#springbrookfarm

[fromageselfies]

Is it a cheese, or is it a tiger?! This cheese is looking FIERCE! Just look at that rind- a perfect reminder that wheels of cheese are each like a piece of art in their own right! So, let's cover the deets (we've talked about a cheese from Springbrook Farm before- Tarentaise. Tarentaise Reserve actually took best of show at ACS in Sacramento this year!). I present to you: Reading Raclette!

Country of Origin: USA- Vermont, in particular (and actually, the cheese's name is taken from the town where they are based!)

Milk type: raw cow milk

Rennet type: Animal (sorry, vegetarian friends!)

Springbrook Farm, the company that makes Reading and Tarentaise, is a really neat organization. They started a foundation, called the Farms for City Kids Foundation (we've talked about this before!), who's main goal is to bring underprivileged inner city children to the farm for a week, where they can learn about farm life, and get a break from their own routines. Talk about giving back to the community! You know, the more research that I do about particular farms, companies, and distributors, the more drawn to Vermont I am. With Springbrook Farm, and Jasper Hill Farm, Vermont is lucky enough to have multiple residents who REALLY give back to the community. I love seeing that! 

But I digress- back to the cheese! It's no secret that winter is my least favorite time of year (cold! ack!), but I do secretly love it because  melty, gooey cheese dishes and meals become so much more commonplace. Raclette is one of my favorite things- and a lot of people don't realize that not only is the CHEESE called Raclette, but the machine on which you melt the cheese (whether you have a handheld one that works over flames, or a huge electric one that melts half wheels at a time) is also called a raclette! So, you melt your Raclette (or other alpines) on your raclette! And that is exactly what I plan on doing with this cheese when I get home tonight. The only decision- whether to melt it atop a baguette with cornichons, or to melt it over steamed veggies and steak!

I keep going on tangents, don't I? Well, let's talk a little bit more about Reading and Springbrook Farm. Both Reading and Tarentaise are American originals that were modeled after Alpine greats (for Reading- Raclette; for Tarentaise-Beaufort). The cheesemakers actually contracted out a European cheesemaker to come and show them the ways of Alpine cheesemaking, to end up with the best product possible. This explains why the milk is raw, and the rennet animal- European traditions! The milk for Reading is drawn from a single herd of about 40 Jersey cows (which explains the yellow color of the paste!), and the end product is a semi soft, creamy, melt on your tongue cheese with a little bit of funk.  When doing a raclette demo in store, I will almost always get at least one scrunched up nose at the scent- melty cheese can have a LOT of funk sometimes, but don't let that discourage you from the deliciousness that is molten Reading Raclette! After all, it is the perfect season for raclette!

[fromageselfies]

Today, I've got a big beautiful wheel of alpine goodness to share with you- Spring Brook Farm's Tarentaise! Quick overview for you:

Milk type: raw cow's milk!

Country of Origin: USA- Vermont, specifically! One of the states that I consider to be a the forefront of artisanal cheese in the US!

Rennet type:  their label only says "rennet" on it, so I'm not sure.... US law doesn't require cheesemakers to distinguish between the rennets that they use. Weird, when they care so much about raw milk and HARMLESS cheese mites, huh? Seeing as they were trained in the arts of Alpine cheeses by a french cheesemaker though... my guess is that they use traditional (animal) rennet.

So, this is probably going to seem weird to you, unless you've experienced, but the cheeses that this company makes, make both my sister and I's mouths have some weird reaction- she described it as itchy (she tried their other cheese, Reading, a raclette style one), and I had this baby- and for me, it manifested itself as making it taste very piquant, in the very back of my mouth. No one else tasting either of the cheeses had this occur, and my boss says that it's a genetic thing- which I had never heard of! A little bit of research, and come to find that this usually happens with raw milk cheeses (yep), and while I can't tell you the exact science of it, it probably has to do with the free fatty acids (hey, I just learned more about those this week in my cheese- studying!) breaking down over time. Anyway, my sister kept exclaiming, while shaking her hands "weird! so weird! WEIRD" whereas I actually enjoyed it (well, minus the 'everyone-looking-at-me-like-I'm-crazy-when-I-try-to-describe-what's-going-on-in-my-mouth'). Has this ever happened to you?!

Anyway, this is their signature wheel (of the two that they make!), and it is aged for 10-12 months. Sometimes you'll find those little clusters of crunchyness in it too, like a lot of aged/ Alpine cheeses. Which, to me, only makes it even better! Their cows are grass fed, which gives both cheeses an extremely yellow color once cut open, and that, combined with the raw milk, make this a great example of terroir, in my opinion. Modeled after the French cheese Beaufort, the farm puts out between 75-100 wheels of Tarentaise weekly. And they've only been around as a dairy for less than a decade. Crazy, right?! And while Reading is made with milk sourced from a couple of farms nearby, Tarentaise is an actual farmstead cheese, made only with milk produced right there on their own farm!

The coolest thing about this cheese though, is that the farm is based around this foundation that they started, called Farms for City Kids Foundation, which brings inner city children to the farm to learn about all aspects of farm life for a week. Anyway, if you want to read up on their program a little bit, here's their link! http://farmsforcitykids.org/our-program/  *While I know that all sales from Reading go to funding the program, I'm not sure about Tarentaise.

Like other alpine style cheeses, this cheese is nutty, almost fruity, and for me, is piquant. I took some home when C had a friend over a couple of weeks ago, and I made appetizers with thinly sliced Tarentaise placed over slices of fresh garlic sourdough, sprinkled on some pepper, and threw under the broiler until it was melted and bubbly. EVERYONE was happy. It's also in the running to be used at my next beer and cheese tasting-if I use it, its going with a cabernet barrel aged Oatmeal Porter.