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Cheesemaking Is Older Than We Think

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Painted Cattle in Libya. Image by Roberto Ceccacci, © The Archaeological Mission in the Sahara, Sapienza University of Rome

by Alifair Skebe

Do we really need cheese in our diet? Recent studies prove that dairy products such as milk, cheese, and butterfat have been not only important but integral to the North African, Near East, and European diets for seven millenia.

New evidence released in Nature: The International Weekly Journal of Science last month reveals that dairying practice is much older than previously imagined. According to a study written by Julie Dunne and organic chemists from the University of Bristol and the work of scientists from various institutions including the Universities of Milan, Pennsylvania, Rome, and Witwatersrand of Johannesburg, South Africa, “unequivocal evidence for extensive processing of dairy products in pottery vessels in Libyan Sahara during the Middle Pastoral period (approximately 5200-3800 B.C.) [confirm] that milk played an important part in the diet of these prehistoric pastoral people.” The study linked the inception of dairying to the late Holocene period, much earlier than accepted Neolithic period.

By studying the organic, fatty residues on the shards of pottery preserved in the now-arid terrain of the once-humid Saharan climate of Libya, researchers found conclusive evidence to support Northern Africa as the seat of the earliest pastoral communities raising sheep, cattle, and goats. Previous historic evidences of dairying have been limited to rock paintings and engravings which are unable to be accurately dated. A previous article in the Geographical Review (1971) by Frederick Simoons introduced chemical analysis from a vessel taken from the tomb of Hor-asha, the second king to the first Dynasty (3200-2900 B.C.), that identified milkfat residue. The hieroglyphic inscriptions on the vessel indicated “cheese.” This was the then conclusive evidence of dairying in North Africa, far superior to the loose evidences of ancient painted scenes of animal husbandry, milking, pottery, and butter making to more recent historic as well as current tribal dairy practices. Simoons suggests, albeit inconclusively, that dairying originated earlier than the vessel dated, between 5500 and 2000 BC amongst peoples who lived in west and central Sahara and who migrated to southern Egypt and the Sudan and finally to subSaharan Africa, maintaining their cultural traditions.

Consistent with Dunne’s findings, an article published last year in Current Anthropology looks at the island of Cyprus off the coast of Syria to find evidence of dairying dating to the Holocene period. Jean-Denis Vigne and his team found animals introduced to the island from the mainland Near East, specifically that of sheep for dairying and later cattle and goats. Researchers from both studies – the Near East and North Africa – found a concurrence of butchered bones with dairying, and fauna suggestive of high technical skill in animal farming. Cattle were used to carry heavy loads, and meat was eaten from young adult males. According to Vigne, the ancient peoples’ skills included “separating herding of young and adults, particular attention to lambs, and processing of milk and its derivatives.”  Dunne notes that the coinciding cut animal bones and dairy fats in the pottery “suggests full pastoral economy as the cattle were extensively exploited for their secondary products.” Also a “wide range of alkanoid acid values…is unprecedented and points to differing pastoral modes of subsistence” such as seasonal patterns of pasturing and vertical transhumance, or the running of the herd from the lowland to mountain pastures in late Spring to early Fall.

These studies reveal the inception of dairying practices in prehistoric locales, establishing a record of activity heretofore unimagined in anthropological accounts. These “primitive” humans in a relatively short period of time developed complex practices of animal husbandry which were not primitive at all, but show high intelligence and adaptability to shifting environment. Their practices persist in today’s tradition. Moreover, they debunk the misperception that humans were unable to digest dairy in prehistoric times. In point of fact, they may have either had the allele, a form of the gene, for lactase persistence or developed dairying practices such as cheesemaking to allow for dairy consumption, as lactose ages out of most cheeses after 60-90 days. In all, the early pastoral people cultivated dairying and animal farming with precision and intension.

Sources:

Bogaard, Amy. “’Garden Agriculture’ and the Nature of Early Farming in Europe and the Near East.” World Archaeology. 37.2 (Jun 2005): 177-196. online.

Dunne, Julie et al. “First Dairying in Green Saharan Africa in the Fifth Millennium BC.”  Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science. 486 (21 June 2012): 390-394. online. 

Simoons, Frederick J. “The Antiquity of Dairying in Asia and Africa.” Geographical Review. 61.3 (July 1971): 431-439. online.

Vigne, Jean-Denis et al. “The Early Process of Mammal Domestication in the Near East: New Evidence from the Pre-Neolithic and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic in Cypress.” Current Anthropology. 52.s4 (Oct 2011): s255-s271. online.

Cheese…and a Revolution!

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The Storming of the Bastille, by Jean-Pierre Laurent Houël (1735-1813)

by Eric Paul

Saturday, July 14th 2012 marked the 223rd anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, King Louis XVI’s infamous prison, whose destruction symbolized the beginning of the French Revolution. Although The Cheese Traveler was busy mongering our great local cheese selection at the Delmar Saturday Market, we couldn’t help thinking about this most important of French national holidays. All of our local, New York cheeses are descended from European cheeses, and since October of last year, we have exclusively sold local cheeses at Capital District farmers’ markets. But for our new shop at 540 Delaware, we will expand our line to include small, artisanal cheeses from France and beyond. We have been thinking a lot about the French cheeses we will sell when we open our shop. Eric has been compiling his list of cheeses for his opening orders, while we have been waiting – not so patiently, grrrr! – for materials to arrive so we can continue our renovations.

As is commonly known, cheese is an integral part of French culture. The history of cheese production goes back to Ossau Iraty, which was being made in the Basque country dating back to pre-history. By the time the Romans came to France, cheesemaking had been in development for centuries – some of these ancient practices still continue today – Salers/Cantal, Beaufort, Fourme d’Ambert, Lagoiule, and Roquefort. During the Medieval times, many of the cheeses we know today were being made by monks in the monasteries – Brie de Meux, Epoisse, Comté (along with other less well known cheeses like Marroilles, Blue de Gex, and more).i Patrick Rance, who wrote the most authoritative book on French cheeses, drew his effort to catalog them to a close at over 750 French cheeses, acknowledging that there were more that were undocumented.ii The passage of time has brought additions and subtractions to Mr. Rance’s list.

