It’s January. The Eagles are out of the playoffs and your locavore friends are complaining about having to eat cabbage for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Don’t panic, help is on the way! Cherry Grove Farm Cheeses are coming to 320!
Cherry Grove Farm is a farmstead cheese maker in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. They pasture raise a herd of mostly Jeresy cows, as well as raise whey fed hogs and produce pastured eggs.
I had the pleasure of meeting Sam Kennedy, assistant cheese maker at Cherry Grove at a cheese makers workshop in Burlington, Vermont recently. Sam is a CIA trained chef and recent Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese or VIAC graduate. He brought 6 cheeses for us to taste and we enjoyed every bite.
Cherry Grove is a relatively young operation but they seem to be learnering quickly. The cheeses ranged from an alpine style with a piquant finish, a semi-hard Italian style that will have you reaching for a flying fish IPA, an ash covered natural rind Tomme, a luscious and balanced edam with aromatic cumin and a well veined blue.
I loved the whole course and having Sam present answer any questions we had really enhanced the experience. The Havilah Tomme stood out with its black ashed rind and grass fed rich yellow colored paste. The color contrast really looked great on the plate. The Shippetaukin Blue had a balance of salty minerality and peppery finish. The high quality milk showed well in all cheeses and Sam’s passion as a cheese maker shined through.
Look for Cherry Grove cheeses at 320 in early February!
