Six Producers - One Dream
/Hello Cheese Enthusiasts!
When I wrote my blog post Back to Nature – Wood Bound, I may have been premature when writing that piece in June, as some of them were not available until the wintertime, so I decided to revisit this cheese style as many were coming available this month.
This week’s post, could really be considered a “Part II” to the “Wood Bound” story, so I hope that you will take a few minutes to reread it.
I have had the dream of comparing these producers side-by-side for a long time, but I did not have the means to do it until my friend Robin Luke who is a cheese specialist at Tony’s Fine Foods was able to help me connect the dots and bring a few of the harder to find ones together.
I wanted to try these side-by-side, not to pick which one was best, but rather to enjoy each one as an individual, and taste each cheesemaker’s interpretation of this classic wintertime Alpine cheese.
From East to West, they are:
· Petite Vaccarinus – Switzerland – Thermized Milk
· L’Edel de Cléron – Cléron, France - Pasteurized
· Harbison – Greensboro, Vermont - Pasteurized
· Ebenezer – Sequatchie, Tennessee - Pasteurized
· Rush Creek – Dodgeville, Wisconsin – Raw Milk
· Quinta – Point Reyes, California – Pasteurized
While they are all made from Cow’s milk, and they are all wrapped with a band of Spruce cambium (the tree’s inner bark layer) band known as a “Sangle”, that is where the similarities may end.
Let’s look a little closer at each of these six cheeses:
Petite Vaccarinus – This cheese from Switzerland is very similar to Vacherin Mont d’Or AOP, but it is slightly smaller, and may not fit the stringent rules associated with AOP or PDO cheeses. It is produced from September to March, from what is known as ‘hay milk’ (cows fed from hay in the winter instead of grass). It is made from thermized cows’ milk (heated 145-149 ° for 15 seconds) and it has a really runny, soft paste, with a barnyardy taste with notes of fresh grass, cream, as well as wood and tannin flavors closer to the edge thanks to the wooden band. It has a salmon colored rind on top that is wavy and protects the golden interior. Petit Vaccarinus is named after the monk who allegedly produced the Vacherin Mont d'Or. Unlike the other cheeses shown today, this one is also contained in a small wooden box known as a boîtes. Weighs approximately 1 lb.
L’Edel de Cléron – Produced in the Franche-Comté region of France by Fromagerie Jean Perrin. This cheese was one of my earliest cheese inspirations and is produced in two different sizes: 2 kilo wheel (4.4 lbs.) that can be cut into wedges, or a smaller 200 kg wheel (7 oz.) that is perfect for a party. Much like the Petit Vaccarinus, it is also shipped in a small wooden box to help hold its shape. This cheese is made from pasteurized milk of the Montbéliarde and Simmental cows. This cheese also has a fine, light mold rind (similar to Brie) rather that the pinkish hue of the Petit Vaccarinus. Spoonable, but not runny it is delicious, creamy and woodsy. This cheese really got its spotlight when Vacherin Mont d'Or was banned in the late 1980’s. Because L’Edel de Cléron was produced with pasteurized milk, our FDA deemed it safe to bring into the U.S. and it became one of my top selling cheeses. Produced year round.
Harbison – Produced in Greensboro, Vermont by Jasper Hill Farm. This cheese was named after Anne Harbison, seen by many to be the grandmother of Greensboro, VT.
HARBISON Photo courtesy of Cheese Connoisseur
Brothers Andy and Mateo Kehler bought their farm back in 1998 and for the next few years they transformed the old Jasper Hill Farm with its 40 year old barn into a true affinage center…complete with a 22,000 sq. ft. underground aging cellars.
Harbison’s spoonable texture begins to develop in their vaults, though the paste continues to soften on the way to market. Harbison has a light bloomy rind, just like the L’Edel de Cléron and is woodsy and sweet, balanced with lemon, mustard, and vegetal flavors. A true farmstead cheese that is made in 9 oz. wheels that are aged 6 to 13 weeks. Produced year round.
EBEBEZER Photo courtesy of Sequatchie Cove Creamery
Ebenezer – Produced by Sequatchie Cove Creamery in Sequatchie, Tennessee. I first wrote about this cheese company back in October (you can read about their whole line up by clicking here). This cheese is named for a small historic town in Sequatchie Valley. Made in the same style as the previous mentioned cheeses, but Ebenezer is also a washed-rind style cheese…Not surprising after you learn that Nathan Arnold trained as a cheesemaker in the Franche-Comté region of France.
The first thing I noticed when opening this cheese was is size (about 1.25-1.50 lbs.) and the deep smoky aroma coming from the Spruce strap. It is meaty and rich with notes of bacon and pine, the texture is silky and soft and gets runny with maturity. Produced seasonally.
Rush Creek Reserve – Produced by Uplands Cheese in Dodgeville, Wisconsin (Just west of Madison) is a rare one in this group…First, the cheese is a farmstead cheese produced on land that has been a dairy farm for over 100 years. Second (and most importantly), it is made from raw milk, which in this day and age is extremely rare (as raw milk cheeses need to be aged at least 60 days) as most raw milk cheeses you find in the U.S. are harder cheeses. Rush Creek Reserve is a seasonal cheese that is only made in autumn. It has a savory flavor from the rind which gives the custard-soft paste a deep but delicate richness, reminiscent of beef broth or finely cured meat. Made in a 12 oz. wheel
Uplands Cheese is owned and operated by two families: Andy and Caitlin Hatch, and Scott and Liana Mericka who purchased the farm in 2014. This is also a unique 300 acre farm that has been practicing rotational grazing since the 1980’s
Quinta – Produced in Point Reyes, California. The name “Quinta” means “Farmstead” in Portuguese, which pays homage not only to the founder’s maternal grandparents, but to the name of their dairy as well – Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company. The Giacomini family have been producing quality milk on this farm for over 60 years.
Quinta is the newest addition to the Point Reyes family. This cheese enjoys the same Spruce band and like the others, it has a fine white bloomy rind, with an addition of local Bay Laurel leaves on the top and bottom, as their final signature to keeping it local. Produced in a 9 oz. wheel, this cheese is produced year round.
When starting to taste them all, we made sure that all of them had come up to room temperature…this helped all of those wonderful flavors mentioned above (and the smells) come to life. After taking careful notes, we gently warmed them in the oven (as most of them recommended for a special treat). This heating not only changed the smell and taste, but the consistency as well. We were able to dip bits of crusty bread and roasted potatoes into these little rounds of cheese heaven.
Note: All of these cheeses are prone to get spots of white, grey, blue, or brown mold that sometimes appear on the bark-wrapped, bloomy rind. These are totally normal. No need to worry, it’s what’s on the inside that counts!
My thanks to Sequatchie Cove Creamery and Point Reyes Creamery for providing the samples!....I knew that I wanted to tell your story, but could not find them locally …yet!
This was a wonderful way for friends to get together and enjoy cheeses of the season (and year round) and celebrate a style of cheese making that goes back more than 250 years. Now that is something worth celebrating!!
Wishing all of you a happy and safe holidays!
All my best,
Trevor
