Harbison, I love you!

Very few things in life are as magically delicious as a bloomy rind soft-ripened cheese with its rich and creamy, gooey center encased in its velvety, cloudy soft shell. No other kind of cheese awakens our intrinsic desire for mother's milk like this one. This is the epitome of comfort food.

In the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in a town called Greensboro, the Kehler brothers produce an amazing American cheese influenced by the French Vacherin Mont D'Or. Its name is Harbison and it's safe to say its predecessor has nothing on him. This cheese is rich and unctuous with a complexity of flavors that can only happen when you live the unique life of Harbison.

Named after Anne Harbison, who is endearingly known as the grandmother of Greensboro. Like the cheeses from the Jasper Hill Farm and Cellars, this one gets its most interesting attributes from the love it receives in the vaults. The milk is sourced directly from the farm's Ayrshire cows and from Andersonville Farm in Glover, Vermont. The cheese is made at the creamery on the farm's property.

After the creamery, Harbison arrives fresh and naked at the cellars where it gets hand-wrapped in the Spruce Cambium wood strips sourced from the farm's woodlot. This technique adds a woodsy nuance to the ripening cheese, while providing structure as the interior softens to a gooey texture when fully ripe.

For approximately the next 4-6 weeks, Harbison will live in a vault in the Cellars that is temperature and humidity controlled. This allows the bloomy rind molds to thrive as well as promote the ripening process that makes this cheese amazingly rich and gooey. Periodically, the wheels will get patted down to remove excess mold and develop its characteristic snowy and velvety rind. The wheels also get flipped periodically several times a week to maintain the milk structure and shape.

This attention to Harbison's development makes a beautifully complex cheese that continues to change throughout its life at the cheese counter and your fridge at home. When it's young, Harbison is buttery, unctuous with mild earthy and sweet cream flavors. As it matures, the sweetness turns into more woodsy, mustardy and mushroom flavors with a runny and gooey texture.

You can find Harbison at most Whole Foods Markets and Murray's cheese around the country. Any worthy cheesemonger should be able to source it. And if you have a hard time finding it, Jasper Hill has a great online ordering program.

Take a closer look at Harbison - a delicious cheese from Cellars at Jasper Hill. This short movie follows the process from cow to spoon - including our innovative 'tip-up' cheese production system, and the harvest of spruce bark strips used to hold in the gooey-goodness of each little wheel.

WHAT GOES WITH MY CHEESE

I love serving Harbison at the beginning of a meal for guests at home. Cut the rind off at the top and just dig in with a spoon or a spreader. Simply spread it on crusty baguette and fall in love with the nuances in all its flavors and aromas. Harbison needs no frills. Its beauty speaks for itself. Serve this cheese with a French cider like Etienne Dupont Cidre Bouche Brut de Normandie. This cider is yeasty, dry and crisp with a lot of tart and mildly sweet apple flavors. This complexity holds up beautifully to Harbison's charm. 

If you rather try this with a beer, go for an IPA. The body and bitterness of an IPA holds up well to the woodsy flavors and richness of Harbison.

If you prefer wine, go for a mildly oakey Chardonnay. A Pouilly Fuisse is the prefect complement. The wood nuances in both the cheese and wine are a winning combination. The complexities also go hand in hand.

View fullsize

Fully ripened Harbison

Cheese name: Harbison

Producer: Jasper Hill Creamery and Cellars

Where: Greensboro, Vermont

Size: 8oz

Cheese category: soft-ripened bloomy rind

Milk: pasteurized cow's milk

CHECK OUT THE LINKS

Jasper Hill

Cider

Bayley Hazen Blue

Blue cheese lovers, rejoice! Bayley Hazen is Vermont's best kept secret. Made in the tradition of an English Stilton, this blue cheese is the embodiment of Jasper Hill's "taste of place" mission. Manually pierced to develop the most perfect blue veins and made from Jasper Hill Farm's raw milk, its true charm comes from its time spent in the Cellars. 

In 2014, Bayley Hazen was voted the "World's Best Unpasteurized Cheese" at the World Cheese Awards. This cheese is 100% Jasper Hill. The milk comes from the farm's Ayrshire cows. It is made into cheese at their creamery and then transported to the blue cheese vaults in the cellars for affinage. During affinage, the cheese will first get manually pierced within its first few days. Then, periodically it will get flipped to maintain its shape and milk structure and rubbed to remove the excess mold on the surface of the wheels. The final detail in the cheese's development is the perfection of its strategically placed blue veins. Bayley Hazen spends approximately 3 months in the cellars. 

Bayley has all the salty, spicy and sweet complexity expected from a perfectly balanced blue cheese with grassy and nutty flavors. The fudgey and dense consistency brings all the flavors and aromas together to create an approachable blue cheese experience that is easy to love for both, the adventurous and most guarded palates.

WHAT GOES WITH MY CHEESE

Bayley's complexity lends itself to many uses. Slice it or crumble it on a burger or a spinach salad with bacon, cranberries and walnuts. I love serving it for dessert on a cheese plate with fig jam, Marcona almonds, caramelized walnuts and the hazelnut cranberry Lesley Stowe Raincoast Crisps.

