Caciocavallo - Rekindling The Romance

One of the first cheeses I enjoyed while I was living in Italy was caciocavallo. I'd never seen the gourd shaped cheese before, and the shape and its ubiquity drew me to try it. It has a milky yet mildly piquant flavor, almost what you would imagine mozzarella would taste like if it were a hard cheese and aged. It's approachable as well as delicious and unique.

I moved to Milan when I was 19 to study design. Before then, although the cheese I had been exposed to was very good (you can't beat VT cheddar) it was pretty limited. Brie seemed pretentious and as a teen I had no reason or occasion to ever buy or eat real cheese other than cheddar. A whole new world opened up to me in the streets and shops of Italy

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A Tale of Two Creameries - Part One - Grafton Village Cheese


Grafton Village Creamery and Storefront

Weekend of Cheese

We’re up in Vermont for a three-day, cheese-filled weekend, who could ask for more?

Sweetbreads is attending a cheesemaking workshop with Peter Dixon, the man behind Consider Bardwell's glorious cheeses, and consultant to many others. Saturday through Monday, Sweetbreads' sessions are 9am to 4pm, and about an hour and half from where her Mom lives, so that means I end up spending a fair amount of time in the parking lot writing blog posts and catching up on stuff. It also means I have plenty of time to visit local creameries. I don't know who got the better end of the stick, but it's all about cheese and we're loving it.

On Saturday I visited Grafton Village Cheese (Part One) and Sunday I headed over to Taylor Farm (soon to be Part Two). Vermont cheesemakers in general are a really kind and supportive group of people and we’ve been fortunate enough to visit a number of different creameries in the area. We love VT. It's such a fantastic community for local farmers and artisans of all kinds, hopefully it's something that will be replicated throughout the country.

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Touring Murray's Cheese Caves


Caciocavallo (basically aged provolone) hanging in the hard cheese cave at Murrays

Last Sunday we took advantage of a special weekend where Murray’s Cheese opened their cheese caves for hour-long tours and tastings. Each session included a tasting of six cheeses, a glass of champagne and a guided tour of the aging facilities beneath the cheese shop on Bleecker St in Manhattan’s West Village. For $15 it was a steal. We also ran into the intern (Nora) who organized the Vermont Cheesemaker’s Festival at Shelburne Farms, where we volunteered this past summer. She’s now a cheesemonger at Murray’s, so catching up with her was fun.

Six Cheeses from Around the World

Above the cheese counter in the rear of Murray’s flagship location there’s a small kitchen/event center where our tour group was hosted. We were greeted with a glass of champagne, a spread of six fantastic cheeses (all aged in Murray’s caves) and a quick lay of the land.

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