Cheddar

Cheddar: A Sensory Exploration

hbrough — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 18:32:28 +0000

Cheddar: A Sensory Exploration hbrough Tue, 12/03/2024 - 13:32

How do you eat Shelburne Farms cheddar? Do you cut it up straight from the fridge? Maybe serve it on crackers? We hope you savor your snack, but do you ever slowly explore the many flavors in cheddar–its full “profile”?

When you’re part of the cheese team at Shelburne Farms, you do! To determine how our cheddars are developing, we explore the full sensory realm.

First the cheese team takes a core sample or “plug” from one of our 40-lbs aged blocks using a cheese trier or cheese iron.

credit: Sarah Webb

Once the plug comes to room temperature, it’s cut into small bite-sized disks for each member. However, the cheese loses some of its volatile and dynamic aroma esters as it sits exposed to oxygen, so each team member breaks their disk in half to expose fresh cheese, then holds it close to their noses for a good whiff.

photo credit: Sarah Webb

Next, we place the small piece in our mouth and squish it between our tongue and the roof of our mouth to coat our palate. From the sensory receptors on our tongues, we’ll pick up on the salty, acidic, bitter, or umami flavors that are common in cheddar cheese.

The process is actually pretty clinical and laborious, but here are the take-aways for you.

1. Let your cheese come to room temperature

As the fat in cheese comes to room temperature, it releases its volatile aromas, which maximize the flavors you can detect.

2. Taste slowly from start to finish

Like wines, all cheeses have a flavor profile. This includes all the different taste sensations that you detect as you eat it—both long and short flavors. Short flavors pop up then quickly vanish. Long flavors last for half or more of the flavor profile. See if you can detect both. Also, don’t forget about aftertaste—the lingering flavor that may appear after you’ve swallowed the cheese.

3. Nose first, mouth second

Our olfactory lobe (nose!) and our tongue define the “flavor” of almost everything we eat. The tongue is the receptor of the different flavor groups: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami. But those flavors can be kind of one note. Sure, sweet is sweet and salty is salty but what is the context in which those flavors emerge? A lot of taste is using your experiences with other foods and aromas to describe what you’re encountering in the cheese.

4. Think beyond “sharp”

A common response to eating cheddar is, “it’s sharp.” But what is “sharp,” exactly? It's become a catch-all term for a lot of sensations we encounter in cheese, but sharp is not universally defined. Is it a strong flavor? Acidic? Bitter? For us, “sharp” is where a noticeably acidic flavor begins to become more prominent. In our 1-year cheddar, this occurs as one of the last sensations when you eat it. In our 2-year, the acidity comes at the beginning.

Putting it all together

Let’s take our 1-year cheddar. Typically, it starts with flavors of salted buttered popcorn, followed by an uptick in acid. That flavor shift can take you a bit by surprise! And no, there’s no buttered popcorn in our cheddar, but I’m relying on my experience with other foods to describe some of the flavors I’m encountering.

Once you start tuning into all your senses, the flavors you detect can get pretty wild–and wide. The folks that make Comté, an alpine cheese made in France, found 83 distinct flavors for their cheese, as identified by Comté’s 160 different cheesemakers and 16 affineurs. The flavors range from the expected: milk, butter, cream; to the descriptive (though not necessarily edible): almond, lemon, honey; fresh cut grass, potato, mushroom; to the unexpected: wet wool, leather, and, my personal favorite, rancid walnut. Again, none of those flavors are in the cheese, but it's what the cheese evokes on the tongue and nose.

Shelburne Farms Cheddar Profiles

As someone who has eaten a fair amount of Shelburne Farms cheddar over the years, here are some common flavors that have been evoked from our various styles of cheese.

6-month: butter, salt, grass, macadamia nut
1-year: salted buttered popcorn, bread, toasted peanuts, cream cheese
2-year: lemon, flinty wet rocks, sulfur, onion
3-year: pineapple, rosemary, pepper, nutmeg
Clothbound: mushroom, beef broth, soil, grapefruit pith
Tractor: chicory, citric acid, grapefruit pith, wet hay

Hopefully these starting points will open your mind to engaging with cheese with all your senses.

photo credit: Carey Nershi

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December 10, 2024

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Shelburne Farms Product Catalog, 2024-25

hbrough — Mon, 04 Nov 2024 17:12:48 +0000

Shelburne Farms Product Catalog, 2024-25 hbrough Mon, 11/04/2024 - 12:12

We're excited to share our new Shelburne Farms Catalog with you! It features our farmstead cheddar and maple syrup, as well as finely crafted products from other Vermont farms and producers.

Take a peek above, then visit our online store to get an early start on holiday gift-giving. If you live locally, you can visit our Farm Store, or place a pre-order for a quick pickup!

Thank you for supporting Shelburne Farms and its educational mission. Every day, we connect people to where their food comes from to help collectively build a more sustainable future. When you enjoy Shelburne Farms cheddar, maple syrup, and other Vermont farm products, you are helping to make a simple idea a reality: that transformational learning, grounded in place and community, is sowing the seeds for growing a healthy and just world.

Don't receive a printed catalog? Request a one here.

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Sun to Cheese: What Does It Mean?

hbrough — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 13:24:01 +0000

Sun to Cheese: What Does It Mean? hbrough Wed, 09/25/2024 - 09:24

We talk a lot about the "Sun to Cheese" story. We even offer a tour by that name. But what does the phrase mean, and how does sunlight become the tasty cheddar we all enjoy?

1. Harvesting the Sun

Millions of humans eat vegetarian diets, but many plants are only digestible by ruminant animals like cows or sheep. Over eons, people have relied on ruminants to convert indigestible plants into edible, storable proteins: milk, cheese, and meat. We are part of a long tradition.