In remembering Bastille Day and the French Revolution, cheese may have had a part in the political and economic conditions of rapid industrialization and high taxes that led to the revolution. Industrialization brought vast wealth to the monarchy and noble, owning class. Additionally, France was participating in and funding the American Revolution, which caused the monarchy to levy high taxes to pay for the war effort and France’s growing debt. This contributed to the strife leading up to the French Revolution.iii At the time, cheeses were being made in both the monasteries and by landowners in the countryside. However, landowners, who were essentially tenant farmers, were required to pay taxes, while the monasteries were not. Tax could be paid by means of cheese: not only the infamous Reblochon de Savoie, a cheese invented by cheesemakers who would perform a second milking after the tax collector had left to produce cheese for themselves, thus, avoid paying taxes, but also Tete de Moine, which prior to its identity as a classic cheese from Switzerland was made in the Jura region of France by monks at the Bellelay Abbey. Their cheese was originally called Bellelay. The monks of Bellelay Abbey taught the landowners how to make the cheeses but also required them to tithe the church in the form of wheels of cheese.iv It was with controversy that late in the ancien régime a tithe was extended beyond grain crops and vineyards to include the produce of orchards and farm animals. The peasantry was willing to accept the previous tithing but “the triple tithe” on sheep — lambs, wool, and cheese was what broke their back..v Such taxes contributed to class tension between the landowners and the ecclesiastical classes. For testimony of the importance of cheese to the French, one merely has to look to the history of the Revolution to find that the cheeses that were made in the monasteries were spared while the monasteries were destroyed.vi

For French cheeses, Eric is looking to the honed skills of France’s best affineurs or cheese ripeners/maturers. These are masters of their crafts who have completed training and worked for decades often for their small family businesses to develop their skills at selecting cheeses from fermier – or farmhouse – and artisanal – made by hand in small batches in small quantities (it is not artisan merely because producers call it so!) – producers and bringing them to their special aging facilities so that they can mature them to perfection. By working with affineurs in France we will bring small production, perfectly ripened cheeses to Albany. These are both the selection and quality that you only find at select cheese shops and should you travel to France.

Rodolphe le Meunier Tomme de Vendee

We are excited to feature those beautiful, hand selected, carefully aged cheeses by Rodolphe Le Meunier, the winner of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France and International Caseus Award (World Champion Cheese Affineur in 2007). Eric has worked with Rodolphe at the last two Cheesemonger Invitationals. He has carefully cultivated this relationship and is excited to have Rodolphe’s cheese and hand-churned butter in Albany.

Over the last few years, Rodolphe has worked with his goat’s milk cheese producers to make pasteurized versions of classic French, small format, goat’s milk cheeses, typical of the Poitou and Loire Valley. These cheeses come in various formats – discs (Galet de Cher), donuts (Courone de Touraine), crottins, pyramids (Pyramides de Touraine), and logs (Ste Maure de Touraine AOP). These are among the finest goat cheeses available anywhere – gorgeous texture with clean but complex flavors. We can’t wait to share them with you. These are how the Loire valley goat’s milk cheeses should be!

Rodolphe also selects soft-ripened, bloomy rind cheeses from producers in small quantities. These creamy beauties are typically sold by the pallet indiscriminately (Brillat Savarin), but Rodolphe carefully scrutinizes each wheel and selects smaller quantities so that they are higher quality and in better condition to make the voyage to the U.S. Thus, these are the most perfect bloomy rind cheeses from France that you can find not only in Albany but on par with the best of these French cheeses anywhere in the U.S.

Le Meunier’s table at the Cheesemonger Invitational 2012. Look at that gorgeous Puit d’Astier!

While the cheeses mentioned above are French classics, we are also excited about the less well known cheeses that we shall get from Rodolphe. We plan on carrying too many to list here but we’ll describe a few of them. There are beautiful cheeses from Auvergnes, which were admired in the writings of Olivier de Serres in the 1600: “the cheeses from Auvergne are renowned all over France, from coast to coast.”vii Accordingly we shall sell a rare, fermier (or farmhouse) Saint Nectaire with a well formed natural rind (not the rubbery, factory produced ones with the salmon colored washed rind); Fourme au Moelleux, a blue cheese, washed in a sweet white wine; Puit d’Astier, a giant, 16 pound, sheep’s milk cheese that is shaped like a donut. There are other gorgeous cheeses from Vendée – La Jeune Autise, a goat’s milk, washed-rind morbier style cheese; Tome de Fontenay, another aged goat’s milk tome that is coated in herbs both of which Eric enjoyed at their oozing best after they were heated under a raclette machine last month– oh my God!

In addition to Rodolphe Le Meunier, Eric will work with other affineurs – Joseph Paccard, Jean D’Alos, and maître fromager (master of cheese) and affineur Pascal Bellevaire. Joseph Paccard specializes in selecting and maturing delicious traditionally made, raw milk, alpine cheeses from Savoie and Jura – we’ll open the store with Tomme Fermier La Manigodine, made in the tradition of Reblochon de Savioe; Persille de Tignes, a savory raw goat’s milk cheese with a stunning gray, natural rind; and a gorgeous, Tomme de Savoie Fermier. As we grow we will bring in more cheeses from Joseph Paccard. Similarly with D’Alos and Bellevaire the selections will be limited at first. We shall most likely open the store with two beauties from Bellevaire, which Eric became familiar with at Formaggio Kitchen – Vendéen Bichone, a deliciously full flavored, semi-soft cow’s milk cheese from the Vendée region of Brittany; and Trois Lait, a creamy, washed-rind, semi-soft, mixed milk cheese made from goat, sheep, and cow’s milk from the Couserans valley in the Pyrénées. We can’t wait to grow so that we can bring in the exotic goat’s milk blue from the Vendée region of Brittany – Bleu du Bocage.

