Sunday, April 1, 2012

Knee deep in goat placenta and elbow deep in curds

My life is about to change. This scares me.

Borrowed from Pholia Farm's Facebook page - hope they don't mind...

For the next eight weeks, given if I have the time to write, this blog will be taking a new direction. I will no longer be mongering and munching my days away in San Francisco. Rather I get to be on the other side of the cheese spectrum. I'm leaving the retail and consuming side to become a producer. At least for now.

Pholia Farms, on the beautiful Rogue River in southern Oregon, was nice enough to take a chance on a city girl like me to come help them with their cheesemaking and kidding. Baby goats are called kids, so Springtime (when they are born) is the kidding season. I'm not kidding. But I will be soon! (ha, sorry)

Pholia farm-boss Gianaclis Caldwell is a bit of a cheese maverick: She makes an outstanding product, writes books on cheese, teaches classes, and runs a completely off the grid operation. Her prize winning herd consists of Nigerian Dwarf goats, which means they stay pretty small their whole lives, which translates to me having a cute-attack.

BABIES! Again, borrowed from Facebook

Interestingly, these tiny animal's milk has the highest butterfat content of any other breed of goat used for cheesemaking. I haven't visited the farm yet, but I have had their cheese. Unlike most goat cheeses - clean, lean, bright, refreshing - the aged, raw milk tommes are rich and buttery; more akin to sheep's milk than goat's. Plus the wheels that have come in recently are pretty breathtaking.


The rind on this wheel of Hillis Peak reminds me of a Chinese print of fish scales, or maybe a woman's stocking. The dusty blues, grays and greens just barely reveal a burnt red under-hue (courtesy of a paprika and oil rub on the cheese when it's young). The rind visually intrigues, and the paste, tasting distinctly of pistachios, does not disappoint.

Holy crap - I get to make this stuff! Stay tunned...

1 comment:

  1. Ah, this is so amazing, I'm already so excited for you. And those goat butts on the Pholia website are the cutest. Can't wait to (hopefully) read more!

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