Vermont Trip

Summers at the cheese shop here in Chicago are busy. Tons of tourists, picnics for all of the live music festivals at the park and catering galore. Everyone's looking for tasty treats. There's a lot of work and with the heat and humidity you get exhausted before you know it.

I needed to re-charge.

My vacation took me to the east coast and the 2nd annual Vermont Cheesemaker's Festival at the Coach Barn at Shelburne Farms. There were over 50 cheesemakers representing some of the best cheeses that Vermont has to offer. Cheesemakers were set up in the barn offering samples and the opportunity to purchase their wares. From the nationally well-known such as Jasper Hill Cellars, Cabot and Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery to some local cheese heroes like Champlain Valley Creamery and Lazy Lady Farm. Most of the cheeses at the festival I can't get out here in Chicago so it was a real treat to go back home and stock my brother's fridge with cheesy goodness.

While the festival was a lot of fun and I stuffed myself with wine and cheese all day, one of the highlights of the festival for me is the location.

Created in 1886 as a modern agricultural estate in the 1970's Shelburne Farms became a non-profit with a focus on education. They have more than 100 milking Brown Swiss cows who are on a grass-based diet. The animals are fed on pasture (when possible) and are rotated through the fields to ensure healthy re-growth and renewal of the land.

In addition to farmstead Cheddars, Shelburne Farms has an inn, garden, a restaurant that offers farm-fresh dinners, and they offer fantastic tours and educational seminars. The best part about Shelburne Farms? It's got to be the view. They're located right alongside Lake Champlain and there is nothing finer than grabbing a hunk of cheese sitting down on the grass gazing across the water and listening to it hit the shore.

My suggestion to you is you get on the mailing list for next year's festival and snatch up some tickets as soon as they're made available. You won't be sorry.

Don't feel too left out, a lot of the cheesemakers represented at the festival will be participating in the ACS conference later this month which means...you can eat your way through Vermont at the Festival of Cheese!

Beautiful Lake Champlain


I couldn't pick my favorite cheese from all that I tasted, but this was my favorite t-shirt!


Some of the ladies who work at Shelburne Farms


-aa

What's That Smell?

Yesterday a customer came into the shop and remarked that he loves the way our shop smells. For a brief moment I though to myself "what smell?". Then it hit me. Oh yeah, the shop smells kind of funky, lactic and delicious. It's just not one those things I'm constantly thinking about as I'm at work.

Of course I smell all of the cheeses individually when sampling them to customers, or giving the cheese case some much needed TLC, but since I'm surrounded by the smells for hours at a time I grow accustomed to it-except for when we unwrap the washed rind cheeses of course. Especially a big, pungent cheeses like Grayson from Meadow Creek Dairy in VA, or Hooligan from Cato Corner Farm in CT.

One of my favorite things to do while working is to play "Guess that cheese". A co-worker will be busy re-wrapping product for the case and I'll just shout out what I'm smelling. It's a bit of a cheese-focused verbal spasm. " Grayson!" "Winnimere!" "Hooligan!"
All of the cheeses have such distinct aromas. Sniffing cheese is one of the best parts of my job. Some days it trumps tasting.

One of the ultimate opportunities to smell and taste cheese comes once a year during the "Festival of Cheese" on the last day of the ACS conference. Every product that was entered for judging is there. Last year I believe there were over 1300 dairy products entered.Table after table of butter, yogurt jostle for banquet and tummy space with cheese tables that are packed and are put in displays bigger than my 5'5" frame. Fantastic smells of washed rinds, fresh chevre, tangy yogurts, earthy cheddars and peppery blues all come together and fill the senses with a symphony of smell.

This year the conference and Festival of Cheese is going to be in Seattle. Going to the full conference is a wonderful learning experience, but even if you can't make the conference you've got to get to the cheesy banquet that awaits you on the last day. Your nose will thank you.
-aa