July 1, 2008
Last weekend I joined my dad in Connecticut for the annual North Eastern Organic Farming Association farm tour. This year the tour was conveniently located in Fairfield County making it a very quick trip on Metro-North. The tour included three organic farms: Holbrook Farm in Bethel, New Pond Farm in Redding and The Hickories in Ridgefield. All three of these farms are extremely diversified for various reasons. Holbrook due to being confined to such a small space (13 acres) and the need to plant companion crops to ward off disease since this is one of the most strictly self-enforced organic farms around. New Pond Farm is larger (122 acres) and grows and raises something of a menagerie of crops and creatures because it is primarily an educational facility for children- to begin with, they have twelve different breeds of cows. The Hickories is another story altogether because they are one of the largest CSA Farms in Fairfield County. 
Maybe because it was the first farm on the tour, but Holbrook Farm was the most informative. John and Lynn Holbrook spared no detail in describing how they have been running their farm for upwards of twenty-five years. When they began the farm they had young children and wanted to make things sustainable after having left higher paying jobs in the pharmaceutical industry and they began to reuse and recycle anything they could find. The greenhouses are built with the bleachers from the local high school and the chicken coop from an older dilapidated neighboring farm.
The Holbrooks come from Quaker stock in Indiana and have a lot of faith in the earth. One gets the feeling part of their organic method comes from their belief in prayer and its ability to save a crop more than a pesticide. Holbrook raises money for Dafur believing in some kind of farmers’ karma. He is also interested in helping newer immigrant farmers to grow the crops from home that they are so fond of. Working with Mexican and Guatemalan farmers he has started growing Okra, different varieties of peppers and other hot spices. And despite his strong Christian faith the only prostelyzing done on the farm tour was to advocate farming. Holbrook told everyone to “tear up your front yards, fill them with plants…just not corn!” He warned everyone that the Midwest won’t be able to fill our bellies with soy and maize forever.
As mentioned New Pond Farm is mainly educational, but they do produce a fair amount of food and a lot of this is used in the Plough to Plate Program at New Milford Hospital which provides fresh local food to patients. They provided us with lunch , including some of their own produce and cheese. And the cheese, particularly the cheddar was surprisingly good, it was mild and creamy with a fruity sharpness. This cheese has a very interesting back-story since the milk comes from very different breeds of cow and some of the cows are even mutts.
New Pond Farm runs a summer camp as well, teaching kids from all parts of Fairfield County about farming, history, cooking and nature. The rolling acreage is so beautiful it makes you want to settle in for a while. 
The last farm on the tour, The Hickories, is a layman’s dream. With a very loyal CSA the farm grows what its customers want. The farmers and the CSA members choose crops together at the beginning of the season and work together to create a filling, well balanced CSA box. The farm even teaches its members how to cook some of the rarer crops they provide. In addition we were able to pick our own strawberries, good organic strawberries that are small but packed with flavor and sweetness. (A)
June 25, 2008
When I was a kid, I liked my burgers cheese-free. My younger brother preferred cheeseburgers and other things I wasn’t allowed to have when I was the only child, like white bread and pixie stix. Enforcing rules on one kid is hard but two is impossible, I guess. My introduction to American cheese wasn’t until I was seven or eight, and I didn’t like it. I hated how it smelled, how you have to peel the plastic off each slice and I hated how it melted away from the edge of a sandwich at room temperature. I knew that it was not good food, or at least, that’s what I had been taught. And I knew that I wanted to maintain the differences between me and my wild and messy brother. I mean, he even liked chunky, white mayonnaise! So I stuck to burgers. Until a year ago.
I was going to order a burger but my boyfriend ordered a bacon cheeseburger and I had to have one too. It was at a restaurant I respected so I didn’t really think about the cheese options. When it came to me all steamy and greasy I just dove in. It was so good! Maybe cheeseburgers weren’t so bad after all.
A few months later I was taken to Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, one of a few places that claims to have served the first hamburger. Louis’ Lunch is a serious place. They serve their burgers just as they did when they started it all- white toast, broiled patty, raw onion, tomato, cheese. Those are the options. So I ordered one, cheese and all. I watched as the guy made the burgers and was shocked to see that the cheese was applied in liquid form. Yes, it was cheese in a can and it was delicious. The cheese melts with the beef juices and makes the meat taste more buttery. The American cheese stays creamy throughout the whole burger eating experience. I was beginning to come to the dark side.
