What a cow smells.....

Is translated into their milk in as little as twenty minutes. Did you know that? I didn’t know that what a cow smells ends up in the milk. I knew that what a cow eats will come through the milk, but what she smells? Come on, I told myself while sitting in class listening to the instructor talking about milk and flavors. It’s true, which would explain why some of my aged cheddars that are aged in a plastic bags have turned out so….. well, interesting in smell and flavor. The study was done at the University of Vermont where they had cows breathe in certain smells, milked them and then flavored the milk (drank the milk to see what it taste like). This brings up an interesting bit about consuming artisan cheeses, especially those that are farmstead. I had sold some cheese to a retail store that called me some time after they had purchased the cheese and said that the cheese was so bad that they could not get past the smell that it produced and was even worse when it was eaten. Through the conversation the retail owner told me that they had purchased cheese from some of the reputable cheese makers in the U.S. and that they never have had anything as bad as mine. What do you say to something like that? That is where knowing your craft comes into action. You see, I make all my cheeses from 100% grassfed, raw milk. The milk is never subjected to any temperature abuse like the majority of cheese milk is. Yes pasteurizing the milk does affect the flavor of it and what is made out of it. Because I use that kind of milk the flavors are going to be more pronounced, especially with the 100% grassfed. As soon as the cows get out on pasture their milk flavor and composition changes. It is a night and day difference in not only the taste and smell, but also the feel of the curd when I am making the cheese. So how do you respond to something like that? You educate them on what they are getting, does that excuse the flavors and smell? No, is there anything that I can do? Sure, not make that kind of cheese, but since cheddar seems to be what Americans want, it is what is made. If you go to the grocery and buy a Tillamook or Cabot cheddar cheese chances are that the milk that is used in the cheese came from a cow that has a fairly consistent diet. This diet, typically consisting of corn silage, and other fermented feed stuffs, allows for a consistent final product day in and day out. Not only that the bigger cheese producers grade there cheese. In class a grader came in and talked about what he does and had samples from bitter to sweet, to catty (yes that is a technical name for a flavor). Due to the grading of the cheese they are able to tell if a cheese will age out or if it needs to be sold earlier. They also are grading the cheese at varying ages. That way there is a consistent taste to the product on the shelf. So what am I getting at here…  Whatever happened to changes? I’m not talking huge changes but those subtle changes that keeps food interesting? Are they bad or are they good? I don’t know. I like them it adds to life. Along this path of learning in life, which mine happens to be centered around cheese, that I am on; I have learned that the milk produced here on the farm may not be the best for certain cheeses. That is why we are working on developing cheeses that lend themselves to the kind of milk that we produce; our own originals. So, this summer when you are browsing your local markets try a cheese that is an original. It may surprise you what is in store.

Ramblings from inside the caves

Brian