10 The Cheese Guide
Terroir
BY LORRIE BAUMANN
When you take a bite of Jacobs & Brichford Farmstead Cheese,
you're tasting the grass in Matthew Brichford's pastures, the soil
that nourishes the grass, the genetic endowment of his 85 dairy
cows, the values that dictate how he and his family cares for his
pastures and his animals, the skill of a dedicated cheesemaker and
the quality of his palate. You're also getting a taste of the economic
realities of trying to make a living as a dairy farmer in 21st century
America.
Brichford's been dairy farming since 1995 on the farm that's
been in his family since 1819, practicing rotational grazing and
organic principles in the Whitewater Valley of southeastern
Indiana. He has 1,350 acres that's mostly forested, with around 450
acres of pasture. "We found that commodity dairying wasn't
sustainable," he says. "There was no premium market that I could
get into from a commodity sense.... We'd never had the opportunity
to market into a market that allowed us to get the reward for the
quality of what we did."
After years of thought and planning that included courses in
cheesemaking at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, and the
University of Guelph, Brichford decided to give farmstead
cheesemaking a try. Working with Neville McNaughton of
CheezSorce, Brichford made his first cheese in mid-2012, and he
started winning important awards right away. This year, his
comes
through in
Jacobs & Brichford Farmstead Cheeses
Tomme JQ Briana
Everton Ameribella Adair
