineer and an industrial designer, the Cheese Grotto has a vaulted ceiling to keep condensation from dripping on contents by directing any droplets to the sides (the same principle used in cheese caves, as you can see here). At 8.5” high and 7” wide, with a 12” depth, it provides storage space for approximately 3-6 cheeses (depending on the size of the cheese itself, of course), with two shelves that can be removed; if you have a giant wedge to store, you can remove the top shelf to make room. The Grotto is manufactured in Richmond, Virginia and made out of Plyboo (ie “plywood” and “bamboo”), a sustainable material.

Humidity is without a doubt the most challenging aspect of home cheese storage, and the Grotto tackles it with a clay brick that is soaked in water for a few minutes, twice a week, and then placed in the bottom of the unit, where it slowly releases moisture into the air. This may sound like a rather low-tech fix, but as a home cheesemaker, I’ve used similar wicking solutions in my home aging boxes, with success. 

Three vents in the back of the unit provide air circulation, and they can be closed off with a sliding panel, allowing control for the level of circulation,

The key to the Grotto is that the cheese can be stored unwrapped within the unit. Like a miniature cheese cave, the conditions are amenable to the maintenance of the cheese rind and retention of moisture within the paste. Cheese is a product that needs to breath, and the Grotto provides the conditions that make this possible.

It’s also a striking centerpiece for your meal; just pull the whole unit out of your refrigerator, bring it to your dining room table, pull the door open, and the cheese course is served in style.

The Cheese Grotto will be available for a limited run of pre-orders this November at CheeseGrotto.com, for $350, and will ship four weeks from the order date. Formaggio Kitchen, the renowned cheese shop located in Cambridge, MA, is offering a promotional discount of $50 off their Cheese of the Month program, to any new customer of the Cheese Grotto.

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A cascade of Bayley Hazen Blue curds, at the Jasper Hill creamery. From here they go on to the mounding table, where they are distributed to the moulds by the Cheesemaker. 

 And speaking of Jasper Hill, I’m happy to announce that after completing a 4-month internship in the Cellars and Creamery, in early October I came on as a full time cheesemaker! Looks like I’ll be sticking around the Northeast Kingdom for the winter! (Better stock up on my woolen socks). I also recognize that I have been severely remiss in posting to Cheese Notes over the last few months. My focus has been on the internship — and now the job — and the blog suffered as a result. 

I hope to be posting more in the future; stay tuned for stories focused on Jasper Hill, as well as some visits to other cheese makers in Vermont.

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The Adirondacks are home to a quietly growing local cheese scene, and now’s your chance to visit some of these cheesemakers (including friends-of-Cheese Notes Sugarhouse Creamery — located in Upper Jay, NY and makers of Poundcake, Little Dickens, Dutch Knuckle and many other fine cheeses). The foliage up there should be pretty spectacular this time of year as well, if you need the deal sweetened. 

Check out the Facebook page for more details:

The cheesemakers of Essex County are delighted to announce the Third Annual Essex County Cheese Tour! This self-guided driving tour follows the scenic Ausable River Valley through the foothills of the Adirondacks. It’s the perfect excuse to get out and soak up the fall foliage while also treating your tastebuds. On-farm tours and cheese samples are free! Cheesy lunch fare is available to purchase, and farm stores will be open for sales. This year, those that have their “passport” stamped by all three creameries, will have a chance to win one of three prizes.

Three locations will be included in the tour: North Country Creamery (931 Mace Chasm Rd., Keeseville), Asgaard Farm & Dairy (74 Asgaard Way, Au Sable Forks) and Sugar House Creamery (18 Sugar House Way, Upper Jay).  For more information email [email protected]. 

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Q&A: Tia Keenan, Author of The Art Of The Cheese Plate

Unique cheese pairings are all the rage these days; at cheese shops, restaurants and cheese bars, chefs, maitre fromagers and cheesemongers are increasingly constructing cheese plates and pairings that play with conventions or completely blow them out of the water. Top cheese events like the Cheesemonger Invitational feature the Perfect Bite section of the competition, challenging the competitors to build perfection in a single-bite portion, and often features highly innovative ingredients and combinations. From New York City to Seattle and points in between, increasingly the cheese plate is seen as a space for exploration and invention. 

One of the people at the forefront of this movement has long been Tia Keenan, a New York City-based chef-fromager who has brought a multidisciplinary approach to cheese pairing, acting as the driving force behind the game-changing cheese program at Casselula, in setting up the program at Murray’s Cheese Bar when it was first opening, and now, through her new book, The Art of The Cheese Plate (Rizzoli, 2016). 

