CCE Workshop Highlights Opportunities for NY Cheese Makers, Small Dairies
CCE Workshop Highlights Opportunities for NY Cheese Makers, Small Dairies
Paul Smith’s, NY - Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Small Farms Program and Paul Smiths’ College Culinary Club recently brought a celebration of New York cheese making to the college in New York’s Adirondack Mountain region.
The event in the beautiful Pine Room along St. Regis Lake on campus was designed to educate culinary students on the varieties of cheese available to the young chefs as well as let artisanal cheese producers know what consumers are looking for when they buy specialty cheeses.
Fifty-three participants heard why New York cheeses are in great demand. Speakers said the demand is due partly to geographic location in a region that spans from Lake Champlain west to the shores of Lake Erie. Glaciated soils and the ability to grow cool season forages combine to make nutrient dense feed suitable for dairy animals whose milk is used for cheese production.
Wegmans Grocery Chain Specialty Cheese Buyer Cathy Gaffney spoke to the group on the opportunity that specialty cheeses represent for New York’s processors.
Wegmans is building a new Affinage Center. Affinage is the aging of cheese through applying the rind or washing of the rind and then the aging in a cheese cave.
At present, Wegmans will import cheese for the center from France, but would like to find New York sources. Marge Randles of Argyle Cheese Farmer said this is the type of information she needs to match her style of cheese production with emerging markets.
Ron Davis, a descendant of William McCadam who began McCadam Cheese in 1876 in Heuvelton, NY, is plant manager for McCadam in Chateauguay NY. He provided the audience with some of the history of cheese making in New York.
Fay Benson of the Cornell University Small Farms Program and the South Central NY Dairy Team spoke about how grazing animals influence the “terroir” of local cheeses. Terroir is a French term for the unique flavor given to the agricultural products of a specific region.
Benson said, “When animals can choose their forages through grazing, the dairy products made from their milk take on the unique characteristics of the soil and plants of the region.”
Benson referred to a study by Cornell University Professor Emeritus Dr. Peter Van Soest in Sicily that showed the metabolites in plants and how they affect flavor.
Davis, Gaffney and Dennis Moore, an inspector with the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets Dairy Division, evaluated 21 varieties of cheeses brought by producers to the event. Students and the other event participants had the opportunity to compare the cheeses as well.
The evaluators spoke with the producers about their cheese making processes. For example, Davis, tasting some bitterness in one cheese sample, asked how the rennet set. The processor explain the process, which included filtering chlorinated well water. Davis suggested using unchlorinated bottled water to better set the rennet.
Benson notes, “The type of educational exchanges between the producers and the cheese specialists that this event offered will help New York’s artisanal cheese makers to achieve their potential. One goal is to export New York cheese to France rather than having buyers import French cheese into New York.”
New York has 130-some artisanal cheese producers statewide.
The Cornell Small Farm Program plans a number of summer 2012 events to highlight opportunities for New York’s small dairy businesses. Watch www.smallfarms.cornell.edu for details. #
