Way up in the northwest kingdom of Vermont lies the Jasper Hill Farm, where brothers Mateo and Andy Kehler have been making award-winning cheese since 2002. Using raw milk from a herd of 45 BST-free Ayrshire cows -- who graze outside when the weather permits, and listen to jazz and classical music when confined to the warm barn -- the Kehlers are creating farmstead cheeses that are fit for royalty.

Their famous Baley Hazen Blue is a crumbly, creamy blue-veined cheese made with mostly morning milk, well deserving of all the effusive praise (“the most delicious blue cheese I’ve ever tasted” New Yorker Magazine) it has gathered. Aged 80 days, with a thick buttery texture, it is amazing on a cheese board, slipped between slices of bread on a grilled cheese or BLT, or scattered across a salad.

Jasper Farm’s equally well-known Winnimere will soon be reaching the end of its season. Wonderfully creamy, almost spoonable in texture, and only available from early winter into very late spring, this soft-rind cheese is washed with Lambic beer and wrapped with spruce bark from Jasper Hill’s own trees, which imbues it throughout with a slight woodsy flavor, complementing its strong, full taste.

Not content to rest on its spruce bark, Jasper Hill Farm is continuing to undertake new major investments in their cheesemaking facilities. They are currently building a cheese-aging complex that will feature seven man-made caves, all 25 feet underground. Not only will Jasper Hill Farm’s cheese benefit from the very best in aging processes, but Jasper Hill Farms will have room for other cheesemakers as well. The current caves at Jasper Hill have already been used to produce the award winning “Best in Show” Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, which is made through Greensboro’s Cabot Creamery Cooperative, and then brought to their neighbors at Jasper Hill to age at their cellars.

At time when small farms are disappearing at an alarming rate, the Kehler brothers are leading the way in making what they call “value-added agriculture” work for their community. And we in the Empire of Marin reap the benefits with some wonderful tasting cheese.

For a cheese made (somewhat) closer to home, Woodlands is now carrying Burrata from Goia Cheese Company located just outside Los Angeles. Burrata is a fresh mozzarella, filled with cream, and is popping up in restaurants (like A16) all over the Bay Area. With a thick outer layer, and luscious creamy interior, this mild, melt-in-your-mouth cheese is shipped within a day of its creation, and comes fresh into the Woodland cheese case each Thursday, making it perfect for a weekend feast. Serve it as a starter with olive oil, sea salt and crostini. Just fantastic.

New product alert! We are now selling Formaticum cheese paper, a special double-ply breathable paper that is designed to store cheese in its own mini-environment. Cheese is a living thing, and Formaticum cheese paper allows it to breath, which discourages surface mold and helps keep your cheese at its peak of flavor. Each pack comes with 15 sheets of paper (which are printed with a map of American cheesemakers), and 15 labels which have spaces to write the name ,type and any other information you would like about the cheese. Each pack sells for $6.99

At the end of July, I am off to Chicago and the American Cheese Society’s 25th Annual Conference and Competition. This yearly event features four days of cheese tasting, cheese lectures, and mucho celebrations of all things cheese! The highlight of the Conference is the grand Festival of Cheese, where hundreds of cheesemakers compete for the Best in Show (past winners include the above-mentioned Cabot Clothbound Cheddar). This Conference is a great opportunity to meet new cheesemakers, and discover new and exciting products to bring to the Woodlands Cheese Department, and the results from the famous Wine Versus Beer Smackdown: Which is Better With Cheese?

Keep your eye on upcoming newsletters and be sure to ask me about the Conference when you stop by the Cheese Department!

Thanks for reading.

Octavio Saez de Ibarra, The Cheese Department