If you’ve been wanting to up your cheese plating game, this is the book for you. Keenan has long combined a brilliantly creative palate with a sharp eye for the aesthetics of the cheese plate, combining not just flavor, texture and aroma, but also color, geometry, intuition and even humor to construct pairings that may seem odd at first but always win you over on your first bite. 

One of her main concepts is the notion of Supportive vs Contrasting pairings. Supportive pairings “reinforce textures and/or flavors latent in the cheese”. One example she gives is the “Ardrahan & Peanut-Tahini Fudge Roll”, in which the peanut flavors highlight the cheese’s “nutty creaminess and earthy saltiness”. A Contrasting pairing is exemplified by the “Winnimere & Mosto Cotto-Glazed Bacon”, which “relies on the tension between sticky bacon and oozing cheese”. 

Keenan offers a wealth of information about the cheeses featured, but ultimately, she defers to the many other excellent books out there on the A-Z’s of cheese, emphasizing that this is “a doing book, quite specifically about creating artful cheese experiences”. 

The book offers gorgeous photo spreads (thanks to Brooklyn-based food photographer Noah Fecks) and clear, detailed instructions for creating the accompaniments. I tried a few of the recipes, and was struck by how quick and simple all of them were, yet how delicious the results ended up being. The spreads are categorized with names like “Love Letter to Clothbound Cheddar”, “Smoky Bandits”, “Hard Day’s Night, “Flights of Fancy” and “Vice”, each focusing on a family of cheese, a theme, a creative direction or just a flight of fancy. 

I had many questions for Tia after getting my hands on this book, and she was kind enough to answer them. Not only that, she agreed to create a custom recipe, using one of the cheeses I’ve been spending much of my time with lately! Read on to learn more...

Q. The first time I experienced your pairing program was probably around 2009 or so; it was, as far as I know, one of the first of its kind in NYC. Was this something that evolved organically into what it is now, or was it part of your mission statement, from the beginning of your tenure as head of a cheese program?

A. From day one of my public work in pairing I knew what I wanted to do.  But I definitely wasn’t cognizant of how out-of-the-box my work was considered at the time.  I just thought “wouldn’t it be cool to pair Buffalo milk cheese with Indian Buffalo milk cake?” It didn’t occur to me people would be provoked by my work.  I remember meeting [Swiss cheese expert] Konrad Heusser and he said to me “If you did what you’re doing here [in America] in Switzerland, they’d ban you!  You can only do this because you’re American”.  This was not a condemnation, by the way.  Konrad is someone who “got” what I was doing right away.  It was a different time in cheese, in the U.S., and in Europe.  The perception of cheese was very much as a high-brow, Eurocentric thing.  I’d like my legacy to be that I made the cheese culture looser and more provocative [ha!], that I helped Americanize it.

Q. Are there any people, cuisines, or establishments, that you drew inspiration from, or that contributed to your unique perspective?

My #1 inspiration when I began my career was sushi.  I thought of nothing else more than I thought of that. Sometimes you have an idea – it seems so obvious – why isn’t everyone doing this? I remember seeing Jiro Dreams of Sushi and sobbing throughout the film.  Afterwards, I said to my friend, “Why was I crying like that?” She said, “Because you know what it’s like to want to make something that there aren’t words for”.  I am in NO WAY placing my work anywhere near the level of Jiro, but I understand the madness of making and pursuing craft, and the relentlessness of feeding people and making food day in and day out – of how hard and depleting that can be, but also how transformative and almost spiritual, too.  For the book, I really wanted to make a cheese lifestyle book that was useable and mainstream, yet fantastical.  My work in the restaurant business was disruptive: it challenged the formats of how we eat, serve, and socialize around cheese.  I wanted my book to do the same thing, but in the cheese book genre. I didn’t want this book to look, read, or feel like any other cheese book.

Q. One pairing that always stuck with me was Kimchi with a young goat cheese, for being a pairing which sounded fundamentally counterintuitive but worked wonderfully on the palate. What are some of your favorite out-of-left-field pairings that you would encourage cheese lovers to try?