As a cheese monger, I was still curious about my other options: real cheddar, Swiss, goat cheese, blue cheese. I tried a few at home but I decided that the real cheese flavor got in the way of the beef. In some cases, the funkiness of the cheese made the meat seem kind of rotten and gross.
The burger at Peter Luger’s in Brooklyn sealed the deal. It was the most delicious burger I have ever had. It is served old-style like Louis’ Lunch, raw onion, and american cheese. Don’t ask for ketchup. The meat is so rich and nutty and the cheese emphasizes the natural beef flavors without upstaging them. Lettuce is for salads and real cheese is for other moments. American cheese has its place in my life and I like it that way. (E)
June 18, 2008
Summer is for picnics. Cheese is for picnics. Somehow this makes cheese for summer, at least that’s what logic tells me; but when it is so hot and humid no one wants to eat anything too heavy. That is why selecting a summer cheese is so important, something satisfying and clean that will pair well with lemonade, lagers and white wine. I imagine summer cheeses as being freshed and less complex than winter cheeses, I think of cheeses that go well with fish and vegetables and anything grilled.
There is a place in South Eastern Connecticut called Beltane Farm that has a small flock of Oberhalsi and La Mancha goats. In terms of fresh chevre this is my favorite. It is creamy and rich with subtle citrus flavors. It is more complex than a lot of fresh chevre I have had from other places and I have no doubt this is due to the high quality of the milk.
Going back to our Mecox Farm visit I have a craving for their washed rind with a nicely hopped lager. The washed rind, Mecox Sunrise, has a lot of fruit overtones. It reminds me of the English Lincolnshire Poacher with less sharpness at the end.
Other favorite summer cheeses are the Tomme de Ma Grand’mere and the Palareto from Caseificio Bertagni- both are pure, pasteurized goat’s milk cheeses. The Grand’mere is French and silky and tastes like a lemon unto itself. I actually think it would be perfect with some prosecco. I’ve liked this cheese for a long time and always is a summer “go to” cheese. The Palareto is a newer, harder to find obsession of mine. It has what I find to be, an ideal texture- soft, but not oozy. This cheese is made by a small Tuscan co-op, nestled in Garfagna, outside the city of Lucca. With some strawberries and some Vernaccia di San Gimignano it would be hard to go wrong. (A)
June 8, 2008
In early April, I was lucky enough to travel to the Piedmont region of Italy. Before my trip I did some research about the local food specialties so I would be sure not to miss them. I read Romancing the Vine by Alan Tardi and One Hundred and One Beautiful Towns of Italy by Paolo Lazzarin and I continued to read other books along the trip about the famous tonda gentile hazelnuts, vitellone crudo, and the legendary local wines.
When we were out to dinner one night my dad ordered riso venere con taleggio, black rice with taleggio, and I knew I needed to try some because that rice was on my list. The rice came and it was super-black with a thin purple liquid visible underneath. It didn’t look very cheesey, but it was like I was eating the cheese itself! The texture was firm and each grain of rice was distinguishable, this was amazing and different. Before the trip was over I bought some riso venere to take home.
A couple weeks ago I attempted to recreate the recipe. I had trouble finding a good reference for cooking the black rice. I decided to just of boil it 2 to 1 with some water like I would make regular white rice. When the grains were finished cooking I began to stir in giant globs of taleggio (total weight=1/2 lb). I was scared that all the cheese would stick together and separate away from the rice. You know, that’s why you’re only supposed to add parmesan at the very end of the risotto making process, because it gets all stringy and clumpy. But that didn’t happen here, the cheese just melted away into the grains of rice and became a secret ingredient.