Plant photosynthesis uses the sun's energy to combine carbon dioxide and water into simple sugars.

Through photosynthesis, plants store the sun’s energy as simple sugars, which form the foundation of all our food. Photosynthesis makes life as we know it on Earth possible. Talk about a superpower!

How do our cows take advantage of that? Their special stomachs can digest grass and other plants that we can't.

A ruminant has four stomach compartments, each with a different role in digesting plant fiber.

A ruminant has four stomach compartments. The “rumen” is like a fermentation vat: it’s filled with microorganisms that can break down plant cellulose. (When a cow chews her "cud", she regurgitates softened plant fiber from the rumen and mixes it with saliva to further aid digestion—then she swallows it again!)

But a cow needs a lot of pasture plants—130 pounds a day! So we need to manage our pastures to keep both plants and our cows healthy.

2. Grazing Grass

We maintain a nutritious “salad” of pasture plants—a mix of grasses and protein-rich legumes like red, white, and ladino clover—through "managed" or “rotational” grazing. This involves grazing cows briefly but intensively on small sections of fenced pasture. Each section is then given time to regrow before it’s grazed again.

If grazing is unmanaged, cows quickly eat any new growth (especially of their favorite greens). Plants are continously stressed as they use up root energy to try to grow back. Eventually they can weaken and die, exposing soil.

During peak grazing season, we move our milking cows to a fresh strip of pasture each day and night, after each milking. For animals with lower nutritional demands (immature heifers, nonmilking “dry” cows, beef cows, and sheep), we use a variety of grazing rotations.

130 acres of pasture near the milking parlor are reserved for our milking cows. You can see how we subdivide the pasture into grazing sections.

With managed grazing, the land and animals support each other: the cows fertilize the plants; the plants nourish healthy cows; and a web of roots enrich the soil and store carbon.

In addition to pastures, we mechanically harvest 600 acres of fields to store feed for winter (see our Haying 101 blog), and supplement that with purchased non-GMO grain.

It all adds up to great nutrition for cows to make... milk!

3. It's A Cow's Life

Like all mammal moms, a dairy cow makes milk to feed her babies. So every cow has to have a calf in order to give milk. Over centuries, dairy cows have been bred to make a lot more milk than their babies can consume. We use the rest.

Each dairy cow is bred to have a calf annually. She makes the most milk right after calving and the least toward the end of her lactation cycle. We stop milking her to let her rest at least two months before she calves again. Our average cow has a calf every 13.5 months.

A Brown Swiss cow makes an average of 6 gallons of milk a day for 8-10 months.

The nutrient-rich “colostrum” milk that a cow produces right after giving birth is not used in cheesemaking. It is fed to her calf to help strengthen the calf’s immune system and give it a healthy start in life.

4. Milking It

Our staff milks the cows twice a day, at 4:30AM and 3:30PM.

At each milking, 12 cows at a time file into the parlor and line up with their rears facing a recessed pit. From the pit, the milker preps each cow. She carefully checks each cow’s udder to make sure everything looks healthy, then disinfects each teat with a paper towel (one per cow) before attaching the milk machine.

Anatomy of our milking parlor.

It takes 5-7 minutes for each cow to be milked.

As that's happening, 12 more cows file down the other side of the pit to be prepped. When a cow from the first group finishes milking, the machine is “swung over” to a cow on the other side. Once one side is done, they’re released and a new group files in.

Cows like routine, so they move through the parlor readily, guided by the milker, who also controls manual gates to help usher cows in and out.

The milker can milk about 100 cows in two hours.

Each morning, a cheesemaker retrieves the milk from that morning and the previous evening. It’s a chance to hear from the dairy staff about how the cows are doing, and get any updates that might impact cheesemaking.

So there you have it: From sun to cheese! (Making cheddar is a related story you can read about.)

105

Milking cows produce the milk for our cheddar cheese. We have an additional 90-100 young stock, as well as a few beef cows and 80 sheep ewes.

5. Farming's Future

We believe livestock play a valuable role in sustainable food systems, but we are always asking, "How can we do better?"

We're proud to be a grass-based dairy since the early 1990s. Prioritizing pastures over grain to feed our cows means using fewer inputs and resources. The permanent pastures protect water quality, and our constructed wetlands help absorb manure nutrients directly from our barns and parlor.

So what does “better” look like?

As we aim to achieve net zero here by 2028 (capturing more greenhouse gases than we emit), we’re joining partner organizations to experiment, adapt, and research climate solutions at the dairy, where cow burps and cow manure emit greenhouse gases, mostly methane.

Managed grazing: Our pasture sod and root structures store carbon and will help absorb intense rainfalls, but could they store more carbon?

Diet: We’re feeding our cows a linseed-based supplement and looking into encouraging high-fiber pasture plants to try to reduce methane emissions.

Silvopasture: We’re planting trees in pastures to store more carbon (also grazing cows among existing stands). But trees don’t grow overnight.

Manure management: Can adding biochar (a charcoal-like substance) to liquid manure reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

We’ve found a way to support grassland birds within our dairy system. After a long decline, populations of Bobolinks and Savannah Sparrows (pictured) have rebounded here, thanks to a 20-year research partnership that encouraged us to adjust our haying schedule to give these birds a window to successfully reproduce.

Where does your food come from? How is it grown? Who makes it? Understanding food systems is critical to shaping the future of farming. Our dairy—and entire farm—prompts students to ask questions like these. By seeking and learning the answers, they’ll help build the sustainable food systems of the future.

This story is based on the Sun to Cheese Exhibit in our cheese viewing area. Come visit it yourself, mid-May to mid-October.

Holly Brough

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24 Hours at the Dairy

Our dairy team works every day to make high quality milk from healthy cows raised on pasture. See just some of what they do from pre-dawn to dusk to achieve that goal, and to share the world of dairy farming with others.