Well I have to say I LOVE Asian (especially South Asian) snacks and condiments.  First of all, think about the Filipino, Thai or Indian table: filled with condiments! These cuisines really understands punctuation and acidity.  They understand sweet and savory in a way that European-derived cuisines just don’t.  And just like I love sugar, I love heat.  In Eastern medicine, they act similarly in your body -- they’re related. Hot sauce and stinky cheese…Yum.  I’ll eat a slice of Limburger on a cracker with Texas Pete -- now that’s a pairing! But seriously, my book is filled with out-of-left-field pairings I want people to try.  

Q. There are some pairings, like cheese with red wine, that can actually be more challenging than expected, despite often being lauded as a no-brainer to cheese newbies. Any cheeses which have had you flummoxed, or pairings which you were sure would be a 10 but ended up being a 3?

Well one of the reasons I love working with flavors is that they always surprise me.  But I don’t think I’ve ever met a cheese I couldn’t find a pairing for.  No.  I’ve found cheeses that were so good I didn’t have the arrogance to want to make a pairing for them – you know, an excellent cheese in a moment of perfection… Sometimes the best pairing is your appreciation and respect -- that’s the condiment, an emotion, awe.

Q. One of the approaches that you advocate is offering your guests individually composed cheese plates, rather than a giant cheese board that everyone plunders. We all love a good cheese mountain at a party, but what are the advantages to this approach, culinarily, aesthetically, or financially?

Financially it’s much more economical to control portions by plating individually instead of as a “buffet”: you use less cheese, there’s less waste (think about what your giant cheese board looks like at the end of a dinner party – yuck!).  Aesthetically you have much more control, in my opinion. And from a culinary perspective you’re telling the person eating exactly how you want the food to be eaten, because you’re essentially presenting a composed bite. Obviously there are advantages to big boards: when you’re serving a large group, for instance, and composing individual plates would be too laborious.

Q. I think many people associate salty/savory with cheese pairings (nuts, charcuterie, pickled foods etc, with maybe one sweet pairing on the plate (eg the ubiquitous blue cheese with fig-something-something). Your approach is much more adventurous and creative on the sweet side of the spectrum, with all kinds of amazing fudges, brittles, chocolates, marshmallows, chutneys and more featured in the book. Do you think this is an under-explored side of the cheese plate?

First I have to say that I have a major sweet tooth.  I love sugar, I do.  So it’s a personal preference, in part.  But from a professional perspective, I really enjoy the textures that sugar can lend to a pairing: the crunch of brittle, the silkiness of caramel, the airiness of a marshmallow or a merengue.  Cheese is savory, but its undertone can be quite sweet, especially when you’re talking about cooked, aged cheeses – think Cheddar, Alpines, Pecorinos. So I always felt that sweet deserved as much space as savory.  To be honest, I never really look at what other people are doing, or what is the “norm” when pairing.  I just do my thing and hope people like it.  For me personally, my creativity is internal, it comes from my own interests, struggles, and journey.  I mean, I’m curious about other creatives and their work, but I’m not judging my own work by anybody elses.  That is kind of my nightmare, actually.  

Q. This book was published by Rizzoli, acclaimed as an art/design/culture imprint, and the photography in the book is stunning. Did Rizzoli, or Noah Fecks — the photographer — bring their own approach which informed the final product?

Absolutely! In the early days of fleshing out the book, my editor Jono Jarrett and I talked a lot about how the book should look.  I was adamant that I didn’t want this book to look like other cheese books.  There’s a visual cliché for cheese: I call it farmhouse aesthetic, that rough-hewn farm table, magic hour light, slate, grapes, figs, whatever look, I’m over it.  SO BORING.  I’ve always hated it, since day one of when I started having my work photographed years ago.  So I told Jono I didn’t want to work with anyone who’d worked on a cheese project.  He suggested Noah and then Noah suggested Reclaim Design for prop and set styling – a genius move.  The first time we all got together, I showed them a bunch of the best-selling cheese books and we went through the pictures, and I talked about why I didn’t like them, and what I wanted instead. Then for each entry I wrote a visual treatment, what the theme of the entry was and it’s visual inspiration, what the colors of the food were.  Then Reclaim would bring all of these amazing props to set and we’d vibe on how to roll it out.  And Noah shot in this style that we called “crispy”: filled with life and color and exactitude.  It was an amazing collaborative experience, and being a restaurant person, I thrive on that.  We lifted each other and it shows in the work, I think. I could’ve shot this book 100 time over.  It was an amazing experience. A true highlight of the process of making a book.

