Local Vermont Cheese

What do you get when you combine a state that adores its local dairy with hilly terrain, relatively short growing seasons, and incredibly tenacious, creative farmers? You get a thriving local cheese scene. Why? Cheesemaking adds value to milk by extending its useful life and providing dietary variety to the consumer, which makes dairy production a more attractive prospect despite the comparative difficulties presented by Vermont conditions.
Our state has a long history of this type of resourceful problem-solving and, luckily for us, cheesemaking is also an art and passion to local producers. Vermont is home to a greater number of consummately dedicated, artisanal cheesemakers than any other state in the country.

According to Vermont Farm to Plate, Vermont has close to one cheesemaker for every 13,000 people. We are hoping this guide will invite you to enjoy this abundance!

GRAFTON VILLAGE CHEESE

Smoked Chili Cheddar

Rich cheddar combining the smooth, creamy character of aged cheddar with chili peppers and a smoky finish. Cold-smoked. Delicious, smoky cheddar. Not spicy hot. Fantastic for snacking and for cooking. Try it in a burrito, on chili, or on nachos. Milk type: cow.

Truffle Cheddar

Cheddar infused with fresh truffles and premium truffle oil. Great balance between the nutty, sharp notes of aged cheddar and the distinctive umami richness of truffles. Milk type: cow.

Beth’s notes: Makes an amazing elevated mac and cheese for grown-ups.

Maple Smoked Cheddar

A young cheddar cold-smoked over authentic maple wood chips for sweet and smoky notes. Milk type: cow.

Beth’s Notes: This is my favorite smoked cheddar. It has been since I was a kid! It’s perfectly balanced.

2 Year Aged Cheddar

Bear Hill

Technically a washed rind, but without a washed rind’s characteristic funk. It has notes of toasted hazelnuts and brown butter. The paste is dense, smooth, and rich. Milk type: sheep.

Beth’s Notes: This is Shelby and Elliot’s favorite!

Shepsog

Recognized as the best mixed milk cheddar in the country. American Cheese Society award winner. Milk type: sheep and cow.

Beth’s Notes: Ok, I love this cheese so much. It is a cheddar in disguise as a basque style sheep cheese. Sneaky good. Basque region mountain cheeses are typically raw sheep’s milk. Mild, rich, sometimes with caramel notes, butter, and fresh grass.

Storyteller

Buttery notes and a velvety texture. Milk type: sheep.

Beth’s Notes: Named for Daisy Turner, daughter of escaped slave Alec Turner. They lived in Grafton on Bear Mountain. Daisy was an oral traditionalist, hence the name!

Clothbound Cheddar

Wrapped in traditional cheesecloth and cave aged for a minimum se! Multiple award winning. Milk type: cow.

Stop by the Co-op for a Grafton Village Cheese Tasting on Friday, June 12, from 11:30 to 1:30.

PARISH HILL CREAMERY

Humble

A Monastic Tomme (semi-soft, washed-rind cheese). Bright and nutty with an edible, golden, cider-washed rind. Grows bolder as it ages, which reveals vegetal notes and an earthy funk. Aged over 60 days. Milk type: cow.

Carefully

Our take on Caerphilly, a cheese favored by Welsh miners for its thick rind, which made it easy to carry to work. Carefully is firmer than the traditional Caerphilly, developing a flakier texture as it ages. This cheese is white, lactic, fresh, and slightly crumbly. Milk type: cow.

Lillian

Beer-washed Tomme (a rustic, semi-firm cheese with a natural rind), made with the last of the Belgian quadruple ales made before Hermit Thrush Brewery closed up shop. Aged at least 3 months. Milk type: sheep and cow.

Suffolk Punch

This gourd-shaped, whole milk Caciocavallo-style cheese is a classic pasta filata (Italian for stretched-curd). Firm and smooth when young, becoming flakier and drier with age. Buttery, tangy, and even peppery, particularly with age. Aged for at least 3 months. Milk type: cow.

