Spring Brook Farm Tarentaise & Reading Raclette
In Cooperation With
The Farms For City Kids Foundation
Spring Brook Farm Tarentaise and Reading Raclette are both produced in Reading, Vermont from the fresh raw milk of over 40 Jersey cows. Both the semi-hard Tarentaise and the semi-soft Raclette are artisanal cheeses in every sense of the word.
Tarentaise
Following a centuries old tradition of cheese making with its origin in the French Alps, Spring Brook Farm began making cheese in 2008. Tarentaise incorporates alpine traditions of European cheese making while exhibiting a distinct flavor unique to the Vermont pastures in which the cows graze.
Once the milk flows from the milk house to the make room, it takes over 10 months of care and aging by the cheese makers at the farm before it reaches a peak flavor profile. No preservatives, synthetic flavors, additives or waxes are used. Tarentaise uses a natural aging process in which the cheese makers encourage the growth and development of beneficial live cultures on the rind. This lends to its complex flavor and imparts a warm caramel color to a rind which develops over this time. By the time Spring Brook Farm Tarentaise is ready for sale, each approximately 20 pound wheel of cheese has been turned and washed at least 60 times in the state-of-the-art aging room.
Awards
In the relatively short period of time that Spring Brook Farm has offered its Tarentaise, the teamwork between the cheese house, the farm and the education division of the Farms For City Kids Foundation at Spring Brook has been rewarded with numerous awards.
2011 US Championship Cheese Contest, Madison, WI Best of Class
2010 World Cheese Awards, Birmingham, England Best USA Cow’s Milk Cheese
2010 World Jersey Cheese Contest, Channel Islands, Isle of Jersey 1st Place in Category
2010 World Championship Cheese Contest, Madison, WI Best USA Cow’s Milk Cheese
2010 American Cheese Society, Seattle, WA 1st Place in Category
3rd Place, Best of Show
Raclette
In May of 2010, with the expertise of our French cheese making consultant, Spring Brook Farm produced its first make of Reading Raclette. Utilizing the same copper vats and cheese making equipment used for Tarentaise, the Raclette is a semi-soft cheese ideally suited for melting over vegetables, breads or meats, yet it can stand alone on any cheese plate. It offers a creamy, nutty flavor that is again unique to this cheese coming from cows grazing in Vermont pastures. In the Swiss Alps where Raclette was first produced, they serve this cheese with tea or other warm beverage.
Reading Raclette is aged at least three months in the aging room. The same care and nurturing given to Tarentaise is also given to the Raclette. Wheels average between 15 and 18 pounds. “Our new Reading Raclette is a great compliment to our award winning Tarentaise and will allow Spring Brook Farm to offer another excellent cheese to our customers and move a step further in the support of the Farms For City Kids Foundation.”
Jeremy Stephenson—Spring Brook Farm Cheese Program Director
Farms For City Kids Foundation
Farms For City Kids Foundation has been in operation since 1994, bringing groups of children to the farm for a week at a time to experience a farm based curriculum. Besides learning to take care of farm animals and helping with making maple syrup (in season), the educational mission also includes helping with the aging of cheeses. The cheese house is designed to allow students and visitors to view the cheese making process through windows over the make room and offers a venue for students to study economics, chemistry, microbiology, food preservation, health and nutrition. All funds from the sale of Spring Brook Farm Tarentaise and Reading Raclette go to support the Farms For City Kids Foundation.
“We are extremely proud of our Vermont made cheeses, the award winning Tarentaise and our new Reading Raclette, but we are even more proud of the work we do at Spring Brook Farm with the city kids. Their enthusiasm and sense of pride for everything they help with on the farm is priceless!”
Karli Hagedorn—Chair of the Board of Directors, Farms For City Kids Foundation |
