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| City slickers at Jasper Hill Farm. Photo: Dimitri Saad |
The beasts behind a few of the brilliant cheeses at Vermont's family-owned Jasper Hill Farm and its extraordinary, 22,000-square-foot cheese-aging cave, built right into the earth (one of only two like it in the nation), are up on their current pop for two reasons. As sales and outreach specialist Zoe Brickley told a group of self-proclaimed dairy enthusiasts, it's both because "the barn boys like it" and because the cows do: "If cows are stressed out, their production goes down. Happy, contented cows are best for milk quality."
Jasper Hill seems intent upon making its fellow cheesemakers happy and contented too, by providing aging facilities for 10 to 12 farmers throughout New England. With their enormous cave, they have recreated an atmosphere that has been "historically used" to create cheese, which is a boon for many local cheesemakers, who traditionally had to rely essentially upon tricked-out refrigerators. Owned by two couples (brothers Mateo and Andy Kehler), Jasper Hill is helping keep artisanal cheese alive in New England, and sustaining some of the top fromagers in the country.
After the jump, how they do it and a look at the caves and aging process.







After my latest Midnight Snack, I think I know how to say lardo in Polish:
Who am I to look down my snout at pork dewlap, much less lard? Though I must admit that this was the first time I've ever tasted either. When I tore the cover off the little tub, I was greeted by a lake of snowy white pork lard with a little island of cured dewlap in the center. After I mixed it up I spread a bit on some hearty rye and found it to be pretty tasty. But when I smeared a goodly amount on toasted rye with a little onion I was in porcine paradise. The lard melted onto the warm, crusty bread so perfectly that the fat sensor in my brain went off immediately, leaving me woozy with satisfaction. And with good reason, a mere tablespoon of this Polish wonder spread contains 3.5 grams of saturated fat.
Nicole mentioned the 