My best guess about why this worked is because taleggio is a high moisture cheese so it incorporates well with the wet rice. Parmesan it a low moisture cheese so it can’t deal with being surrounded by all that broth-saturated rice and it just sticks to itself (or the spoon). (E)
June 6, 2008
Drinking a beer from the Blue Point Brewing Company is something like sitting in my aunt’s soggy basement rec room and pounding Rolling Rocks stolen from the adult cooler at the Fourth of July picnic- in a good way. The brewery is on a small residential road in Patchogue Long Island and has only a few brewing towers to accommodate the 10,000 kegs of beer they churn out each year. (if you compare that amount to the millions Budwieser produces or even the hundreds of thousands produced by a craft brewer like Sierra Nevada and you get the idea.)
Almost everything Blue Point brews can be classified as a session beer. For the most part (add maybe it had something to do with the extremely humid island air) I could sit around outside, drink this beer and eat some grilled meat. Most of the information I gathered about the beer did come after the fact as the tasting room bartenders know next to nothing about the beer they are pouring except that it tastes good, and they were awfully friendly which made it ok.
The signature Toasted Lager is a good beer, solid and not very surprising. What makes it interesting is that it is brewed over a live gas powered flame. This is a traditional way of brewing but has generally been replaced with steam heat. The live flame creates hot spots and a touch of a burt flavor. The open flame is what makes the brewery unique and worth a visit- although they give so few tours you are unlikely to see the fire ablaze.
Oddly I really like the Blueberry Ale, it was a bit subtler than most fruit brews. It would go nicely with some young goats milk cheeses- maybe even the Dutchman’s Flat from Juniper Grove which is also fruity in a lemon flavored way. I also liked the Summer Ale, it was a bit citrus flavored because of the wheat added to it towards the end of the brewing process. I also tried the ESB about which I am still undecided- there was a mysterious cherry flavor in there that would have cough syrup junkies the world over won over. I would pair that with something strong and swiss, or some of the Marcel Petite Comté with all of its nutty onion flavors.
If we had had more time and fewer miles to drive maybe we would have gotten some full pints there. For me it was strange to find a tasting bar that serves full pints. A lot of locals were gathering there that rainy afternoon and sipping on special in-house concoctions. I took my beer home in a gallon jug and consumed the summer ale with some burgers covered with the mild sweet Mecox Bay Dairy Cheddar from just a few miles down the road. It was a happy marriage to say the least. The tartness of the beer and the sharper elements of the cheese complimented each other well and helped me to digest my hearty meal. (A)
June 3, 2008
After many wrong turns, driving back and forth and back again because of our inability to follow simple directions- we made it! I grew up on Long Island Sound but on Saturday I felt like a city slicker; it has been too long since I spent a day at the beach. Emily and I were fortunate enough to have a shared weekend day off, a definite rarity. The proprietor and cheesemaker, Art Ludlow, at Mecox Bay Dairy was not so lucky but he did manage to take time from his nonstop schedule to give us a tour of the farm and give a taste of every cheese he makes.
Arriving around 3 o’clock as we were told we stopped at the farm stand operated by Art’s brother Harry who has a vegetable farm, greenhouse, chickens and pigs. The Mecox Bay Farm has been in the Ludlow family for generations but until recently was a potato farm. The brothers have since branched out into their respective ventures. We bought some honey and jam and some greens that no one believed we were capable cooking and headed out to the barn. Wandering around we found Art with his week old calf in the back barn. As the calf jumped around and licked our hands he explained the reasons to separate the newborn from her mother within twelve hours of birth. Because he has only around fifteen cows he needs them to be as healthy as possible. The sooner separates mother from child the easier it will be; in addition the mother will milk more evenly well into the future if the calf isn’t favoring one teat over the other and disturbing milk distribution.
We then moved into the milking room. There we found about eight Jersey cows hanging out in the shade with a few chickens and roosters at their feet. They milk the cows twice a day and get around fifty gallons and in the course of seven days this is just enough to make cheese twice a week. Of course the amount of milk varies depending on the season, as does the quality. Art explained how the milk produced in the spring and summer while the cows are eating fresh grass is lighter and more floral than when the cows have to eat dried grasses and produce fattier milk. The quality of the milk affects the terroir of the cheese. Eating raw milk cheese one is essentially sharing the grasses the cow has consumed therefore the butteriness, sweetness or savoriness can change depending on the season.