For a spectacular pairing, serve the dessert cheese plate with the Brooklyn Brewery's Imperial Stout Black Ops. This dessert cheese plate and Black Ops pairing is so heavenly I can't even begin to start writing about it. I would just go on and on and on and on......

If beer just isn't your thing and you prefer wine, try a port or a sweet Bordeaux. But really, if you don't like beer, this should be your exception.

You can find this cheese at most Whole Foods Markets and Murray's throughout the country. However, a good cheesemonger should be able to source it. If you don't see it in your local cheese case, ask for it. You can always order it directly from the Jasper Hill website.

You should be able to find the crackers in the same place you find the cheese. And far as the beer, any beer shop with a decent selection should be able to source it. However, Black Ops is only available once a year. They produce a limited amount, and when it's gone, it's gone until next year. So make sure you ask for it.

Cheese name: Bayley Hazen Blue

Producer: Jasper Hill Creamery and Cellars

Where: Greensboro, Vermont

Size: 7lbs but its available in cuts

Cheese category: natural rind blue cheese

Milk: Raw cow's milk

Don't forget to check out the links

Cabot's Clothbound Cheddar

Cabot Clothbound Cheddar is, in my opinion, the best American cheese collaboration. The cheese is made by Cabot Creamery, aged in the Jasper Hill Cellars, and the milk is sourced from the award-winning Kempton Farm. All three partners superbly play their role in this cheese's "taste of place" character.

Cabot Creamery is a cooperative owned and operated by its members. It has four facilities throughout New England and Upstate New York. In their collaboration with Jasper Hill Farm to support their "taste of place" mission, they committed to single-sourcing the milk from a farm with deep roots in Vermont.  George and Patty Kempton have raised 5 children and 7000 dairy cows since starting their dairy farm in Peacham, VT in 1962. The Kempton Farm is part of the co-op that forms Cabot and supplies a large amount of high quality milk for the creamery's premium cheeses. So naturally, when Jasper Hill wanted single-source milk for their Clothbound Cheddar, the Kempton Farm was the obvious choice.

View fullsize

View fullsize

The production of this cheese, that won "Best in Show" at the American Cheese Society Awards in 2006, resulted in Jasper Hill earning the credibility to get the financing to build a multi-million dollar cheese-aging facility underground in Greensboro, VT.

Cabot Clothbound Cheddar is easy to love. It is made in the tradition of large format English Cheddars weighing in at 32 pounds and wrapped in bandages. The young cheese is covered in lard and an additional layer of cloth is added.  The cheese ages for 10-15 months in a specially calibrated vault in the Cellars, where they are constantly brushed, turned, and monitored for quality. This cheese is not only a cornerstone for the Jasper Hill farm but also for American artisan cheese making. It's character is a result of tradition and innovation coming together every step of the way.

Clothbound has a signature tang and caramel nuttiness with a rustic crystalline texture that becomes creamy on the palate. It has a savory-sweet balance that makes it perfect for many occassions. Whether it's eating out of hand as a snack, served with charcuterie and jams, or melted on a burger, Cabot Clothbound should be a staple in everyone's home.

WHAT GOES WITH MY CHEESE

Because of its versatility, Cabot may be served in many ways. I love to cook with it. Use in a mac and cheese mix with Gruyere and Emmenthaler. Also, melt it over a burger or grilled chicken breasts. On a cheese plate, serve it with apple jam or honeycomb, roasted nuts and Lesley Stowe's Raincoast crisp crackers. I love the cranberry hazelnut flavored ones, but they are all excellent. A little pricey but worth it for their uniqueness and how well they pair up with cheese.

Due to it's complexity and sweet-salty flavors, Clothbound works beautifully with a broad range of wines and beers. However, in order to keep up with Jasper Hills "taste of place" mission, this cheese is a perfect match with Woodchuck's Apple Cider. For a more tart contrast, try the Woodchuck's Granny Smith. 

If beer just isn't your thing and you prefer wine, again, try this cheese with almost ANYTHING....except for real fruity light bodied wines like Rieslings or Sauvingon Blancs. The caramel and nut flavors in the cheese along with its creaminess overpower these wines. However, a complex Chardonnay should stand up to this quite well.

Lucky for us, this cheese is so approachable it is easy to find. It is available at most Costcos in 1.5-2lb cryovacked chunks. Most cheese shops should be carrying this cheese or you may always order it from the Jasper Hill website. Any good cheesemonger should be able to source this cheese. It is distributed all over the country. Oh! and for you lactose intolerant babies, this cheese IS lactose free.

As for the cider, wine and accoutrements you may have to use your imagination a little bit and explore what's available locally. Woodchucks cider should be available anywhere with a half-decent beer selection. You may have to special order the Granny Smith flavor but it will be worth the wait for the treat. In the meantime, enjoy what all their websites have to offer.

Cheese name: Cabot Clothbound Cheddar

Producer: Cabot

Where: Vermont

Size: 32lb wheel but available in a variety of cuts

Cheese category: Semi hard cheddar

Milk: pasteurized cow's milk

Special attributes: lactose free

CHECK OUT THESE LINKS

Jasper Hill Cabot Clothbound

Cabot Creamery/ Kempton Farm

Woodchuck Cider

Lesley Stowe Raincoast Crisps