The Cheese Traveler is committed to this level of production and quality of cheese in order to bring those cheeses that are made in the countryside rather than the factory to Albany. These cheeses are small production and are similar to what you would find should you travel to France. To taste them is to travel to the French countryside; to experience and come to learn the qualities of the locale, the traditions of the cheesemakers and affineurs, and the heritage of the cheeses. It is with similar scrutiny that Eric will select cheeses from other countries to join the fine American farmhouse and artisan cheeses produced regionally and across the U.S. Thus, we have revealed the other meaning of the name – The Cheese Traveler. For while we have loved our trips to France, and would encourage everyone to travel to France and other places, we also know that we can have a little bit of France in the smallest production cheeses and artisan foods. Such traditional artisan foods get closest to the land (the terroir as in good wine production) and cultural traditions of their home countries. And by sharing these taste experiences with our companions here at home in the U.S., we are able to share in their fascinating flavors and rich stories.

Rue Montorgueil, Paris, Festival of 30 June 1878, Claude Monet

i Rance, The French Cheese Book, xvi-xvii.

ii Rance, xix.

iii The Columbia Encyclopedia, 3rd ed. 1963, p. 771.

v Jones, P.M. The Peasantry and the French Revolution. London:  Cambridge University Press,1988, p. 95.

vi Rance, xvii.

vii Rance, xvii.

Welcoming the Third Annual Cheesemonger Invitational

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Rodolphe le Meunier goat’s milk tomme from Jura

by Eric Paul

This Saturday, an epic cheese contest will take place—the Third Annual Cheesemonger Invitational. Fifty-two cheesemongers from around the world will compete for glory and one thousand dollars in honor. The competition will be judged by fifteen preeminent people from all areas of the cheese business and hosted by the big cheese in importing, Adam Moskowitz of Larkin. Coming on the heels of the famed Fancy Food Show, here is a place for the best and most seasoned mongers to compete for bragging rights to be called the best in the business.

This event is more than a grand fete for cheese or “curdocopia,” as Adam calls it. This is a gathering for cheesemongers, a place for those who wield knives, wheels, and cheese paper, to revel in cheese and the craft of mongering and to show off their skill. Should you think that cheesemongers are simple folk, there are a battery of difficult questions and divisions in the contest that evaluate their skill set. It is something of a “Top Chef” for cheese sellers who, in order to monger well, must demonstrate with precision deep and wide knowledge of world cheese types, textures, and tastes through blind tasting and identification, physical acumen which includes cutting precisely to the ounce requested, and artistic sensibility in plating the cheeses with style and grace. With wheels of all different shapes, sizes, and types, both tasting and cutting precisely by sight and sense can be a Herculean task. Some of the contest divisions include:

1)      Does the monger have a breadth of cheese knowledge?

2)      Has he honed his sense of taste?

3)      Can she move people with wit and charm?

4)      Does he have passion for the craft?

5)      How precise in cutting to order?

6)      How fast and neat can the monger wrap and label?

7)      Can she create magic in just one bite? and can she duplicate this sixteen times?

The inaugural Cheesemonger Invitational took place in 2010 as a closed competition where ten of the most renowned cheese shops in the United States competed against one another. Matthew Rubiner, owner of Rubiners’ Cheesemongers and Grocers in Great Barrington, MA, was awarded the esteemed winner.

Last year was my first year attending CMI. The competition was opened and expanded to include an application procedure and additional divisions of the contest. Proven cheesemongers in the business were open to compete in four contests, and forty mongers from around the world answered the call. Though I was not competing, I drove down from Albany on a sunny afternoon in great anticipation, eager to see my former co-workers from Formaggio Kitchen and mongers I met at a workshop in Philadelphia. I arrived in New York City about an hour before the competition started and I met some people with whom I had only been in contact with over the internet and read about in cheese magazines. It was a rockstar event for me, seeing the best in the business gathered for a celebration together to share what we love.

Once I arrived, I checked in past the long lines.  Next to admission table, at the patio, they were grilling raclette and serving it on a graham cracker with a tablet of dark chocolate and a cornichon. The warm raclette melted the chocolate. It was warm, gooey, and cheesy with a good balance of a sweet and meaty cheese with the sour vinegar pickle with earthy chocolate. After a delicious opening bite, I entered into the warehouse mob scene where folks milled about. To the far left of the open warehouse space were the mongers gathered in anticipation before the big event. I ran into Ian Peacock of Di Bruno Brothers and exchanged greetings, remembering my tour a few months back of Di Bruno Brothers’ original store on 9thStreet, a little shop packed to the brim with cheese nearly overflowing the counters and cases and specialty foods filling the walls. Then I saw Tripp, my best buddy at my short-lived stint at Formaggio Kitchen. I grabbed a beer from Six Point Brewery and noticed Rodolphe le Meunier’s table full of mounds of uncut wheels of cheese. Rodolphe is a fantastic cheese affineur (see our blog post A Visit to the City of Cheese). Rodolphe was off in the judging room, so his counter was understaffed with a single, older French gentleman. Sensing a need after a brief conversation with the Frenchman, I jumped behind the counter, broke down the wheels, and cut samples for the crowd. I intimately tasted some of the most delicious hand-selected and aged wheels from France that could be found anywhere in the U.S.

Side view of Rodolphe le Meunier cheese

Side view of Tomme du Jura

The competitors proclaimed their love of cheese in the first contest over a cheering crowd. Rodolphe’s table held a great view of the competition and we watched the forty mongers set with the task of tasting unlabeled cheeses and identifying country of origin, type of milk, and length of age. The event was a little messy, I must say, with the judges judiciously recording each monger’s answer and forty mongers shifting about the stage. But the thrill of the crowd kept the contestants enthusiastically progressing through the round.