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There’s never a quiet time of year for dairy farmers, but haying season can be especially busy. Here's a breakdown of how haying works.

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Meet One of the Herd: Daisy

Farm cows are work animals with one role: to make milk for our farmhouse cheddar. But as Renée LaCoss, herdsman at our Dairy for 15 years shares, bonds develop.

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Vermont Cheese Week at Shelburne Farms

Sarah — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 20:10:33 +0000

Vermont Cheese Week at Shelburne Farms Sarah Tue, 08/13/2024 - 16:10

As founding members and partners of the Vermont Cheese Council, we are thrilled to be celebrating the Council’s first Vermont Cheese Week, September 7–15! Events are happening all over the state, including plenty of cheese-y things to do every day at Shelburne Farms.

Daily staples like our Sun to Cheese Tour, cheesemaking viewing, and Meet a Cheesemaker are all offered. In addition, all week long, you can enjoy our cheeses those from other Vermont cheesemakers and at our restaurant, and check off your cheese and dairy exploration with our Cheese Week bingo card (pick one up at the Farm Store & Welcome Center or Hub).

It’s going to be a fun-filled week celebrating the magic of cheese here at Shelburne Farms. If you can’t make it here, or you’re looking for even more activities to fill your week, check out the Vermont Cheese Week calendar of events. Visit dairy farms, enjoy a cheese focused dinner, or support your favorite cheese makers at their local farmers market. However you celebrate cheese week, it’s guaranteed to be delicious!

Vermont Cheese Week Happenings at Shelburne Farms:

The Art & Science of Cheddar Making

Monday, September 9, 5:30–7:00PM • $25 • Adult Program

Join Creamery Manager Andi Wandt on a deep dive into how we make our farmstead cheese. No cheese class would be complete without a guided tasting across our wide range of cheddars and a block to take home.

REGISTER

Cows, Cheese & Tractors!

Tuesday, September 10, 10:00AM–12:00PM • $5 • Family Program

Recommended for ages 4 and up with an accompanying adult. Hop on the tractor wagon to connect with the pastures, cows, and farmers that get our cheese to your table. Ride by the pastures, visit the calves, and talk with the folks that make our dairy operation possible.

REGISTER

Make a Cheese Board

Tuesday, September 10 • 5:30-7:00PM • $60 • Adult Program

Gather at the Inn with Creamery Manager Andi Wandt as she shares her tips and tricks for building a cheese board and classic pairings. Everyone will make their own board and are welcome to enjoy it picnic-style on the Inn lawn or in the Flower Gardens.

REGISTER

Vermont Cheese Adventure Dinner to Benefit the Vermont Cheese Council

Wednesday, September 11 • 5:30PM • $185 plus tax • Adult Program

This cheese feast is going to be one to remember. Stroll the Farm Barn courtyard with a welcome sip before sitting down to a family-style meal celebrating our vast Vermont cheesemaking community. Ten different creameries will be featured during the dinner, which will benefit the Vermont Cheese Council. Great cheese and a great cause? Count us in!

REGISTER

Pasture Walk

Saturday, September 14, 9–11:00AM • $25 • Adult Program

Join Dairy Manager Sam Dixon for a walk (with spectacular views!) and learn how we manage our pastures to keep them productive and healthy, providing essential nutrients to our Brown Swiss cows.

REGISTER

Cheese Sensory Exploration

Saturday, September 14, 1–2:00PM • $30 • Adult Program

Shelburne Farms Cheese Sales Manager and UVM Instructor Tom Perry will guide you on a sensory journey through the varieties of Shelburne Farms cheddar cheese. Expand your palate and your cheese knowledge!

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24 Hours at the Dairy

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Your Top 7 Cheese Questions Answered by a Cheesemaker

We get asked a lot of questions at Farmers Markets. Here are seven of the most common questions and answers. Working the Market is one of my favorite parts of my job -- sharing Shelburne Farms with locals, regular customers, and visitors!

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Pairing and Plating Shelburne Farms Cheddar

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August 20, 2024

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Andi's Pimento Cheese

Sarah — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 14:45:05 +0000

Andi's Pimento Cheese Sarah Thu, 06/20/2024 - 10:45

Pimento cheese was introduced to me by a former coworker and Alabama native. Now a favorite treat, I've been tweaking the recipe to fit whatever cheese happens to be in my fridge. Of all the cheeses, Shelburne Farms cheddar has been my favorite. I like a 1 to 2 ratio of six-month to two-year, but feel free to experiment.

Pimento cheese is a great way to use up leftover cheese (but who has left over cheese anyway?!). This recipe makes enough for a crowd.

Ingredients

16 oz Shelburne Farms cheddar, shredded. Get out your grater: the pre-shredded stuff just won't give you the right texture. If you’re using my suggested ratio, that’s about 5 oz Shelburne Farms six-month cheddar and 11 oz two-year.
8 oz cream cheese (1 block), softened. My preference is the classic Philadelphia, but use your favorite.
1/2 cup-ish mayonnaise. Start here, add more for desired texture.
A couple heavy dashes Worcestershire sauce
A big glop of Dijon mustard
4 oz jar of pimentos, drained and chopped. I reserve a little bit of the juice to thin out the mix if needed for texture or acidity.
4 oz jar of sweet drop peppers, drained and chopped. This is my secret ingredient! If you can't find them, substitute another 4oz of pimentos.
Salt and pepper to taste
Cayenne pepper if you dig it

Method

Mix by hand with a spatula until well incorporated!
Just like so many delicious things, it needs a little time for flavors to meld together. Mix it up, give it a taste. Let it sit for at least 30 minutes and taste again before serving.
Serve with Ritz crackers for a classic Southern experience. I also love it with a sturdy potato chip, mixed in a mac n' cheese, or between two slices of white bread for a classic pimento sandwich. I've even tucked some extra in dough to make a pimento cheese empanada or hand pie.

