A Little Something Special

The time has almost arrived!!! As of the 28th of this month we will be releasing a new cheese. This cheese will be like no other cheese we are currently selling. The cheese is special for several reasons; we created our own cultures, put the curds through a different making process and we age it for an extended period of time. Our cultures were made from the wonderful, naturally occurring bacteria that raw milk offers. Once the cultures are strong enough we add them to the liquid milk just like the other cultures used for our other cheeses. After the milk is allowed to warm up and coagulate we cut the curds and begin to stir. After three exciting hours of stirring the curds, they have become very dense and are now dry enough to achieve the texture we are looking for. From here we add the salt directly to the curds and fill the molds. Since this cheese is very special to the farm, we let it age one full year before it is ready for sale. Luckily for you, our customers, that birthday is rapidly approaching. Please come out to the farm and try this amazing cheese for yourself.

Cheese Maker Evan

What Makes the Cheese Go Round

Have you ever wondered how a wheel of cheese becomes round like a wheel? Well let me share with you how we do things. After stirring  the curds to remove excess whey I drain the remaining whey to leave behind only the solid curds. This is what will become the actual edible cheese portion. These solid curds then get loaded into our dairy grade plastic cheese moulds. The moulds have four essential components; the bottom bucket(fig.1), inner hoop(fig.2) and top or lid(fig.3). Each part has a special purpose and without one piece nothing would work. The bottom bucket has many small holes in both the sides and bottom. These holes allow whey to drain from the wheel freely and if the holes get plugged the whey can't come out and the cheese will stay very wet and soggy. The inner hoop is a special mesh that also allows whey to be removed as well as helps to form a matrix on the outside of the wheel which will become the rind on our wheel. The top or lid is a combination of both the bucket and hoop. The solid part of the lid also has drain holes in it for whey expulsion. The mesh portion of the lid is the same material and design as the hoop and serves the same purpose. When the bucket and hoop are combined and filled with curds we then add weight to the top of the moulds to "press" out and of the extra whey(fig.4). This added weight will then force the soft curds to fill in the holes of the mesh forming the very important outer rind of the cheese. Believe it or not but our square Polkton Corners is round for a short time until we allow it to change.

Cheese Maker Evan

fig.1

fig.2

fig.3

fig.4

Horseradish Cheddar Dip

Running out uses for your cheddar cheese?? Here is a recipe I just came up with over the weekend.

Horseradish Cheddar Dip

1lb Grassfields Organic Cheddar crumbled (room temp)
1/2t garlic powder
1t worchestershire sauce
2-8 dashes of Tabasco (depends on your spice tolerance)
prepared horseradish (use as much or little as you want*)
2T milk
 
1. Combine all ingredients in electric mixer
2. Mix on medium speed until smooth. Add more milk if it seems very stiff.
3. Cover and refrigerate overnigh
4. Serve with bagel chips, crackers, pita chips or pretzels

*Note: I love horseradish and used 3/4 of a small jar. It had just enough flavor to satisfy my horseradish craving.

Cheese Maker Evan
 

Holiday Party Ideas

The season has come where you may find yourself with a house full of guests and nothing to eat before the big meal. Well, we have a solution for that. A holiday cheese platter with various meats and cheese is the perfect answer. When it comes to cheese trays there are 1000's of options and it can be quite frustrating picking the right one. Let us at Grassfields Cheese lend you a hand. We offer everything you need to make professional tasting cheese boards. One little trick I learned was to pick the cheese you enjoy eating and generally others will like it as well. Here are a few ideas for meat and cheese plates to keep the crowd happy until your special meal is ready.

The Better Cheddar Board:
Grassfields Organic Lamont Cheddar
Grassfields Organic Fait Gras
Grassfields Organic Reserved Cheddar
Grassfields Summer Sausage
Apple Slices (try sweet and tart apples)
Baby Pickles
Little Rooster Crackers

Flavor?? We Added It:
Grassfields Organic Leyden
Grasfields Organic Chili
Grassfields Organic Cherry Christmas
Grassfields Organic Onion & Garlic
Grassfields Kippered Beef (just like jerky, but way better!)
Little Rooster Crackers


Gotta Love That Funk
Grassfields Organic Apolocheese
Grassfields Organic Polkton Corners
Grassfields Organic Aged Edam
Keweenaw Kitchens Peach Apricot Jam
Little Rooster Crackers
Big Prairie Michigan Honey (got more local? use that!)
Dried Fruits (cranberries, apricots, blueberries...)

Cheese Maker Evan

An Invitation to Play

     We don't have many staff meetings here at Grassfields.  Two or three of us might get our heads together over one issue or another but not everyone.  Yesterday was different.  Luke introduced the idea of food pairings.  He spread on the desk crackers, strawberry jam, peach-apricot jam, prosciutto, salami, apple slices, Gouda, Lamont Cheddar, and Fait Gras.

     

    "This is all about flavor pairings," Luke said, "What do you think goes together?  What goes well with each cheese?"  Cheese Maker Evan, our trained chef, said that this was subjective and to experiment.

     

    Luke, Evan, Vicky, Necia, and I started to play.  It was interesting to see what each person thought went together.  For me, who has the sophisticated palate of a toddler, this was beyond my comfort zone.  I'm a huge supporter of divided plates and no foods touching.  I started off safe with a cracker, prosciutto , and Gouda.  I watched as others tried crackers, jam, and cheese.  Someone tried an apple slice, salami, and Lamont Cheddar.  I found that I really liked peach jam on a cracker with prosciutto and Gouda.  Somehow the news that we were feasting spread around the farm and soon Sue, Chaeli, and Esther joined us.  Everyone had something different that they liked and wanted everyone else to try.  

