For the fourth time in 16 years, a cheese from Vermont’s Jasper Hill Farm took Best of Show at the American Cheese Society’s recent competition. This time it’s Whitney, a new creation, in the winner’s circle. A raclette-style wheel made from raw cow’s milk, it topped 1,400 entries of all types. You can view all the category winners here.
Winner’s circle: Mateo Kehler with Jasper Hill colleague (photo: Janeé Muha)
The Whitney recipe incorporates some uber-traditional methods, including practices that most European cheesemakers abandoned long ago. I want to share some of what Jasper Hill co-founder Mateo Kehler said about this cheese and about his business practices at a post-awards press conference. His remarks explain in part why Whitney triumphed and why Jasper Hill is revered as an industry leader. (I’ve edited his comments for clarity and brevity.)
First, some facts. Whitney is a 20-pound wheel made with milk from a single grass-fed herd. The winning wheel was aged about 3-1/2 months and washed repeatedly during that time with salt water and morge, a sort of slurry made with cheese rinds. Morge is “the soul of the cheese,” says Kehler, a traditional way of transfering flavor-producing microbes from older wheels to young ones. Plus, it helps the rind form.
Jasper Hill makes Whitney in two used copper vats purchased from France’s Jura region and reconditioned. A lot of French and Swiss mountain cheeses are, by law, made in copper vats, with many theories about the benefits.
Overachiever: Sarah Marcus’s Oregon creamery won three blue ribbons, including one for her sheep’s milk feta.
These vessels are “full of memory,” says Kehler. Who knows whether some taste of the past resides in the vats’ scratches and dings? A handful of other top-tier U.S. cheeses—Spring Brook Farm Tarentaise and Roth Grand Cru among them—are made in copper vats as well.
Kehler’s stated intention to “double down on traditional cheesemaking” led the creamery to make its own animal rennet for Whitney. I don’t know any other commercial enterprise in the U.S. doing this. It’s labor intensive and potentially alienating to vegetarian customers, but Kehler is resolute.
Mariano Gonzales, cheesemaker for Vermont’s Grafton Village, celebrates his American Cheese Society blue ribbon for Bear Hill, a raw-milk sheep cheese.
“This is a way of closing the loop on the whole system,” argues Kehler. Male calves are of no use on a dairy farm. They are typically sold off early. But until they are weaned, their stomach produces an enzyme that can coagulate cheese. Harvesting that enzyme for cheesemaking is an ancient practice, vanishing even in rural areas of Europe. Most cheesemakers either buy animal rennet or buy a non-animal coagulant made in a lab, but it’s not the same. Kehler is convinced that the handmade rennet contributes to Whitney’s complexity.
“Cheese is an echo of something primordial,” said Kehler. “It has been with us since the dawn of civilization and speaks to something deep within us. Ultimately, with Whitney and our other raw-milk cheeses, we’re trying to build a connection to something real, a bridge between consumers and agriculture. I’ve been thinking about CSA—community-supported agriculture—which is an interesting model that has worked well in a lot of communities. But what we’re really interested in is agriculture-supported community, to flip that whole thing on its ear. An agriculture-supported community is much more dynamic and resilient and complete. At Jasper Hill, we’re trying to figure out how to remediate the impact of commodity agriculture and globalization, and cheese is the way we’re doing that.”
Whitney is dense and smooth, with aromas of peanut butter, roasted onion and mustard. To evaluate its meltability—a key feature of raclette—the judges tasted it at room temperature and melted. “It performed spectacularly,” said competition chair Rachel Perez.
Jasper Hill has plenty of stock so you shouldn’t struggle too hard to find it. Several online merchants offer Whitney, and Whole Foods typically stocks it. In September, it will be on promotion at Whole Foods so virtually every store in that chain should have it.