With two contests and twenty mongers left, the third round featured a precise cutting of a ¼ pound of cheese from an unlabeled wheel, and to then cut, wrap, and label two cheeses in a minute. The wheels varied in heights and densities, so each contestant had to intuit what was in front of her. The crowd was reeling with the sounds of a DJ mixing in the back, the clock ticking, and the contestants’ actions projected close-up on a large screen. Each time a contestant weighed in his cheese, the weight was shown from a gigantic digital scale, and the audience went wild. But finally, could they label the cheese with legible handwriting in so little time?

Then the last ten contestants moved into the final round. They each had to create the perfect pairing bites for sixteen judges from items they brought with them, including cheese and accompaniments such as chutney, nuts, vegetables, fruits, bread, beer, and wine. The beauty was in each person describing his pairing to the judges. My buddy Tripp of Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, I believe would have won this round because food pairing was his specialty; however he had been taken out in one of the former rounds. Brooke who worked at Formaggio Essex in Manhattan, Tripp’s distant “cousin” in the Formaggio family, moved into the final round with Tripp’s pairing – Challerhocker with a cockle and wild fennel pollen and a gherkin. However, another great monger, Steve Jones won with another pairing featuring Challerhocker with caramel-bacon popcorn, and a Belgian-style ale. Everyone fist-pumped and cheered and congratulated each other in the end. At the time the winner was announced, I was “wedged” between the last year’s winner Matthew Rubiner and then winner Steve Jones. What a place to be in!

After the contest we partied into the night, celebrated our enthusiasm for cheese and cheesemongering, and retired to Brooke’s place to get some shut-eye. I am eagerly looking forward to this year’s event held on Saturday, June 23.

My cheesemongering family will still be at market this Saturday, so come down to get your cheeses for the weekend at the Delmar Farmer’s Market, 9-1pm. I’ll be back the following Saturday at Delmar, and this Tuesday, 4-7pm at the Delaware Farmer’s Market in the parking lot of the Delaware Branch of the Albany Public Library at 331 Delaware Avenue, Albany, NY.

National Dairy Month, New York State, and the Plight of the Small Farm

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by Alifair Skebe

June is National Dairy Month, a time that America has set aside to celebrate the bounty of milk produced across the country. Summer months experience a surplus of milk after the brief Spring months of live births and the coming in of the milk. At this time animals are pastured and milked twice a day. At The Cheese Traveler, we love cheese and celebrating all things cheese-related. Milk is the number one ingredient in the cheesemaking process along with salt, culture, and rennet. It is also the official beverage of New York State. In our research on the history of National Dairy Month, we had some surprising discoveries.

The auspicious date – 1937, the first “National Milk Month” later coined in 1939 “National Dairy Month”– coincides with one of the largest labor strikes in New York State history – that of the Dairy Farmers’ Union. As milk production increased with the aid of mechanical and scientific advancements in the early decades of the twentieth century, the depression era significantly decreased the demand for milk and dairy products. Moreover, the cost of transportation of milk increased. Retailers and large scale cooperatives responded by slashing prices, engaging in a price war, and developed a monopoly in the state undercutting the cost of production for small, family farms. So, as the National Milk Month campaign advertised at local shops to increase the demand for a surplus supply of milk, farmers were waging a battle on the farm front to stabilize prices on milk, respond to the increased cost of production, and secure their small farms.

The Dairy Farmers’ Union strike was not the first dairy strike in New York State, nor the first instance of corruption in New York’s dairy industry. In 1858, the “swill milk” scandal of watered down, contaminated, or doctored milk was uncovered in New York City which necessitated standardized practices in the industry for public health safety. Contaminated and diseased milk from poor milk handling to animal cruelty – such as feeding distilled whiskey mash to cows or lifting and milking a dying cow – was often and unknowingly the cause of transmission of infectious disease.   In 1933 as commodity prices fell, New York State’s milk strikes spread like wildfire and grew quite violent, bringing the state close to marshall law as one New York Times reporter noted. The 1937 strike, following the largest drop in milk prices in fifteen years, was eventually successful, as small family farmers shut down two of the largest milk cooperatives in the state through persistent and surreptitious means, from picketing with long boards with exposed nails to protect their picket lines from anti-strike motorists and greasing the train rails to prevent milk shipment departures from the facility.[1]

Some memory of the battle persists today as small farmers still bemoan the large-scale factories’ hold over pricing and the market. Small scale dairy farming continues to be difficult to near impossible to sustain on only commodity production.

To celebrate National Dairy Month, we at The Cheese Traveler see cheese production as the natural response to summer’s increased milk supply. It takes approximately ten pounds of milk to make a pound of cheese. A gallon of milk is about 8.6 pounds, so to make one lovely ten pound wheel of Madeleine for example, Sprout Creek Farm uses over twelve gallons of goat’s milk. Likewise, cheesemaking has been the historical solution to excess milk supply. Other countries with a long history of incorporating cheese in their diet such as Greece and France experience lower rates of hypertension and obesity in the population than those in the U.S. The health benefits of cheese – offering a high-quality protein as well as calcium, phosphorus, and Vitamin A[2] – provide a strong support for the continued development of cheese production and its ties to local and regional food culture.

In New York State, home of The Cheese Traveler and the third largest dairy-producing state in the country, small farms have turned toward farmstead and artisan cheesemaking as a value-added option to increase their viability. Value-added products are those that take a commodity such as milk and add labor, time, and craftsmanship to it to make it more valuable. The art of cheesemaking adds value in several ways: a low price commodity becomes an economically viable agricultural product, a perishable becomes an “aged” product, saving the cost of freezing or keeping milk cooled through the winter months of low milk production, and a commodity with little variation becomes highly diversified in form, taste, and craft.