And make a little extra for me 😉

Carey Nershi

Get all the Shelburne Farms cheddar you need for Andi's recipe at our Farm Store or get it shipped straight to your doorstep.

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The Surprising Journey of Clothbound Cheddar

Most of the cheddar we make is aged here on our campus. A tiny percentage—about 1.5%—takes a different journey.

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How to Create a Cheese Board

From cheese selection to arrangement and add-ons, Creamery Manager Andi Wandt shares her secrets for building delicious, non-fussy, and and beautiful cheese boards.

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Two generations of Dixons chat about their careers in farming and cheesemaking at Shelburne Farms, and the love of the land, craft, and cheese that unites them.

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How to Create a Cheese Board

hbrough — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 14:42:31 +0000

How to Create a Cheese Board hbrough Tue, 02/13/2024 - 09:42

My personal mission in cheese is to help people enjoy and celebrate it as a regular part of their diet. Cheese has the reputation as a fancy food, but at the end of the day, it’s the food of farmers, of agrarian people. As a former cheesemonger, when I serve cheese, I want to honor all the hard work that goes into making it, but I also want to take the fussiness out of it.

So I'm going to give you some rules. But there are really no rules! Eat cheese with what you like, the way you like, and most importantly, have fun with it.

Andi shares "How to Create a Cheese Board" with staff. This blog is based on her presentation.

SELECTING THE CHEESE

How many and how much cheese to feature?
While I personally think there's no such thing as too much cheese, a general rule is that the tastes get lost with anything more than five cheeses. Three to four is a nice number to have a variety of flavors. I've also made really special cheese boards that spotlight one cheese and all the different pairings that could go with it.

Plan on one to one and a half ounces per person per cheese for an appetizer board. If cheese is the main event, round up. If you have a lot of other snacks going on, or it's just a couple of people, round down. Leftover cheese isn’t necessarily a bad thing!

"Something old, something new, something goat, and something blue."
If you're going to a cheese shop or grocery store, remember this fun rhyme! Find a cheese in each of those four categories and you’ll have a really nice variety of cheeses that will most likely satisfy everyone in your party.

Old: Any kind of firm cheese that is aged for a longer amount of time, like Shelburne Farms cheddar, or an aged Gouda or Gruyère.
New: could be a Brie or a Camembert, or other soft cheese.
Goat: This could be a hard, aged goat cheese or a fresh chèvre.
Blue. That’s pretty straightforward. But if you don't like blue cheese, skip it! Maybe try a flavored cheese instead?

Themed cheese boards
It can be fun to showcase, say, everything from one country or region, or cheeses from all the different animals (sheep, cow, goat). It's really about whatever you're into. Celebrate Bastille Day with all French cheeses or watch The Godfather with a board featuring Italian cheeses. The possibilities are endless!

Here are a few boards I've created to inspire you:

Just the cheese, please!
My partner Blair and I created this grazing table for his brother's wedding! We loved receiving special deliveries from our cheesemaker friends all over the country to celebrate the special day.
Metal ramekins are great for pickles and spreads.
A simple board shared on Thanksgiving with our sales manager Tom Perry!
Cheeseboards are an awesome tailgating option. Cut your cheese at home, bring in reusable containers and assemble on the fly!

SELECTING THE ACCOUTREMENTS or PAIRINGS

Pairing is fun! Often the combination of flavors that you put together are greater than the sum of their parts. Once again, there are both rules and no rules to guide you!

Contrast
Contrast is a key concept for cheesemongers. Try contrasting textures, like pairing a creamy Brie with crunchy crackers or candied nuts. Or salty and sweet. A marbled blue cheese goes amazingly well with honey. Try an aged gouda with some chocolate: it'd be like a Butterfinger-y kind of salty, caramel and chocolate vibe.

Complementary
Putting like things together can be really interesting and enhance flavors. So pair smoked cheddar with a smoky meat, or with bacon. Many Swiss cheeses are really nice with toasted nuts.

“What grows together goes together.”
Foods from the same place often pair really well. Here in Vermont, we say, “Apple pie without the cheese is like a hug without the squeeze.” So pair apples and cheddar! (Shelburne Farms cheddar, of course.) Parmigiano Reggiano pairs beautifully with prosciutto, both from the Parma region of Italy. In fact, the whey from Parmigiano Reggiano production is fed to the pigs that become prosciutto. So it's incredibly full circle and I can't think of anything better than a little prosciutto with a little parm.

The idea is particularly true with wine. Goat cheese is really popular in the Loire Valley of France and is a natural pairing with the white wines from that region. They sing together! Likewise, red wines in Northern Italy go great with a cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano.

Don’t fuss too much!
I say this over and over because the fun part of all this is just experimenting. Sometimes you may pair items that taste like drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth. It does not work! But that's okay, because you'll learn, and you'll have fun. And the next time you may create a pairing that’s transcendent.

How many elements per bite?
Three is pretty ideal. I think of a bite as cheese + accoutrement + vessel. That means your cheese, your jam/jelly/mustard/honey/grape/nut, and then what you serve those on. Maybe that’s a cracker or a piece of bread. Maybe the vessel is a piece of prosciutto. It's fun to guide people but think about how people naturally eat these types of things, too. For accoutrements, I also like to have at least one or two crunchy things, some sort of fresh fruit like a grape (they’re so easy and everyone loves them), and usually something salty (I love olives), and something tangy, like a pickle or a mustard. (Pickles are one of my favorite things in the entire world, so I pretty much always put a pickle on a cheese board.)