Art Ludlow’s cheesemaking facilities are some of the most admirable and well-crafted I have seen. Since he decided to go into cheesemaking on his own about five years ago Art Ludlow had to figure out most things for himself. He didn’t have a lot of money to start things going so he had to depend on some handiwork and the generous nature of friends and colleagues. One of his milk heaters is an old crock-pot the other looks like it may have been used to brew beer. (Oddly, in the corner of the room taking up a great deal of space is a pasteurization tank that has never been used. There was a moment when Ludlow thought he would make milk and butter but in the end he realized cheese is more sustainable.) On one of the tanks is an automated stirring arm so that two cheeses can be stirred while only one person is working. And usually there is only one person working, Ludlow has one fulltime worker but the cheese is made solely by Art himself.
Most of what Art Ludlow does in the cheesemaking room was taught to him by Peter Dickinson a cheesemaker and instructor in Vermont. He has tried various recipes and learned to improve them through trial and error and a lot of waiting. The waiting is what makes cheese a more sustainable product than milk. When the market is bad or the season isn’t right you can let cheese age- the same does not go for milk. Art Ludlow’s aging room is similar to a walk in refrigerator; in fact it is a walk in refrigerator, which makes regulating the moisture level an ever-present problem. The room is lined with shelves, both wooden and plastic depending on what kind of cheese is sitting on them. For the washed rind cheeses Ludlow prefers the wooden shelves fearing that plastic won’t produce the same flavors. Some of the cheeses have been sitting in this room for nearly two years and we actually got to taste one of those…but more on that later, it’s time to go to work. (A)
May 31, 2008
Today I bought a glass quart of milk at the Farmer’s Market from the people from Ronny Brook and I realized how long it has been since I have bought real milk for my house. I don’t drink much milk and when I put something in my coffee it tends to be soy because I find it sweet in addition to milky. This morning I wanted some granola with milk, not yogurt as usual. I was about to buy some Silk Soy Milk (the largest, most widely available soy milk provider in the US) when something stopped me. I found that more important than the health and flavor of soy milk is the source of my food. So yes, being a cheesemonger I probably consume quite enough dairy but reading more and more about soy just makes me feel uncomfortable about eating the popular bean. Soy is rarely produced on a small scale; it is produced on the same agribusiness fields as corn and other highly subsidized crops. In addition because there is such a high demand for soy products in the US beans are often imported from South America or even Africa. So yes, less energy is used in the actual growing and cultivating of soy in comparison to the much longer production chain for cows but when it is being shipped around the world it becomes difficult to say.
When presented with the two creamers for my coffee or liquid for my milk I think it will still have to be circumstantial. Drinking cow’s milk from an unknown source frankly for me is just gross. So for my coffee from the corner store I will get some soy, but when I am home and able to buy my milk from the farmer I think I am back on real dairy. I would rather support a small farmer upstate than a giant anonymous agribusiness that can’t be traced and possible connected to some sort of bio-fuel. (A)
May 27, 2008
Feeling a bit tired on Saturday morning and dreading the journey to an ever crowed Union Square Market I decided to make due with my much smaller neighborhood Greenmarket. Mostly I just needed some greens, some beef and a few yogurts and as usual I ended up leaving with much more. The funny thing is is that I always walk away with whatever looks best that day, even if I don’t know how to cook it. Except for the pound and a half of rhubarb I am still ruminating over (any ideas?) I think I will be fine.