    

     Food pairings are exploring flavors.  So what's your favorite Grassfields Cheese and what do you pair it with?

Angela~The Cheese Shop Mafia

The Epic Salt Solution

A key ingredient in most cheese is salt. Not only does it enhance flavors but it also helps to dry and form the rind on the exterior of the wheel. Our Gouda, Polkton Corners, and flavored cheeses all go for a 70 hour swim in our brine tank. Our brine tank has a capacity of 500 gallons. We only fill it with about 450. The other component is the salt. We use non-iodized table salt to make our brine.We keep our brine tank between 15%-18% salt solution. Which means the 450 gallons of water has 612lbs of salt dissolved in it. That seems like a lot, and it is, but only a small percent makes it into the cheese. To maintain the brine all we do is add salt and water as needed. In the two and a half years I have been making cheese we have never changed the brine water or salt. The power of salt still amazes me.

Cheese Maker Evan

A Visit to Grassfields Creamery in Western Michigan

     In September, 2014 I had the privilege to visit and tour Grassfields Farmstead Creamery in Coopersville, Michigan. With a quick phone call the day before, I happened to get lucky during my two week visit to Western Michigan and score an opportunity to learn from the pros how they make their most delicious cheeses.
     Evan Velthouse is the cheese maker and creates the various dutch artisan cheeses right on site. A long wall separates the dairy operation (run by Jesse Meerman) from the artisan cheese factory with Evan in command of all things cheese. Grassfields is a dutch family business which began five generations earlier. The oldest son, Luke Meerman, in charge of the business side and wife Vicky works in the shop while managing five children.
     I arrived just as Evan was cutting the cheese using large wire screens which require some heft to cut evenly through the vat of 450 gallons of fresh cow milk, now on its way to becoming cheddar. To fill the vat requires around 1 ½ days of milking from the 50 cows on the dairy. All I can say to my bovine friends is thank you for your contribution!
    Once cut, it was a labor of love to see the slow evolution of transformation separating curds from
whey. It’s rather like watching grass grow; a slow, nurturing process that Evan does with finesse. If it sounds boring, it’s anything but. You would have to take a tour yourself to realize there’s magic in the mixture and Evan, a trained culinary chef, knows exactly how to manage the milky creation to ensure a tangy, creamy, delectable cheddar worthy of high praise.
    We talked about how he came to be the cheese maker at Grassfields and shared a little of what Jesse taught him when he took over the reins. Jesse had been the cheese maker for ten years prior to Evan. Once inside the creamery, there’s a door that leads to the cheese cave. What a treat to see the 2014 Christmas specialty. Lying comfortably in a brine bath were wheels of sage and cherry cheese aging in a beautiful eclectic mixture. The brine itself is not changed out I’m told as all the goodies from earlier batches fall to the bottom of the vat and continue to impart their unique flavors to the next batch of cheeses. Moreover, some cheese makers will vie to purchase wooden planks to store and age the wheels from other creameries for the same purpose – the wood acts as a flavor conduit in the same manner as a chardonnay wine aged in an oak barrel will take on subtle toasted oak-y flavors in the wine.
    This is a small operation. Fifty cows. Family run. Few employees; yet their hearts are big and they are eager to share whatever knowledge they have acquired without thought of return. Why? Because it’s the way things are supposed to be. It’s what we’ve sometimes forgotten about as we rush home after a busy hectic day and pop a microwave dinner in front of the tv. It’s the tiny strings that bind us together as we learn from each other; just as I now share with you what I’ve learned from my visit…but I have a surprise for you! In my exuberance I purchased a wide assortment of the Grassfields cheeses while at the creamery. I bought with reckless abandon as if I would never get the chance to taste these fine cheeses again. I did this because I live two days drive away and even though there’s mail order, I wanted it all now. The cheese I could buy there was more than retail, it was memories too.
    I've been home a month now and once a week I play pinochle with a few local ladies. We share a bottle of wine and some tasty snacks mid-way through the cards and chat like the old friends we are.
I've slowly been sharing the Edam, Gouda, Herb-ed Cheese and Lamont Cheddar with them since my return from Grassfields Cheese. I’ve been keeping a beautiful large cut of creamy Fait Gras in the fridge and have looked at it every day since my return. Tonight it spoke to me from the fridge. It said if I give it 30 minutes, it will surprise and delight my evening meal. Here’s what it said…

Fait Gras Fettuccine 
(adapted from Emeril Lagasse’s 2004 recipe from Television Food Network)
1 pound fettuccine
6 Tbsp butter
1 shallot minced
1C heavy cream
1C Grassfields Fait Gras Cheese, shredded
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
fresh minced parsley to taste or chiffonade basil for garnish

Directions:
Cook fettuccine according to directions in salted water until al dente. Drain in a colander reserving ¼ C of pasta cooking liquid.While the pasta cooks, melt butter in medium saucepan over medium high heat. Add shallots and saute until tender. Add heavy cream and bring to a boil. Cook until sauce has reduced slightly, about 5 minutes stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and add half the Grassfields Fait Gras Cheese to the sauce. If it gets too thick, thin it with the reserved pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to the pot it was cooking in and add the sauce. Toss to combine thoroughly. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese on top so that it begins to melt on the fettuccine. Garnish with fresh parsley or basil if desired. Serve immediately.


With gratitude & thankfulness to my new friends at Grassfields. Thank you for your kindness.

Audrey J Brown
Sheridan, Wyoming
October 16, 2014