Hot tip: Think about flavor intensities. If you pair something really mild with something really strong, you're not doing a service to the mild thing. That smoky cheese or meat is going to suck up all the air in the room and not leave any for the Brie!

And a few more boards:

Here's a board I made in my former monger days!
Here's a bountiful Thanksgiving board with lots of shapes, from matchsticks to crumbles.
Lots of charcuterie to add color! If you're vegetarian, fruits and veggies are also a great way to add visual interest.
I love these mini jars of jam for serving right on the board.
A VERY rustic cheeseboard. Moral of the story, eat cheese wherever, whenever!

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Your board
Use what’s on hand. Cutting boards are great, of course, but plates are fine, or even tinfoil if you’re on a picnic. I know someone who was at the slopes and turned his ski upside down to serve the cheese! I like to start with a fairly small surface because if you're serving a crowd, you can pile the cheese really high and it still looks nice and relatively full as people are eating it.

Cutting the cheese (hold the snicker)
If you're a beginner at making cheese boards, cheddar is easy because you can pretty much cut it into any shape you want. Some other cheeses aren't going to play that nice, but with cheddar, you can do almost anything. Try cookie cutters! For more crumbly cheeses like a well-aged cheddar or a Parmesan, I just dig in with a fork or a knife and turn it with my wrist to make beautiful little chunks or crumbles that pile nicely. Then I like to leave the excavated block on the board so if people decide they want more, they'll see they can also just “dig in.” Crumbles are fully acceptable and encouraged! If you’re serving a cheese with a rind, you typically include a bit of rind in each cut, unless the rind is inedible (like a wax rind). With soft cheese, sometimes I don’t pre-cut them at all, because you’ll have goop running all over the table. Or I might cut just a few pieces to give people an example of how to cut it for themselves. Sometimes you have to let the cheese speak to you and tell you what it wants to become.

Hot tip! Most cheeses are easier to cut straight from the fridge, even though you’ll want to serve them at room temperature. That’s because as the fat in cheese comes to room temperature, it releases its volatile aromas—maximizing flavor!

Assembly
Cheese is the star of the show so I always start by creating “anchors” of cheese, just making piles that are nice and high. If you’ve cut a cheese into matchsticks, you could build a Jenga pile!

After you have your anchors on your board, fill in the space with your various accoutrements. On a large board, I like to fill up most of the space with bread. Baguette carbs are a filler in life and a filler on a cheese board! You can also add crackers (feel free to break up larger crackers into smaller pieces), or drizzle nuts into the space, or create a “salami river.” Add jams or jellies last, unless you’re serving them in a beautiful dish or jar that you want to feature (Maple Onion Jam is one of my favorite things ever). Put the items that are meant to complement each other together. But encourage people to explore, too.

Hot tip! I'm going to save you embarrassment at the cheese counter: A cheese board is not a charcuterie board in the cheese world. A charcuterie board needs to showcase cooked cured meats to qualify!

Hot tip! Don’t drizzle jams and jellies straight on the board. It’s a hot mess. And it’s not fun to clean.

Hot tip! Don’t put anything inedible on your cheese board, including garnishes or inedible cheese rinds. It can lead to unpleasant surprises.

Hot tip! If your cheese board doesn't look quite right, move items around and fix it.

Andi assembles a quick, informal board during her presentation to staff, featuring all Shelburne Farms cheddar!

That’s it! And just remember: if you like eating Shelburne Farms cheddar with Ritz crackers, enjoy it. If you want to eat it with Blake Hill Jam, do that, too. Have a go and send us a photo of your board!

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This is mouth-watering wonderful as well as helpful! Thanks

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The Surprising Journey of Clothbound Cheddar

Sarah — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 20:27:51 +0000

The Surprising Journey of Clothbound Cheddar Sarah Fri, 11/10/2023 - 15:27

Most of the cheddar we make is aged here on our campus. A tiny percentage—about 1.5%—takes a different journey.

As a collaboration between Shelburne Farms and Jasper Hill, our Clothbound cheddar is truly a labor of love for cheesemakers across the state. Our Creamery Manager Andi Wandt shares the surprising story behind this cheddar and why it’s worth the extra work.

Assistant Creamery Manager & Processing Coordinator Chris Wagner gently peels off the muslin bandage covering a wheel of aged Clothbound cheddar prior to cutting into wedges and packaging for sale. Photo by Sarah Webb.

Dressed for Success

Muslin or cotton bandaging began to be used as “packaging” for cheddar in both the United States and United Kingdom during the colonial era. It replaced an earlier method of dry salting the exterior rind to create a dehydrated skin. The bandaging allowed for a longer aging time while protecting the cheese from cracks, cheese mites, and undesirable mold. American cheesemakers particularly struggled with cheeses cracking due to the climate here, according to former UVM professor Dr. Paul Kindstedt’s book Cheese and Culture. To solve this problem, they began “dressing” their cheeses with cotton soaked in butter to protect it from excessive drying. As butter became a more desirable commodity, lard was introduced as a plentiful and lower cost alternative, a practice that is continued today.

We use special metal hoops when making cheddar destined for aging in the Jasper Hill cellars. The hoops are stacked and pressed overnight, allowing extra moisture to be pushed out and the pieces to knit together into a solid wheel. Photos by Sarah Webb.

Extra TLC

Our wheels destined for the aging caves at Jasper Hill require quite a bit of extra love and attention. We intentionally make Clothbound when the milk is best suited to this style of cheese, allowing the microflora of our pasture to express itself fully through the cave-aging process. We make clothbound the same way we make all our cheddars, but a Clothbound batch is put into different, wheel-shaped molds. Then, when it’s unhooped the morning after the make, each wheel is trimmed into perfect, smooth rounds. The wheels are stored for two months, at which point we complete food safety testing.