Q. Are there any cheeses that you’ve discovered recently that you would recommend?  

Maybe these cheese aren’t *so” new, but I’m obsessed with Veronica Pedraza’s cheeses at Meadowood Farms.  She keeps coming up with new ones and they’re amazing.  And I just love that she works with sheep and sheep’s milk, which is so underrepresented in this country. I’m a total Meadowood fangirl.

Q. As you know, I’m at the Cellars at Jasper Hill right now, as a Cave & Creamery Intern. Would you be willing to propose a pairing that’s not in the book, perhaps with Bayley Hazen Blue? This is a cheese I’ve had a hand in working on, with both the Cheesemaking and Affinage experts at Jasper Hill, so I’d love to see what you’d propose for it.

A. Absolutely!

Bayley Hazen Blue with Dark Chocolate, Hazelnut and Castelvetrano Olive Bark

Ingredients: Dark Chocolate, Hazelnut, & Castelvetrano Olives

Drain 6 pitted Castelvetrano olives and dry with a paper towel. Thinly slice and set aside.  Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Melt 5 ounces best-quality dark chocolate on the top of a double boiler or a glass bowl fitted over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally with a heatproof spatula

Spread the chocolate in an even ½-inch layer onto the prepared sheet pan.  Sprinkle the sliced olives and 2 tablespoons toasted chopped hazelnuts onto the chocolate, gently pressing onto the surface with a spatula.  Cool on the sheet pan for an hour or so, until the chocolate sets.  Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature.

(Photo of Tia Keenan courtesy Kerstin Rodgers)

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American Cheese Society 2016: Best Of Show

We have our top winners! The American Cheese Society 2016 competition winners were announced last night in Des Moines, Iowa, and here are the results! The big winner, for Best Of Show, was Little Mountain, from the Roelli Cheese Company.  Chris Roelli has been a long time fixture and award-winning maker on the Wisconsin cheese scene (as well as being an official “Master Cheesemaker” in that state), and this win is well deserved (you can see my post from four years ago, about his Red Rock cheese, here).   

Bleating Heart, who did well at the 2015 ACS competition, stepped it up by entering the Best Of Show 2nd Place ranks, as did The Farm at Doe Run, makers of longtime Cheese Notes favorite Hummingbird. 

3rd Place was also a tie, with the Caves of Faribault getting the red ribbon for their Jeffs’ Select Gouda, and Murrays Cheese and Jasper Hill Farm winning for their collaboration cheese, Greensward. 

Speaking of that last one, there are more and cheeses showing up at the ACS competition that are made at one location and aged elsewhere, a clear sign of the maturation and expansion of Affinage in America. The Greensward starts it’s life as a Harbison, made at Jasper Hill, which is shipped to the Murray’s Caves when green, where the ace team at Murray’s take over, washing and caring for the wheels to produce the funky final product. You can read more about the Greensward in my piece about booze-washed cheeses for Edible Manhattan. 

1st Place Best of Show  Little Mountain, Roelli Cheese Company Inc, WI 

2nd Place Best of Show (tie) Buff Blue, Bleating Heart Cheese, CA St. Malachi Reserve, The Farm at Doe Run, PA 

3rd Place Best of Show (tie) Jeffs’ Select Gouda, Caves of Faribault, MN   Greensward, Murray's Cheese & Jasper Hill Farm

If you want to see all of the winners, across all categories (be warned, it’s a big list!) you can see the complete list of winners here (PDF):  http://www.cheesesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2016-Winners-for-Website-3.pdf

(Photos courtesy of (from top): American Cheese Society, Bleating Heart Cheese, The Farm at Doe Run Dairy, Caves of Faribault, Murrays Cheese)

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ACS 2016 Awards Live Stream

Wishing you were in Des Moines to watch the announcement of the ACS 2016 Competition winners (aka the Oscars of the cheese world)? Well, if you can’t be there in person, you can stream it live via the American Cheese Society website! Link is here: http://www.cheesesociety.org/cheese-stream-2016/

Pictured above is the moment from ACS 2015, when Celtic Blue Reserve was announced as Best Of Show. Who will win this year? Tune in to find out! 

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So honored to be doing an Instagram takeover for the Cellars at Jasper Hill! Follow along over at @jasperhillfarm. #repost @jasperhillfarm : ・・・ "The man, the myth, the legend--Matt Spiegler, aka @cheesenotes, will be taking over our IG account for a few weeks. Check out what he's up to and see Jasper Hill from inside the vaults!" (at Jasper Hill Farm)