June 2012 - Oser Communications Group

GOURMET NEWS JUNE 2012 www.gourmetnews.com CHEESE 31
Grafton Village Cheese Company
Grafton Village is a timeless treasure in the
foothills of the Green Mountains of Vermont.
Within the village is a general store,
a blacksmith shop, the town hall, a church,
an historic inn and the Grafton Village
Cheese Creamery, where some of the very
best cheeses in the world are handmade
daily from the fresh, raw milk that comes
from neighboring farms.
Grafton Tavern Select label is the collaboration
between cheesemaker and chef.
Cheesemaker Dane Huebner, and Chef
David Smith of the Old Tavern at the
Grafton Inn, work together to make and
select the most notable cheddars possible
Odyssey Cubed Feta in Brine
Klondike Cheese Company brings more
options to foodservice operators. Now
available in our Odyssey line, high quality
Feta pre-cubed in brine. Our Feta cubes
are made with cow’s milk from family
farms, cut into 5/8" cubes to lessen prep
time in your kitchen or to use as an appetizer
with balsamic oil. Try it with your
next olive bar or tailor it to your own
menu needs.
Our Feta cubes are available in 25-
pound or seven pound pails, submerged
in brine to help keep the freshness, authenticity
and traditional flavor. Brinepacked
Feta also offers a longer shelf life
after opening, allowing you to order larger
quantities and still enjoy the sensational
tangy flavor that our Feta is known for.
Today the third and fourth generations
of the Buholzer family operate the
Klondike Cheese Factory. We have a
tremendous dedication and craftsmanship
to the art of cheesemaking, while
putting technology to work to keep the
uncompromising standard of Odyssey
for the guests at the Old Tavern, including
our 3-year aged, 4-year aged and the
award winning maple smoked cheddar.
Grafton is also excited about an upcoming
line of small batch, specialty cheeses
that will go beyond the traditional cheddar
varieties. Dane works with local cow and
sheep milk to create variations on classics,
as well as some completely original creations.
All of these cheeses are aged in a
special cheese cave located within the
creamery. The first of these new cheeses
will begin to be available sometime around
the middle of the year. Find out more at
www.graftonvillagecheese.com.
Feta Cheese. All three owners are brothers
and have attained the Master
Cheesemaker designation.
For more information about our award
winning Odyssey Feta Cheese, see our
website www.klondikecheese.com or call
608-325-3021.
Forever Cheese: three new cheeses
and one welcome return
It took Michele four years but she finally
brought Paski Sir from Croatia to the U.S.
It is a one year aged, pasteurized cheese
made from sheep raised on the island of
Pag. The island is windy with little vegetation,
what little grass there is is in the hills,
and due to crosswinds much of the salt
water blows over it. The sheep produce
very little milk, so that it takes six sheep or
more to produce one wheel. Influenced by
the sheep’s diet of salty grass, the cheese
is rich and flavorful—it is not overly dry
and there is a beautiful crystallinity in the
texture, with a gentle sweetness.
After a several year hiatus, Forever
Cheese welcomes back Castellot, the
toma brusca produced in the mountains of
Catalunya (Spain) by artisan Salvador. This
raw cow’s milk cheese is better than
ever—dense, complex and amazing. They
have also introduced another raw cow’s
milk cheese, Ermesenda, a washed rind in
the style of Raclette. Only a few are made
at a time. This cheese is creamy and savory
with a slight tartness in the finish and
an elegance unparalleled.
Finally, but far from last, from Italy
comes a small-production bloomy rind
sheep’s milk cheese from Romagna: Nuvola
di Pecora. Its name means Cloud of
Sheep and it tastes like it—creamy,
smooth and velvety on the tongue. It is
also distinguished by its square shape.
For more information please contact
Forever Cheese, 718-777-0772, or
www.forevercheese.com.
Vermont Butter & Cheese creates
new packaging for top-selling Bijou
Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery
(VBCC) has created a double pack for their
aged goat cheese, Bijou. The specially designed
container will help protect the
cheese, allowing it to continue to age once
it leaves the creamery.
The double pack is an updated version
of the single, which will be phased out
soon. “Customers seem to prefer the
larger portion,” a representative of the
company told Gourmet News.
One of today’s biggest challenges of
any cheesemaker is to be able to preserve
the integrity of the product
throughout the supply chain, whether the
product is sold at the local market or sent
across the country.
VBCC’s Bijou, meaning “jewel” in
French, has been a standard in the company’s
line of soft-ripened goat cheeses
since their introduction in 2006. “Our aged
cheeses are very unique as they have a
distinctive geotrichum rind that gives the
cheese a delicate, wrinkly surface and
sweet, yeasty taste. The Bijou is our rendition
of the small aged goat cheese crottins
found in France,” said company
Co-Founder Allison Hooper