The Cheese Traveler is deeply committed to selling the cheeses of these small producers who either use their own milks produced on their farms or use locally sourced milks from natural, grass-fed, pastured, or organically fed goats, sheep, and cows. So, as we commemorate June as National Dairy Month, let us also remember the efforts of our forbears who have fought to make food safe, affordable, and delicious. Cheese is a wonderful addition to any meal and can be added to enhance the flavor of many summer dishes. We have been enjoying the classic Mediterranean beans-n-greens with white beans, radicchio, mizuna, fresh oregano, rosemary, thyme, and garlic scapes, onion, balsamic vinegar; sautéed in butter; finished with olive oil, salt, pepper, and Toma Pepato from Cooperstown Cheese Company.

Ben and Mino enjoying a cheese plate together

[1] Kriger, Thomas J. “The 1939 Dairy Farmers Union Milk Strike in Heuvelton and Canton, New York: The Story in Words and Pictures” The Journal for MultiMedia History. Volume 1 Number 1 ~ Fall 1998

[2] “Cheese and Healthy Eating.” Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy® and National Dairy Council. 2011

What “Artisan” Really Means

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Cheese maker at Sprout Creek hand curdling milk for making cheese.

by Eric Paul and Alifair Skebe

I have been in the artisan food business for 13 years. My work in the food business has primarily been in “artisan cheese and artisan specialty foods.” In recent months, I have noticed the debate over the terms “artisan” and “artisanal” and their wide-spread commercial use, following the introduction of Domino Pizza’s Artisan Line. An article came out last week in The Atlantic Wire writing an obituary for the word: “Artisanal, Reluctant Branding Pioneer Dies at Age 474.” The word ‘artisan’ came into use in food because the words ‘gourmet’, ‘fine’ and ‘specialty’ became meaningless after they were co-opted by the mainstream food industry.

Gordon Edgar, author of Cheesemonger: Life on the Wedge, wrote a blog article entitled “Don’t Mourn the Death of Artisan.” In the article, Gordon suggests, citing various examples of recent media, that cheesemongers abandon the now meaningless term artisan and continue to focus on quality. Just as the micro brew makers were unshaken by the fallacious, industrially produced “craft beers,” “artisan” cheese makers and sellers must continue to support high-quality, hand-crafted cheeses…without the jargon. He says, “Once people taste handcrafted, well-made, well-aged cheese, they are hard to fool with imposters.” On the whole I agree with Gordon that the word artisan has been co-opted; however, as a cheesemonger, I argue that it is his and my job to define these words with clarity. The words “artisan” and “artisanal” have long and clear definitions with respect to cheese.

Patrick Rance, author of The French Cheese Book, defines “artisanal” as “Cheese made by hand rather than by machine.”[1] This meaning derives from the word “artisan” understood as a “handicraftsman.”[2] The earliest form of the words come from the Latin ars, artis which denote both the artisan’s “craft, skill, or trade” and the artist’s “work of art, invention, or device.”[3] Artisans formed guilds to protect trade secrets, and the guilds were necessarily small. Today these secrets can be learned at programs such as the Cheesemaking Certificate Program offered at the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese at the University of Vermont. Artisan cheese makers today are truly old-world craftsmen, producing cheese by hand in the old tradition. As food artists, they infuse their own skill and ingenuity into the batches to make delicious variations.

Sharon and Bob hand making cheese at Cooperstown Cheese Company

In France the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée has long maintained categories and conditions for production. To me, the A.O.C. definitions provide such clarity:

* fermier (made in a farmhouse, chalet d’alpage, buron, or other mountain hut) — An individual producer uses the milk of animals (cows, goats, sheep) raised only on his or her farm to make cheese following traditional methods. Milk from neighboring farms is not allowed. Only raw milk may be used. Quantity Produced — Small

* artisanal — An individual producer uses the milk of animals raised on his or her farm, or buys in milk to make cheese. The producer is the owner of the dairy but all the milk may be bought elsewhere. Quantity Produced– Small to medium

* cooperative (also fruitières) — The cheese is made in a single dairy with milk provided by members of the cooperative. Quantity Produced — Medium to large

* industriel — The milk is bought from a number of producers, sometimes from distant regions. Production is industrial. Quantity Produced — Large.[4]

These classifications help to be able to talk about very specific standards for production when it comes to cheese. Until recently this language for talking about method, sourcing, and scale has been efficient and effective. The co-opted industrial use of the term has certainly clouded the ability to get the message out. For my business, I am specifically interested in cheeses made as artisanal and fermier, which can easily be translated as “farmhouse.” I continue to use these words frequently with customers and in cheese descriptions, because despite the hype, I am still able to convey a specific meaning for the term that has a history in cheese production that persists today.

Most of the specialty foods that I sell and find most interesting are of a similar scale of production with similar ingredient quality and sourcing; therefore, I use similar terms to describe them. And yes, there is an entire section of the food industry ubiquitously known as “specialty foods.” The larger businesses will continue to try to steal market share by using words falsely; however, the best cheesemongers will continue to showcase a true product worth the quality and the name. With so many companies out there redefining what “artisan” means, the cheesemongers with both knowledge and integrity are the A.O.C. for America, distinguishing the standards and measures for quality products and delivering these to our public.

[1] Rance, Patrick. The French Cheese Book. London: Papermac, 1991, 537.

[2] Oxford French Dictionary

[3] Traupman, John C. The New College Latin and English Dictionary. New York: Bantam Books, 2007, 68.

[4] See French Cheeses, published by Dorling Kindersly, revised edition 2000, Pg. 22.

Join Us Tomorrow, June 2 at the Delmar Farmers Market

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We are so excited to announce that tomorrow is the start of the Delmar Farmers Market and The Cheese Traveler will be selling cheese there for a second year. Come by between the hours of 9am and 1pm to get your fantastically tasty summer cheeses (click here for directions). The Cheese Traveler will feature an array of small production farmstead and artisan cheeses, many of which are award-winning, from farms within a fifty mile radius of Delmar.