Beth’s Notes: This cheese is fun to look at and fun to eat! Delicious gourd shaped provolone-ish old world cheese.

Reverie

Reverie has a bright, milky flavor and slight tang when young, developing sharper, oniony notes with age. The natural rind resembles gray stone due to the development of edible molds. Aged at least 5 months. Milk type: cow.

Beth’s Notes: Ok, it’s my favorite. Not supposed to have favorites, but this one is my favorite.

VERMONT SHEPHERD

Verano

A smooth and creamy, semi-hard farmhouse cheese with a sweet, rich and earthy flavor. Made only during pasture season when the sheep graze on clover, grasses and wild herbs. Aged 4-7 months. Milk type: sheep.

Beth’s Notes: It’s just the standard bearer for all cave aged sheep’s milk cheese in the US. Always in my top three favorite Vermont cheeses.

Invierno

Invierno (or “winter” in Spanish), is a soft to semi-hard natural rind cheese. Butter, chanterelle mushroom, and damp earth flavors. A good melter. The sheep’s milk comes from David and Yesenia’s sheep and the cows’ milk comes from Elm Lea farm at the Putney school. Aged 4-5 months. Milk type: sheep and cow.

Marinated Sheep

Pure sheep’s milk fromage blanc marinated in the finest quality extra virgin olive oil, peppercorns, and farm-grown thyme and garlic. Creamy, tangy, and herbaceous. Milk type: sheep.

Beth’s Notes: The marinated sheep’s milk fresh cheese was an instant hit with our customers.

BLUE LEDGE FARM

Riley’s 2×4

Did you know that goats have two teats and cows have four? A creative mixed milk cheese. Cave-aged for 3 months with a natural rind. American Cheese Society award winner. Milk type: goat and cow.

Moosalamoo

Named after a local mountainous recreation area. Creamy, mild cheese in the Cheddar/Colby style. Wonderful for slicing, grating and melting. Exceptionally creamy texture, and a tart after-bite. Milk type: cow.

Beth’s Notes: So snackable!

Moosalamoo with Caraway

Citrusy, licorice, anise flavor of the caraway seeds blends with the creamy tartness of this hand-milled Cheddar Jack style cheese. Aged for a minimum of four months. Milk type: cow.

Beth’s Notes: Makes the best reuben ever!

Moosalamoo Pepperjack

Creamy, handmade Moosalamoo Cheddar Jack style cheese blended with red and black pepper for a zesty bite. Milk type: cow.

La Luna

A favorite with kids and foodies alike for its approachability. Compared to a gouda or a havarti, this cheese is subtle yet presents a nice lingering tanginess. Milk type: goat.

Beth’s Notes: This is another customer favorite! Super mild, semi soft Gouda style.

Middlebury Blue

Both creamy and crumbly. Earthy, Vermont grit meets high brow. Aged sixty days. Milk type: cow.

Camembrie

A smooth mold-ripened Camembert/Brie hybrid. A great match for any type of cured meats. Milk type: cow.

Beth’s Notes: Camembrie is my favorite recommendation for a local bloomy rind. Super buttery and with a whisper- thin and delicate rind.

Lake’s Edge

Beth’s Notes: The Lake’s Edge is our local answer to Humboldt Fog and it’s up to the task! A little pillow with beautiful ash lines through the center and just under the bloomy rind. People often mistake it for a blue cheese based on appearance, but it is a delicious, mild, younger aged goat’s milk cheese. Milk type: goat.

Crottina

Velvety and smooth, with a white mold exterior. Aged for three weeks. Milk type: goat.

Beth’s Notes: This is a sophisticated little bloomy goat that ticks all the right boxes. Mushroomy rind. Citrusy paste. Lovely creamline. Yum.

Chevres

Plain, Pepper, Herb, Maple, & Honey Orange
Creamy and fresh with a light, pillowy texture. Milk type: goat.

Beth’s Notes: I love the Honey Orange Chevre for breakfast on a piece of buttered whole wheat toast.

Written by Sarah Galgano