20-pound wheels of cheddar arrive at Jasper Hill ready for bandaging and aging. During the aging process, the batches are assessed by pulling out small plugs (using the aptly named tool, a "cheese trier") for tasting. Photos by Sarah Webb.

Once they’re cleared to ship, the 20-pound wheels are transported to the Jasper Hill Cellars in Greensboro, VT, where the bandaging process occurs. During the 12-18 month aging process in the caves, the Jasper Hill specialists keep close watch of the cheddars. Affineurs, as these specialists are called, hand brush the wheel surfaces, routinely turn the wheels, and monitor the conditions of the cave environment. The word affineur comes from the French word “to refine,” which is exactly what these specialists do as they guide the cheese’s progression into a complexly flavored cheddar. All their attention to the wheels works to develop an even rind and remove excess cheese mites. Cheese mites are literal cellar dwellers that munch on mold. These microscopic insects are harmless, and some scientists believe they positively contribute to the aging process. However, affineurs need to keep a close eye on these critters so that they don’t overpower the surface of the wheel.

Cheese Sales Manager Tom Perry — a key member of our sensory team — visits the aging cellar and meets with Jasper Hill affineurs to assess the flavor progression of our Clothbound Cheddar. Photo by Sarah Webb.

The Final Product

The exposure to the cave’s microflora introduces different bacteria, molds and yeasts to develop the cheese’s flavor by breaking down proteins and fats, and populating the rind. The flavor profile leans more toward the earth and grass realm, even verging into mustard and horseradish rather than the acidic, “sharp” profile we tend to associate with Vermont block cheddars. Due to the evaporation that occurs in the cellars, the texture of a Clothbound cheddar is also wildly different from its vacuum-sealed cousin: drier and crumblier.

Our sensory team heads to Greensboro to check in on the wheels as they age, monitoring their flavor development to create a schedule for the full wheels to get shipped back to us. Once the wheels return home to Shelburne Farms, they’re cut by hand into the familiar wedge shape (versus the neat squares our 40-pound blocks are sliced into).

Sarah Webb

Once the muslin is removed, the 20-pound wheels are cut up into smaller individual pieces.
Sarah Webb

Each piece is weighed and cut into half-pound pieces.
Sarah Webb

The cheese is vacuum sealed, labeled, and ready for shelves.
Sarah Webb

A Cheddar with a Comeback Story

Clothbound, or bandaged cheddars, continued to be produced by small traditional English cheesemakers but mostly died out in the United States with the rise of the industrialization of cheese in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It wasn’t until the artisan cheese revolution of the 1980s and 1990s that the style reemerged on our shores. In fact, author Gordan Edgar in his book Cheddar credits Shelburne Farms with helping to bring back the style to the United States. In the early nineties, former Head Cheesemaker Mariano Gonzalez connected with folks throughout the industry (including Dr. Kindstedt) for guidance in making and aging traditional clothbound cheese. We’ve been honing our Clothbound Cheddar recipe ever since!

So why do we do it? I see it as our tribute to the artisan nature of farmstead, raw milk cheese. Sitting down with a slice of Clothbound, perhaps paired with a local IPA or cider, is one of the truest expressions of Vermont’s agricultural landscape.

🧀 Clothbound Cheddar for the Holidays!

This special cheese makes for a great holiday gift for friends and family, near and far.

Share a taste of Vermont

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For Educators

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Dairy Farming in a Changing Climate

At a recent gathering of farmers, dairy manager Sam Dixon discussed our managed grazing system, how climate change is shifting the already unpredictable business of dairy farming, and what we’re doing about it.

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A Farming & Cheesemaking Family

hbrough — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:07:51 +0000

A Farming & Cheesemaking Family hbrough Mon, 10/23/2023 - 16:07

Sam Dixon has been dairy manager at Shelburne Farms since 1996. His older brother Peter was a cheesemaker here back in the early 1990s, and since 2013, has operated Parish Hill Creamery and a dairy foods consulting business. Peter’s son Gus Slater-Dixon joined us in 2021 as a cheesemaker.

We sat down with all three of them to chat about their careers, why they do what they do, and what it is about being a Dixon that drew them along their paths. While the conversation is wide-ranging, not to say free-wheeling, it’s evident from the get-go what brought them to this table: Love of the land, love of craft, and love of the farm food that unites both.

L to R: Shelburne Farms Dairy Manager Sam Dixon, his nephew Gus, who is a Shelburne Farms cheesemaker, and Sam's brother Peter (Gus's dad), a former cheesemaker.

ORIGINS

Sam and Peter grew up on the family farm in Dummerston, Vermont, where they started a family business, the Guilford Cheese Company. “We ended up in this little barn,” Sam remembers. “I was milking cows on one side, and Peter was making cheese on the other.” It was a division of labor that suited them both. “You’ve always loved animals,” Peter says to Sam. “You were the little kid on our family farm that took to milking the family cow right away.” Sam nods.

When Guilford Cheese Company shuttered, Peter returned to UVM in 1990. He was looking for a job just when Shelburne Farms was looking for an experienced cheesemaking assistant. Peter was hired. He got a paycheck—and ideas. “Our family business had been about pasteurizing milk and not really grazing the cows,” he explains. “So I got here [to Shelburne Farms], where they make raw milk cheddar every day all from pasture and I thought, ‘This is really interesting and exciting. I want to do that.’”

Peter Dixon making cheddar with Shelburne Farms Head Cheesemaker Mariano Gonzalez in the early 1990s.