3-Corner Field Farm, Shushan, NY

Naturally Raised, Grass Fed Dairy, Sheep and Lamb

   3-Corner Field Farm is nestled in the Battenkill River Valley at the foothills of the Green Mountains on the border of New York and Vermont. They are one of the few farms in the country that milk sheep for use in the production of gourmet cheeses and yogurt. Their sheep are raised with care and respect on beautiful, organically managed pastures, and are never given hormones or unnecessary antibiotics. They are raised the old-fashioned way: outdoors, on pasture, eating natural grass, clover, and alfalfa.

Berkshire Blue, Great Barrington, MA

Handmade by Ira Grable using raw milk sourced from two small jersey cow dairies.  Crafted in the tradition of an English Stilton.  Berkshire Blue has won many international awards.

Berle Farm, Hoosick Falls, MA

 Beatrice Berle owns and operates a beautiful, 600 acre, certified organic, solar powered, 1840’s farmstead.  She hand-crafts artisan cheeses, using milk from her 6 cows.

Consider Bardwell Farm, West Pawlett, VT

Angela Miller, Russell Glover, Chris Gray, and  Peter Dixon, have revitalized the 300 acre Consider Bardwell Farm– the oldest cheesemaking cooperative in VT.  They hand-craft cheeses using goat’s milk from their 100 goat herd and cow’s milk from 30 jersey cows from neighboring Jersey Girls Farm.  Their cheeses have won numerous awards at the American Cheese Society Annual Conference and Competition

Cooperstown Cheese Company

Known iconically as the “The Red Roof 6 miles south of Cooperstown on Route 28,” Cooperstown Cheese Company handcrafts artisan cheeses from locally-sourced, raw cow’s milk. Their Toma Brand Cheeses are made from milk from Brown Swiss cows raised naturally and hormone free on Lester Tyler’s family farm, Sunny Acres Swiss. Their Jersey Girl Colby is made with grass-fed, raw milk from Autumn Valley Farm in Worcester, NY.

 Cricket Creek Farm

Located in Williamstown, MA, Cricket Creek Farm handcrafts award-winning, raw, grass-fed cows milk cheeses made by certified artisanal cheesemakers. The land is cared for organically; the farm is Certified Humane, has a bakery, and sells eggs, beef, and pork.

 Old Chatham Sheepherding Company

Produced in New York’s bountiful Hudson Valley, Old Chatham Sheepherding Company’s award-winning sheep’s milk cheese and yogurt are celebrated for their uniqueness and distinctive flavors.

Cheesemongers, not Cheesemakers

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by Alifair Skebe

Around town when we get asked what we do, we say with enthusiasm, “We’re cheesemongers!” Eric has been a cheesemonger and cheeselover for 14 years and founded the cheese department at Honest Weight Food Coop in 1999. But frequently the follow-up question is “How do you like making cheese?” or “Where do you make your cheese?” Sometimes, we are confused with local cheesemakers: “So you’re the ones who make the goat cheese,” referring to R&G Cheesemakers from Cohoes, NY. Our most recent favorite came from a brief conversation at a From Scratch Club food swap. Alifair, the wife of the cheesemonger, was dubbed the “Mistress of Cheese” by one community member and another responded, “So you make the cheese and he sells it!” A classic case of mistaken identity, we have ascertained some basis for the confusion.

As the economy turned from small retail shops to large supermarkets and industrial-made products, terms like cheesemonger, fishmonger, and butcher (or its earlier form fleshmonger) fell out of use. “Monger” derives from the Latin mango– and Germanic suffix –er to mean a merchant, dealer, or trader of a commodity. Cheesemonger, by extension, means one who deals or trades in cheese. In the U.S., cheesemongering is on the rise. Large supermarkets are reimaging themselves as shops within stores and calling for cheesemongers to manage their cheese departments, and individual retail cut-to-order cheese shops are popping up in cities large and small. A staggering 1,600 domestic U.S. and Canadian cheeses were entered into the American Cheese Society’s annual competition in 2011, the largest number to date. With so many amazing fine cheeses produced in the States and abroad, a consumer needs a cheesemonger to help steer the palate toward individual interest. To meet the growing industry, demand, and to standardize practices, this year The American Cheese Society inaugurated a Certified Cheese Professional Exam for both practicing and aspiring cheesemongers.

The recorded use of the term monger dates back to the 16th century, when its meaning synonymously referred to “a person engaged in a petty or disreputable trade or traffic.”[1] This is the meaning Shakespeare’s Hamlet uses in his famous line to Polonius, adviser to the false king. In the second act, Polonius asks, “Do you know me, my lord?” and Hamlet replies, “Excellent well; you are a fishmonger.” They go on for a while about honesty and the state of the world, until Hamlet underhandedly castigates Polonius for peddling his daughter Ophelia. Polonius, ill understanding Hamlet’s satire and wit to play off the multiple meanings of words, thinks Hamlet clearly mad…or madly in love. He says in an aside, “How say you by that? Still harping on my daughter. Yet he knew me not at first; he said I was a fishmonger. He is far gone, far gone.”[2] Polonius only understands the one use and not the other, and the audience sees him as a doddering fool for his omission. Laughing at a clownish old man is great for drama, but not for polite society, of course. In today’s society, the derogatory tone of the slang meaning may persist in our thinking about the word monger and could explain our aversion to its use.

