Can a taste of artisanal cheese transport you to the place
where it was produced? What can you
learn about a cheese maker from a style of cheese, the way the animals are
tended or the types of ingredients used?
A while back, I had the chance to visit several Hudson
Valley cheese makers and explore the idea of “terroir.” Loosely translated as "taste of the soil," the word refers to the
“sense of place” one might taste in a wine produced in a distinct location, and
the concept of terroir is becoming more prevalent in conversations about farmstead
cheese. I found cheese makers more than
willing to discuss the merits of cheese and terroir and passionate about their
role in defining the character of small-batch cheese in the Hudson Valley.
Rory Chase and Peter Destler, the founders of The Amazing Real Live Food Co. in Pine Plains, New York founded their creamery on a
commitment to serve delicious, restorative “vittles” for their friends and
neighbors in the Hudson Valley. They
source their milk from 50 registered Holstein cows that graze in rolling
pastures reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell illustration.
Rory and Peter are clearly dedicated to their mission and their French-style artisanal and probiotic
cheeses delight the senses.
Rory becomes visibly animated as he inhales the “mushroomy”
aromas in their aging room, and offers me delicious samples of fresh and aged cheeses.
Joyce Henion – owner of Acorn Hill Farm in Walker Valley,
New York – produces fresh, clean-tasting goat cheeses in the former garage of
her split-level home, which she converted into a fully equipped creamery.
Joyce’s fascination with Nubian goats inspired her vocation
as a cheese maker.
Acorn Hill Farm is a very different locale. Joyce’s goats browse a wooded area of rocky
terrain. She manages the herd
organically and knows each goat by name.
If you taste the cheese of Rory and Peter or Joyce, you will
savor two very different stories, but both are characteristic of the vital
cheese making community in the Hudson Valley.
Read more about cheese terroir in my story “A Sense of Place” published
in the Spring 2012 “Bread and Cheese” issue of the magazine, Edible Hudson Valley.
©2012 T.W. Barritt All
Rights Reserved