His next job as a dairy consultant in the Balkans deepened the interest. “[Cheesemaking there] was very craft oriented,” says Peter. “The material was so raw and so right from the land. You could taste that in the cheese.” He built his own dairy foods consulting business and in 2013, launched Parish Hill Creamery. And soon after Peter left Shelburne Farms, Sam came on board as dairy manager.

Dairy Manager Sam Dixon tending to pastured animals a few years after joining Shelburne Farms.

Of his own journey a generation later, Gus remembers, “I had always come here just to visit my cousins. I don’t think I ever saw the cheese window!” But when COVID hit, the newly minted UVM grad decided to apprentice as a cheesemaker with his dad. “It was incredible,” Gus enthuses. “I mean, I always wanted to learn cheese from you,” he says to Peter, “just because you're a resource like none other. It’s such an interesting, unique skill, working with your hands, minimal machinery—especially making the kind of cheese that you make. And I love aging caves. Humans should love caves. We go way back.” He laughs. “Everything set me up for doing cheesemaking going forward.” On a tip from a former Parish Hill apprentice—not from his dad—Gus joined our cheese team in late 2021. He was hired for his proficiencies, not his pedigree, but having an uncle here certainly eased the transition: Sam offered Gus a place to stay to start. “I eternally thank you for that,” he says to Sam.

ON CHEESEMAKING AND FARMING

“You're essentially trying to pull out water as you're making cheese [from milk],” Peter explains, offering a clear encapsulation of the cheesemaking process. “The better you are at doing that, the better you can predict how your cheese is going to age. The thing that affects that the most is the ratio of protein to fat. When there's more fat in the milk relative to protein, it's harder to pull the water out. Because the fat is kind of in the way. And if it's the opposite, water is removed quickly. So as a cheesemaker, you adjust.”

To make those adjustments, you need to understand the milk you start with. And for that, you need the farmer. As Peter says, “being in tune with what's happening on the farm assists you as a cheesemaker.” Sam agrees. “To discuss what's going on with the cheesemakers is critical,” he offers. “When you actually see someone and can say, ‘Well, the weather's doing this,’ or ‘we have a couple of fresh cows.’ Because it all affects the milk.”

Sam shares an example. “Our cows' production will change based on which pasture they're grazing. Right now they're out on 'Silo B' pasture, which is heavy wet clay, and they don't eat as well and they won't milk as well. When they move up to 'Silo A' pasture, which has our best soil–the grass is sweeter, higher calcium–they'll eat more and produce more. So it's all variable.” He goes on, “And we can do everything to manage the grass and the pastures, but you have to keep the equipment clean and everything running well. So sanitation is another variable. And then there's the human part of it, which is actually milking the cows.”

“I was listening to this farmer the other day,” he muses, “and he was saying, it's never one thing that you do that solves a problem. There are key steps that you have to get exactly right, but then there are 100 little things that you’ve also got to do and it's really hard work.” For Sam, that’s what it takes to get great milk from a healthy herd.

He turns to Peter and Gus, “Making cheese is similar, right?”

“Absolutely,” Gus replies. “It's maddening sometimes, all these little things, but that’s what makes it so interesting.” He looks at Peter, “I remember you saying that that's why you love cheesemaking, because it is mental, physical, and a little creative problem solving, even in its rigid framework. You have to think critically about what you're doing.”

Keeping relative consistency within distinctive (and delicious) variability. That’s the game and the goal when you make a raw milk farmstead cheddar.

ON FAMILY MATTERS

Asked what it means to each of them to be working as family, beside or in the footsteps of one another, they puzzle for a while, though it’s been clear throughout the chat that mutual admiration is involved. “My dad has always said how lucky I am to work with such great milk,” Gus says, referring to Sam. “And I’ve always known what a good farmer Sam is.” But, Gus admits, “Honestly, I don’t think about the family piece that often. It’s just what I grew up with. Being here in this room with Dad and Sam reminds me of how special it really is.”

Peter expands on that idea by suggesting to Gus, “Having a great relationship with your farmer, Uncle Sam, certainly helps you as a cheesemaker.” “Absolutely,” Gus agrees. “And,” Peter adds, “you can always bounce ideas off me.” Gus takes him at his word and immediately starts bouncing an idea. “I had this idea of changing the ripening time for the milk…” he begins. The conversation then temporarily dives deep into the pH and proteins of cheesemaking.

Sam contextualizes the father-son exchange—and the whole family connection—this way, “I think there is some knowledge, particularly for things like farming or cheesemaking, that has to be passed down. You can’t learn the subtleties or nuances from a book or YouTube video. That stuff can help but does not give the whole story.” It’s essentially, as he describes, “learning by doing with an experienced mentor.” What he doesn’t quite say is that when that mentor is family, it becomes something more.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?

“It’s feeding people, for sure.” Peter answers immediately to our final question. “In our community of Windham County and Western Mass, we feed a lot of people.” Gus nods in agreement then adds, “My favorite is just seeing the kids stare at me [through the viewing window] with open mouths. There's always one little kid who you see with their family and then they come back for milling and their face is just pressed up against the window. That's my favorite part because I love learning and I love engaging with people who love to learn.”

"My favorite thing is just watching kids stare at me through the viewing window," says Gus, "because I love learning and I love engaging with people who love to learn."

Sam answers by way of a story. “We were finishing wrapping the last hay recently,” he begins. “It was like nine o'clock. And I look out and this big fat raccoon is walking down the road like he owns the place. Then I look up and there are five Great Blue Herons flying in a formation. I've never seen that many flying together. I look over past Josh’s garden and the deer have come out, and all the fireflies are flashing all the way down the road.” He shrugs. “That’s why I love to do this.”

That connection to the natural world holds strongest for Sam, perhaps, but is felt by all of them. For Gus, it’s arriving early enough to see the morning sunrise, “especially near the equinoxes.” Or looking at Camels Hump from the make room. For Peter, it comes back to land and food. “Cheese is a farm food. It positions dairy farming towards sustaining the land. Which is why I love this place, because it's doing that.”