For better or for worse in the cheese business, words can contain multiple meanings. Unlike the English, the French fromager is used interchangeably for both cheesemonger and cheesemaker.[3]  What confusion this may naturally engender! To top it off, an affineur buys cheese, ages cheese, and resells the wheels at their aged perfection, holding many different types of cheeses in his cellar at any given time – is he a cheesemaker or a cheesemonger or both? At a small producers market, a cheesemaker might purchase space at a booth to become both a monger and a maker. In the city, larger cheese shops can store a wide variety of wheels and types of cheeses in their own caves or aging facilities. The American Cheese Society in its blog tagline breaks down the concepts into the following categories: Cheesemakers, Cheesemongers, Cheeselovers; and says, “All are welcome here as we celebrate all things cheese!” Not only does ACS note the difference between mongers and makers, but also includes the cheese enthusiast, the aficionado, or the curd nerd. While The Cheese Traveler falls into the cheesemonger category, we are beholden to the relationship we share with local cheesemakers, such as R&G, who make our business possible. Conversely, cheesemakers appreciate cheesemongers because their shops can reach a wider audience of cheese lovers for their product. All in all makers, mongers, and lovers form a trio around cheese and its importance to culture.

Cheese etymology portrays a unique way of seeing the difference between cultures – no pun intended. The word for “cheese” throughout the modern European languages can differ slightly as well as to a great extent independent of regional proximity. The words fromage (French), formage (Medieval French), and formaggio (Italian) derive “from the Latin word for the basket or wooden box in which compressed curds were molded to make cheese, forma, which itself came from the earlier Greek term phormos (This is also where the English word “form” comes from). For their part, the English word cheese, the Spanish word queso and the German word Kaese all come from the Latin word caseus, the foodstuff itself.”[4] Ultimately, a cheesemonger or maker focuses on the “cheese” while a fromager focuses on the “form.” A food so simple in its ingredients – milk curd and rennet, a coagulating agent that separates the curd from the whey –  develops into a vast number of different types of cheeses. Some cultures have grown to see the final product, the cheese itself, of the utmost importance while others see the form that initiates the cheese as the item of note.

In the States, and more locally in Albany, NY, we have oodles of local farmstead and fine artisan, specialty cheeses to choose from at The Cheese Traveler. The storefront is coming soon to 540 Delaware Avenue in the heart of Albany right off I90 and 787. Look for us in the coming weeks at the June 2 opening of the 2012 Summer Delmar Farmer’s Market at the Bethlehem Central Middle School in Delmar, NY.

Planing a morsel of cheese. Perfect for tasting.

[1] Oxford English Dictionary

[2] Act II, scene ii, lines 177-190. London: Oxford University Press, 1914. New York: Bartleby.Com, 2000. http://www.bartleby.com/46/2/22.html

[3] Oxford French Dictionary

[4] Etymologically Speaking http://www.westegg.com/etymology/

TCT and Sunmark Grant: Public Voting Starts Today

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Hi Cheese, Meat, and Farm and Foodies!

The Cheese Traveler has applied for a $1500 start up grant through Sunmark Federal Credit Union and All Over Albany. 2 of the 3 finalists are selected by voting on the All Over Albany website. For the love of cheese, please follow these links to vote for The Cheese Traveler, Tilldale Farm, and the new store on 540 Delaware Ave in DelSo, Albany.

The Cheese Traveler’s application

Where to Vote alloveralbany.com

Thank you for your support. We look forward to posting more details on the new store as they develop. Follow us on facebook.

A Visit to the City of Cheese

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by Alifair Skebe

Let’s go visit the cities of cheese. I’m very disorganized but I keep seeing things this way. I said, I am not close to objects and this is my way of talking to myself. We set sail for Port Salut, we will spend our summers in Gruyere. Nordost is a northern port. Tillamook is in this country, not a place we would visit.

from Margaret Johnson’s A Visit to the Cities of Cheese

On March 15, Eric Paul and his wife Alifair traveled to New York City, the city of cheese, to visit some of the finest up-and-coming small cheese shops in Manhattan and Brooklyn. This is not the same kind of imaginative trip Ms. Johnson writes about in her fantastic 1985 book of poetry.

We embarked on a visit to the city that houses dozens of old world traditional cheese shops throughout the city and surrounding boroughs. This trip followed on the heels of the prior weekend’s trip to the Berkshires and Central Mass to see Rubiner’s and Provisions, a new market in Northampton.

Since our travel to New York was a one-day trip, we limited our scope to those shops we felt most resembled The Cheese Traveler’s interest in small production, local and regional handcrafted cheeses, and size of retail space. We have had our eye out for just-the-right retail space for eighteen months and were settling on an eclectic neighborhood in downtown Albany close to the highway and other fine food establishments. Since our short stint at the Delmar Farmer’s Market last year, we wanted to stay committed to the “traveling” part of the business while also securing a space for the everyday customer and a prep area for events and composing gift packages within easy distance of Downtown Albany.

Our first stop was Saxelby Cheese Mongers in the Essex Street Market, New York’s premier, indoor “open air” market in the Lower East Side. Featuring purely regional Northeastern cheeses from small farms with herds of less than 40 animals, Saxelby’s is very similar to The Cheese Traveler in its commitment to selling regionally made, artisan cheeses. Moreover, Anne Saxelby was just named Manhattan’s Small Business of the Year. You heard that right: a cheese shop was named business of the year. In The Big Apple, a cheesemonger is The Big Cheese.

Entering the corner corridor off Delancey Street, we emerged into a light, sound, and smell-scape of ethnic foods and specialty shops, Saxelby’s being the first stall through the double glass doors.

Anne Saxelby and a cheesemonger cutting cheese to order.

As we discovered, a truly world-class, “American” cheese shop need not take up much space and there was even room to make prepared foods. We were very impressed by Saxelby’s custom-made walk-in cooler with an insulated window cut into the side. This window provided a extra display case in a compact design. So intelligent, so elegant. For cheeses, we picked up some old favorites: Shushan Snow and Brebis Blanc, two fresh sheep’s milk cheeses made at 3-Corner Field Farm in Shushan, NY.

Next, we stopped at the other side of the market to visit Formaggio Essex, a branch location of Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, MA.

