NonaBrooklyn.com has an excellent — and in-depth! — profile of Consider Bardwell Farms, taking the reader through all facets of this award-winning Southern Vermont cheese making powerhouse. The article is divided into sections: “The Farmers”, “The Maker”, “The Monger”, “The Owner” and finally a tasting of Consider cheeses at Eastern District in Brooklyn.
At Consider Bardwell Farm in West Pawlet, Vermont, the cheese is made in the way that, in a moment of reverie after a taste of spring Mettowee – their fresh, creamy, grassy chevre – one would imagine their cheese being made. Yes, at Consider Bardwell, after the morning milking, goats frolic in dewy pastures spread across a lush plain unfurled at the foot of rolling mountains. In a century-old barn, fresh-faced locals stir milk with paddles in gleaming stainless steel vats, and separate curds from whey. Upstairs, wheels of cheese in many sizes age in cool, pungent caves. And twice a week, the finished rounds are gently loaded into a truck, to fly south across the ribbons of blacktop, out of the mountains, down the Hudson’s eastern shore, to Brooklyn. Other places too, throughout the Northeast, and to many of the finest cheese shops and restaurants nationwide.
A taste of this cheese at Eastern District, a friendly neighborhood cheese shop in Greenpoint, launched idyllic daydreams of summertime in Vermont. We quickly decided to make a trip north, to visit this farm, to meet the people who make this cheese, to learn a little about what they do, and why.
Definitely worth a read, and a look as well, because the photography is beautiful (above is just a small sample). check out the full store at the NonaBrooklyn blog.
(All photos ©2012 and courtesy of NonaBrooklyn.com)
I love glimpses inside how things like this work.
(via gourmet)
