Food Traveler -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 11/17/2000
Last Visited: 12/18/2001
We met with several of the cheeses' creators and purveyors including Allison Hooper of Vermont Butter & Cheese Company, one of the few of these brands available in my local stores (Wild Oats carries it in Connecticut; check your local natural foods store), Deborah Messing, who buys cheese for the Hunger Mountain Coop in Montpelier, Vermont, and Ross Gagnon, the delightful cheesemaker- more accurately the cheesemaster- of Shelburne Farms.
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We weren't up quite as early as Ross, who rises at 4:30 each morning so that he can start the cheesemaking immediately after the morning milking.But we arrived at the Farm Barn, where the cheddar is produced and aged, in time to see the milk being unloaded, by hose, into the 600 gallon stainless steel vat.
This cheese is made from raw, that is unpasteurized, unhomogenized cows' milk.I was not alarmed by this, even though, as a chef, I've always been meticulous about sanitation.There is much debate among cheesemakers, food scientists, and government agencies over the use of raw milk.Especially recently, with numerous, sometimes deadly, food borne illness making headlines across the country, there has been a push by federal regulators to require pasteurization.
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Ross Gagnon, Shelburne Farm's cheesemaker, explained that the temperature modulation must be carefully controlled and monitored at each step.The starter bacteria are added at 75o.This begins the development of the cheddar's distinctive flavor.
The milk is then heated for an hour to 90o at which point the rennet is added.Rennet, an enzyme extracted from calves' stomachs, causes the milk proteins to coagulate.It is ready to be cut when a finger (impeccably sanitized, of course) dipped into it lifts up a softly solidified mass the consistency of yogurt.
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But to Ross it appears to be a joy.I'm convinced there is an element of Ross' sunny attitude in the cheese he produces.Good Karma, perhaps.
The hoops are pressed overnight.The next morning the cheese blocks are removed and wrapped.They are aged, at 42o for 6 months to 2 years, sometimes a little longer.The cheese is then sold to retailers or consumers through the Farm's stores and catalogue.The sale of this artisan cheese helps support the educational programs to which Shelburne Farms and its personnel are so dedicated.
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Before we left, however, Ross took three blocks of cheese from the aging room for us to sample.It was remarkable how different these cheeses, from milk of the same cows, processed in the same manner, by the same cheesemaker, were from one another.It was easy to identify which had been aged the longest by its drier texture and tangier or sharper taste.All were delicious.Ross cut us each bars of our favorites and, as is done for the catalogue sales, we dipped them in wax to keep them fresh and stamped them with the date they were made.
I brought mine home, along with samples I purchased of the other artisan cheeses I had tasted, to my family.We have enjoyed them as snacks and in recipes.But the cheese we're really looking forward to is that which we left in Ross' expert care for proper aging.That cheddar that will be arriving several months from now.The cheese that Mom made.
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