The Cellars. My Cheesemaking Travels, Jasper Hill 2014. The Vermont Diaries 1/3
I have turned, washed, salted, brushed, wiped, larded, patted, barked and spiked more cheese then I would have previously thought possible. The cheeses range in weight from 4 ounces to 40 kilos and the temperature they have to be handled in can be a cool room temperature for some to downright chilly for others. The names of these wonderfully differing bundle of curds are Weybridge, Willoughby, Winnimere, Harbison, Alpha Tolman, Cabot Clothbound, Moses Sleeper, Savage, Oma, Kinsman, Bayley Hazen and Landaff.
My thoughts on the cheeses so far in terms of handling are:
- Willoughby is a terrible bore – it has to be washed and turned every day in freezing (not literally but almost) brine in the coldest vault which is Vault 6.
- Weybridge is inconsequential (4oz).
- Harbison is a faff but fun as it involves barking.
- Savage is savage by name and nature; horrendously sticky and heavy so have to fight just to get it off the wooden shelves it sits on never mind the effort of heaving it over (is about 35k).
- Larding Cabot is not as bad as you’d think (it’s the heaviest cheese) though I think I can say for sure that some would hate it as it involves slicing and melting the lard as well as greasing up the actual cheese.
All the cheeses live in a purpose built set of caves which are made up of seven vaults set in the side of a hill in small town in Vermont. The vaults each cater for a different set of cheeses and have specific environmental settings in terms of humidity and temperature which allow them to do this. The vaults are set out in a half moon shape – more info and pics can be seen here: www.jasperhillfarm.com/cellars
The vaults span round a central office and open ‘half circle’ corridor which they call The Ellipse. This connects and provides access to all the vaults and is a space where other work can be done such as packing and cleaning. There is a lot of cleaning.
The vaults are fascinating for the commitment and the sense of purpose and ambition they represent as well as their capacity . As a worker, however, what is key is the individuality in terms of their leader. Each vault has a Captain and their personality (and music taste) sets the tone for what it’s like to work in that vault. For example:
Vault 1 has lovely soft bloomy rinded cheeses and is run by a similarly soft and bloomy kind man called Brad who has a pony tail and passion for diverse (and very loud) heavy rock music.
Vault 2 is the home of Alpha (Tolmon – an alpine style cheese) and is looked after by the friendly but slightly uptight and self focussed Dan who listens to Pink Floyd very quietly and has a low energy vibe going on. I’m not sure how he gets anything done to be honest as it’s so chilled out in there.
Vault 3 is often quiet as the Alphas age slowly in silence interrupted only when someone has to go and rescue them from yet another odd and rather disease ridden looking mould.
Vault 4 and 5 are the cheddar vaults and full of loud heavy metal music and sweaty men flipping cheese. I forgive them the music (hopefully the cheese does too) as they really do have to work incredibly hard.
Vault 6 is headed up by a rather bitter man called Steve who washes his young soft cheeses to the sound of hard rap music. It turns out I do not like this genre at all. I have been introduced to some great rap music over the years but unfortunately Steve has never heard of any of it. I ended up in this vault quite a lot and the attitude plus music plus it being incredibly cold meant these were not my favourite days.
Vault 7 is captained by the lovely, motorbike driving, bear and moose hunting Clarke. He is what they call the sensitive music listener and looks after the great blue cheese Bayley as well as Landaff. We confused each other greatly by our different values; his desire to shoot things and put their heads on a wall and mine not to hold on to a job that was too cushy and secure as a civil servant. We had a great day when I introduced him to Leonard Cohen and it got us on a roll of Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, Billy Bragg etc. booming out through the vault as we worked. It was such a relief. The acoustics are amazing in the vaults so to have at least one filled with great music even just for a few hours was wonderful.
The hard work plus early starts (getting up at 5am) means I’m exhausted but in a good way. Feels great to be physically tired in body rather than mind for once and I’ve managed to see some beautiful sunrises and swirling mists as I walk to work. I have tried to get photos of some of these but afraid I’m usually walking at speed due to lateness (and fear of the bears that are rumoured to be in the area!) that stopping to get my camera out isn’t an option.
The next two weeks are to be in the Cheese House (the creamery is in an actual family home) so am looking forward to seeing how that goes.
Signing off for now,
Emma
Part Time Cheese Affineur
Jasper Hill Cellars
VT, America
(names have been changed)