Maybe one would think because I am a cheesemonger I wouldn’t need to buy more cheese from other sources but who can say no to the cheesemakers themselves. Chris, from Consider Bardwell Farm in West Pawlet Vermont was at the stand with a few cheeses I had never tried before. They were pretty busy but I did get a chance to talk with them for a few minutes. They are still a bit short on goat’s milk cheeses but they will be ready soon- so naturally I went for the cow’s milk varieties. I have a weakness for alpine cheese- there is something simple and hearty about them that cannot be disputed. That being said I bought some cheese they call Rupert and sat in the park with a loaf of bread and a hot coffee. Tangier and less sweet than a Swiss Gruyere the Rupert made a perfect Comte’ like breakfast cheese. I would have liked it to be a bit more aged in order to get that extra crunchy texture, but I am sure there are some older wheels out there. It is an easy cheese, something for the summer that you don’t have to think about too much. It goes equally well with an orange juice as with a hoppy lager. There were definitely some fruitier notes in there, especially in the mild aroma. I bet it tastes great with raspberries too. I will have to try that. (A)
May 13, 2008
Standing in a ninety degree room with your back bent over the side of a six by four foot vat and raking through pound upon pound of unpasturized milk my not seem like an ideal weekend away from the city, but then again, it just might. The kind people of Cato Corner Farm in Colchester, Connecticut were kind enough to let me have a hand at cheese making. The farm is located in southeastern Connecticut, a ten minute drive or so from the shores of New London. The farm is also about ten minutes from where I spent most of my childhood and hanging around with the animals there and working on the cheese made me realize that this is the cheese that comes from my land. Cheese, like wine, has a distinctive element of terroir to it and if there should be one cheese and one cheese alone for me to eat, this stuff would probably be it. Traditionally terroir has had something to do with the make-up of a people who eat the particular food, tastes that are genetically embedded are passed down through generations according to what is available given the land and the climate. In America this is certainly an altered concept that seems to be coming back into fashion.
Essentially eating locally is about eating the food you were always meant to eat given your particular environment. I consider it to be the “honey principle”- for me it began there. In honey we can find the easiest and most natural way to alleviate allergies, the local honey contains small amounts the very pollen that is causing all of your sneezing. The honey reflects the possibility of a symbiotic relationship with our food sources. If we eat what are meant to eat there is a good chance we will have less problems with our physical health.
To come out and say these things, is for me, something of a breakthrough. There was a definite phase during the blur of my undergraduate years when I took the word “natural” to have those strong quotation marks surrounding it. I am not at all ready to give up these quotation marks completely, but in terms of my food, I think I am ready to cross over -to natural. Not only does the cheese in Connecticut reflect the entire ecosystem that surrounds it but it tastes good and feels nutritious.
It has taken us a while to reach this point in America perhaps because high-brow food culture is only now becoming comfortable with true American cuisine. There is no need to desperately turn to the Continent in search of something equally decadent and high quality. Cato Corner Farm produces cheeses of varied styles which in turn reflect American food culture. As a friend pointed out to me one evening over Chinese food, where else in the world can we eat with chopsticks and think nothing of it. We change and rearrange our eating habits constantly in America, our food traditions are innumerable. What remains and what we must hold strong to is the quality. And if we are taking from many traditions we must also remain true to each of those respective traditions; we have our work cut out for us.
So standing there, with my hands is scaldingly hot milk made a lot of sense for my health. Those particular cows have spent their lives amidst the same vegetation and air that I have, we have inhaled the same salty breezes and probably eaten some of the same dirt. The nutrition they can provide me with is already aligned with my body’s regular patterns. I will still enjoy eating all kinds of imported cheese, but now nothing will feel as (“?”) Natural as the milk with which I have shared a geographical lineage. (A)
May 8, 2008
Last week I was very surprised to meet two makers of England’s Westcombe Cheddar. Tom Calver and his father were visiting New York’s specialty cheese stores before heading up to Vermont to Jasper Hill Farm. When they introduced themselves, I was a little embarrassed because I’ve never tried Westcombe Cheddar. They were so friendly, they didn’t hold it against me.
Our store stocks Montgomery’s and Keen’s Cheddar and a cheddar like cheese called Lincolnshire Poacher. Tom describes his cheese as in between the rounded, meatiness of Monty’s and the grassy earthiness of Keen’s. Tom told us that he had brought some cheese with him and offered us a taste. Of course we said yes and he pulled out a giant hunk of his family’s Caerphilly. As we smelled the rind he told us about the cave they built with a stream running through it. The furry gray mold smelled so mushroomy and clean, it was like we were standing in the cave. The mold must love all that humidity! They cheese was beautifully creamy and earthy. Then the bad news: Tom said that they never make enough of their Caerphilly to export it. Utter torture! He did ask us to come to Somerset to make cheese for a couple days. I wish I could just pack up and join them.
Actually, I wish I could join them just in going up to Jasper Hill. The Calver’s told me that they were especially interested in seeing the robots that turn the wheels of cheddar. I guess they want to expand their own caves. Jasper Hill is currently building a huge complex of caves, eight, I think. (E)