Formaggio Essex is a scaled-down version of its original, where Eric worked for a short time in 2010. Though small and packed, Formaggio Essex hosted a wide array of specialty foods including charcuterie, condiments, and sweet treats. We bought Vendéen Bichonné by affineur Pascal Beillevaire, a Loire valley cheese whose name means, “the pampered cheese from Vendée.” It is a creamy, sweet, nutty, semi-firm, natural rind cheese that coats the palate in a lovely way.

All this cheese research was beginning to make us hungry, so Alifair stopped by the Brooklyn Taco Company to order a quick lunch.

Little did I know that when I stepped into the black and white tiled taco stall, I was embarking on a unique taste journey rivaling the best neighborhood eats of the city. I ordered a Guaco Taco made with chunky avocado, raw sweet corn, tomatoes, red onion, cheese, crema, hot sauce and a yummy Black Bean Tamale. Once we were back at the car, Eric and I scarfed them down, not realizing just how hungry we had gotten.

Then it was across the Williamsburg Bridge and into Brooklyn to visit the Bedford Cheese Shop. Mind you, this is the cheese shop where we found the difficult to procure Swiss sheep’s milk cheese for our 2011 “all-Swiss” themed Annual Wine and Cheese Tasting fundraiser at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany. This was a wing-dinger of an event, considering that our choice of theme made things really hard on ourselves. First, Switzerland is a very small country, secondly, the country produces very few wines, and lastly, what they do produce, they export for a pretty penny. So trying to pair Swiss cheeses with Swiss wines was difficult to say the least. But we like challenge! Bedford provided us with the semi-hard sheep’s milk cheese Brebis de Rossinière, but that is a story for another time. We were excited to see the place that we admired for so long.

Oh my goodness, is that a dress apron made of cheese cloth? Why yes, I believe it is!

The farm and foodie window dressings really drew us in.

And let’s just say that the wide angle camera shots make the place look big, but only on the internet! The feel of the décor, royal red wallpaper, and dark custom shelves warmed the retail space and welcomed us in. Five cheesemongers busied themselves behind and in front of the counter making the whole place feel bustling and exciting. Bedford has no additional warehouse or cooler space beyond the retail floor, so all their cheeses are stocked in the abundant cases. We felt like cheese geeks in a cheesy store—that’s cheese-ease for “kids in a candy store.” But seriously, Bedford was no laughing matter, well, beyond the irreverent, over-sexed cheese descriptions enticing us to partake in tasting cheese as an illicit event. The fromagers were knowledgeable, unique, hip, and young—what else might anyone expect from Williamsburg? The stereotypical brown Oxford corduroy jackets with elbow patches tacking up their tatters crossed the street. In through the front door, little bell chiming, young “collegiates” professed their undying love for cheese over and over again. A dramatic place. High time to buy some dark chocolate-covered almonds, me thinks.

What set Bedford Cheese aside from the other shops that we saw was a commitment to selling cheeses from esteemed French affineurs – Rodolphe Le Meunier, Jean d’Alos, and Hervè Mons to name a few.  These are some of the most gorgeous cheeses that are usually only offered in the villages or the fine cheese shops of France. For our “research” we picked up a fancy little Lavort Goat, a spicy, raw goat’s milk version of a rare, Cheese Traveler’ favorite sheep’s milk cheese from Auvergne, and a luscious, creamy washed rind cheese that was tangy, slightly sweet, and nutty.

Last but not least, we packed up for our final destination The Bklyn Larder, between Park Slope and Prospect Park neighborhoods of Brooklyn. The shop is owned and operated by Sergio Hernandez, formerly of Provisions International, a regional specialty food distributor for the Northeast located in Vermont. Being cheese lovers as well as cheesemongers, we could no longer hold back our enthusiasm for buying as much good cheese as we could and trucking it back with us to our family back home in Albany. After a good long conversation and dinner at franny’s, a city-famous wood-fired, upscale pizza parlor, we returned to the Larder for our provisions. By the way, franny’s supports local farms and environmentally-friendly business practices. Here’s the back of the menu:

And the front:

This was Alifair’s appetizer: to-die-for erbette chard with ricotta salata. Creamy goodness and greens cooked al dente. The onions were sweet little mouth bursts.

And that was Eric’s appetizer: crostini of wood-roasted pancetta with cicerchie beans. This dish was delicious, so wonderful in fact, that we wished we had more. That’s right, two crostini on the plate. Can’t we have just one more? Pretty please?

After appetizers, we split a ricotta, buffalo mozzarella, garlic, oregano, and hot pepper pizza between the two of us and a few glasses of wine.

Returning to Bklyn Larder, Alifair purchased a T-shirt—they are so cool—for Eric’s cheese T-shirt collection and hid it in a bag to surprise him later. Among the cheeses we bought Tomme Brebis et Chevre, a semi-soft mixed milk tome made of raw sheep and goat’s milk in the Pyrenees and aged by Savoie affineur Joseph Paccard; Dunbarton Blue, an award winning raw cow’s milk blue “cheddar” that is creamy like a cheddar with sparse blue veins, gentle blue spicing, and a good salt balance; a beautiful, lusciously creamy, ripened chevre log from Andante Dairy, with a delicate natural rind characteristic of French goat cheeses from the Loire region; and Green Hill, a soft ripened, camembert-style cheese from Sweet Grass Dairy whose bulging paste was buttery and mushroomy, with vegetal undertones. We also took home various charcuterie and two pints of coveted Bklyn Larder house-made gelato.

Then we stopped at a nearby flower shop outside a quickie mart to buy an enormous bouquet of lilies to make the table lovely at home tomorrow.

As a final huzzah for our enjoyable trip, here’s a short video by Adam Moskowitz, President of Larkin, proclaiming New York’s finest cheese shops. Some of the shops we visited are on his list.

bon appétit!