“We're producing food for people to eat and value,” Sam sums up. “That's what I love about Shelburne Farms. That's always been the legacy of the farm.”

Sam glances at his watch, undoubtedly thinking of those “100 little things” that await him back at the dairy. As he gets up to leave, Peter and Gus head to the make room. For the first time as fellow cheesemakers and as family, they'll make cheddar together at Shelburne Farms.

On the day of the interview, Peter joined son Gus in the make room to make Shelburne Farms cheddar together for the first time.

Holly Brough

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Dear Sam, Peter, and Gus,
When I taste the cheddar from the Farm I can taste the ripe grasses, the rolling pastures, and dwell on the beautiful Brown Swiss Cows grazing them. I've had the privilege of observing the cows just after the milking; they come out exuberantly playful, full of vitality, they instinctively know that they will be heading to a bountiful pasture and be loved by Nature.
Sam, Peter, and Gus, the Dixon family story is inspiring. Your share a rare bond of love as kin. Your love is a reflection of your passion and reverence for your labor, in bringing forth Nature's gift of food and sustenance to humanity.

Such incredible people and such incredible stewardship of the land over so many years. And such cheese! Thank you all for this story.

Vermont cheese is the best I have found after living in 9 states. And the very best of all is the cheese made by Shelburne Farms. When our family visit us in Vermont from California, Seattle, Washington DC, Texas, and the Netherlands, cheese comes in second only to memories of the summer FarmCamps they attended.

Gus! I love you buddy! This had me smiling from ear to ear!

What a special bond, and family. We love Shelburne Farms; this story captures its true essence, and the people who’ve stewarded it so beautifully. Thank you Peter, Sam, and Gus. You’re our inspiration.

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October 25, 2023

Shelburne Farms 2023 Holiday Catalog

Sarah — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 14:55:24 +0000

Shelburne Farms 2023 Holiday Catalog Sarah Fri, 10/20/2023 - 10:55

We're excited to share this sneak preview of our new Holiday Catalog. Your copy should be arriving in your mailbox very soon!

In the meantime, take a peek above, then visit our online store to get an early start on holiday gift-giving. If you live locally, you can visit our Farm Store, or place a pre-order for a quick pickup!

Don't receive a printed catalog? Request a one here.

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I’m thrilled to see Shelburne Farms’ 2023 Holiday Catalog! It’s wonderful to support an organization that combines delicious products with a meaningful educational mission. I’m looking forward to browsing the catalog and exploring your online store. Kudos for promoting sustainability and community through your farm’s offerings!

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Beer Cheddar is Back!

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 20:27:57 +0000

Beer Cheddar is Back! admin Tue, 02/14/2023 - 15:27

Left: For one day in April 2022, Fiddlehead IPA was poured into the cheesemaking vat to make our Beer Cheddar. Right: Our Beer Cheddar cut, packaged, labeled, and ready to hit the shelves! (Sarah Webb)

Back in April of 2022, our cheesemakers spiked our cheesemaking vat for one day, marinating the curds in Fiddlehead Brewing Company’s flagship IPA. After six months of aging, the result is a delicious cheddar with a distinct floral, hoppy note. “We have a lot of great local breweries here in Vermont,” shares Cheese Sales Manager Tom Perry, “and we wanted to add our own distinctive Shelburne Farms spin by working with a brewery in our town, Fiddlehead Brewing Co.”

Getting the extra-hoppy note is a two part process: Not only do the cheesemakers add the beer into the vat while making the cheddar, but they add more beer to the finished block of cheese and seal it up so it can absorb the flavors and aromas of this popular Vermont IPA.

How does a cheese expert eat our Beer Cheddar? “This cheese is quite delicious on its own,” notes Tom, “but I like to cube it and pair it with salamis, mustards, or crackers. What people may not expect is the versatility of this cheese. It is an amazing addition to fondue, cheddar sauces or soups, and adds a distinctive note to grilled cheeses.” And of course, it’s all made right here from the milk of our own Brown Swiss Cows.

You can find Shelburne Farms Beer Cheddar for purchase online, at our Farm Store, and as part of our limited edition St. Patrick's Day Sampler.

Sarah Webb

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From cheese selection to arrangement and add-ons, Creamery Manager Andi Wandt shares her secrets for building delicious, non-fussy, and and beautiful cheese boards.

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Cheddar: A Sensory Exploration

1. Let your cheese come to room temperature

2. Taste slowly from start to finish

3. Nose first, mouth second

4. Think beyond “sharp”

Putting it all together

Shelburne Farms Cheddar Profiles

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Shelburne Farms Product Catalog, 2024-25

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4. Milking It

5. Farming's Future

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Meet One of the Herd: Daisy

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Vermont Cheese Week at Shelburne Farms

Vermont Cheese Week Happenings at Shelburne Farms:

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Cows, Cheese & Tractors!

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SELECTING THE CHEESE

SELECTING THE ACCOUTREMENTS or PAIRINGS

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Discover more:

Shop our Cheddar

How we make cheddar

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The Surprising Journey of Clothbound Cheddar

Dressed for Success

Extra TLC

The Final Product

A Cheddar with a Comeback Story

🧀 Clothbound Cheddar for the Holidays!

Your Top 7 Cheese Questions Answered by a Cheesemaker

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Dairy Farming in a Changing Climate

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A Farming & Cheesemaking Family

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Shelburne Farms 2023 Holiday Catalog

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Beer Cheddar is Back!

Beer Cheddar Potato Fritters

Demystifying rennet, a key ingredient in cheesemaking

How to Create a Cheese Board

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