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NATURALLY HEALTHY www.gourmetnews.com n MARCH 2017 n GOURMET NEWS N H 1 3 4 Tradition Rules at Widmer's Cheese Cellars By Lorrie Baumann Widmer's Cheese Cellars is in the midst of a plant expansion that will increase the area devoted to its growing mail order business as well as boost its compliance with the ever- tightening safety net of regulations designed to protect Americans from food-borne ill- ness. Changes in the food safety regulations mean that the company will have to discon- tinue its long-standing practice of inviting guests into its cheesemaking facility. "It hurts business," says Joe Widmer, "One of the reasons people like to come here is that they like to see how cheese is really made." Widmer's grandfather emigrated to the U.S. from Switzerland in 1905 and bought the building in which Widmer's Cheese Cellars is now located in 1922. Ever since then, there's been a store at the front of the building, and curious customers have been invited to remove all their jewelry, don hairnets, wash their shoes in a sanitizing footbath and come on back to a viewing room for a video showing them how Wid- mer's very traditional brick, colby and ched- dar cheeses are made and to have their questions answered by a real cheesemaker. "After doing this for almost 100 years, the government feels that we don't know what we're doing, and we have to stop now," Wid- mer says. "After making cheese almost 100 years, now they're going to tell us how to make a safe product." Widmer doesn't have a quarrel with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's desire to protect Americans from food-borne ill- ness, but he does take issue with the FDA's apparent lack of respect for the tried-and-true care with which his family has been making safe cheese for nearly a century. He took home from the American Cheese Society's annual Judging and Competition just this year a first place award for his Traditional Washed Rind Brick Cold Pack cheese spread, a third- place ribbon for his Washed Rind Brick Cheese and a second-place win for his Tra- dition Colby. "I do understand that the FDA is trying to make things safer for people, but it sure hurts smaller producers and traditional cheesemakers," he says. "We don't want to stray too much from the tradition and the au- thenticity because the product wouldn't be the same.... We're constantly striving to keep the quality up. We're always perfecting it more and more, but we're sticking with tra- dition and original products – that's our niche." The remodeling and expansion at the fa- cility has allowed Widmer to add aging space for his cheddar cheeses and to in- crease the size of his mail order packaging area. "Mail order business has been in- creasing every year – as well as wholesale and the sales from the store," Widmer says. The next step will be to expand the size of the retail store and con- struct a glass wall between shop and cream- ery, so visitors can still see how the cheese is made. A video will show the whole process, and guests will still have the oppor- tunity to talk to a cheesemaker and try sam- ples of the cheese. "Who in their right minds is not going to communicate with their cus- tomers?" Widmer says. "We try to commu- nicate with everybody as much as possible. My dad and my uncle never turned their back on a customer." For more information, visit www.widmers cheese.com or call 888.878.1107. Artisanal Cheese Partnership Springboards Creativity for Cabot Creamery By Lorrie Baumann Cabot Creamery's partnership with Cellars at Jasper Hill won an American Cheese So- ciety first-place award for Cabot Clothbound Cheddar Select and another first place for Cabot Clothbound Cheddar in 2015, and a third place for Cabot Clothbound Cheddar this year. Now, it's inspiring new Cabot Creamery cheeses created for distribution in mainstream grocers, says Craig Gile, New Product Manager for Cabot Creamery. The recipe for the clothbound cheddars was developed jointly by Cabot Creamery food scientists and Cellars at Jasper Hill Cheesemaker Mateo Kehler and was de- signed to make a cheese with a sweet, nutty finish. Cabot Creamery's large production capacity made it possible to produce large quantities of the cheese – as much as 5,000 pounds a month, depending on market de- mand, which peaks during the winter holi- day season. The cheese is aged for a few months at Cabot Creamery and then sent over to The Cellars at Jasper Hill for affi- nage, packaging and eventual sale to spe- cialty cheese shops, where it fetches around $25 a pound for wheels aged 12 to 14 months. The difference in scale between the two companies means that while Cabot Creamery can make massive amounts of cheddar cheese for the mass market and take advantages of the economies of scale that come with that kind of production, which depends a great deal on consistency, The Cellars at Jasper Hill can take a small percentage of that product and lavish a great deal of attention on it to produce a product that commands a premium price for its uniqueness. Cabot Creamery also gains ac- cess to the artisanal cheese market as well as the cachet of having its name on award- winning cheeses sought after by cheese- mongers. "Not only do we get a link to that artisanal cheese world, it gives Cabot the reputation that we're able to make the arti- sanal cave-aged product as well," Gile said. As the partnership has prospered, though, it's had some additional effects as Gile, who moved over from managing Cabot's ware- housing and grading to new product devel- opment, has had the chance to share knowledge with Jasper Hill Cheesemakers Mateo and Andy Kehler. "We're each pursu- ing different areas of what we're trying to do, and we've learned a lot from them," Gile said. "We're getting a lot of insight into what the artisanal base is looking for and finding paths to the customers that shop at these cheese shops." "I really like what that whole cheese shop environment brings to us," he continued. "It's a place to launch new cheeses, to get honest feedback about what you're working on, to get their feedback from customers.... What I like about the cheesemonger role is that we have people selling it who have pas- sion about the product and can tell the story about it. It's another challenge for us to come up with products that are exciting.... You have to convince cheesemongers that you have an exciting, interesting, and high-end product." That insight into the artisanal cheese market has inspired the cheesemakers at Cabot Creamery to apply that information as well as knowledge about new cheese cultures as they're figuring out how they can use their existing cheddaring equip- ment to make new cheeses with different taste profiles. Instead of just adding new flavoring ingredients to existing cheeses, they've begun developing the recipes to create entirely new cheeses that the com- pany is able to produce in quantities large enough to target the lines at mainstream delis. These cheeses, which Cabot has dubbed its Founder's Collection, aren't in- timidatingly different from the main- stream, but they're definitely designed to appeal to the novice turophile who's ready to take a step up from the cheeses he's used to picking up at the supermarket. "These are aimed at the deli counter," Gile said. "We didn't want to launch four new cheddars, so we've got three cheddars and another unique cheese.... We were looking for a way to add genuine value to the prod- uct, not just to make it look pretty." The Cabot Creamery Founder's Collection includes Cabot Private Stock, which has the familiar tang of the New England-style cheddar that consumers expect from Cabot Creamery but with a stronger Northeastern bite to it. Adirondack is made in the New York fa- cility acquired with the 2003 acquisition of McCadam Cheese Company by Agri-Mark, the dairy farmer cooperative behind Cabot Creamery. Aged 1.5 to two years, it's similar to Cabot Private Stock but made with the McCadam original stock cheese with its tangier citrus bite that lends a unique flavor profile compared to Cabot's Vermont ched- dars. Lamberton is similar to Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, except that it's packaged in plastic rather than with cloth bindings. The name is a nod to one of Cabot's original founding farmers, and the cheese has a buttery sweet- ness overlaying the traditional flavors of a strong yankee cheddar. The last is Orne Meadows, which is com- pletely different from most milk cheddars. It has powerful nutty notes redolent of a Grana- style Alpine cheese with a subtle New Eng- land sharpness to it. "That one, we don't actually call it a cheddar on the package," Gile said. " We just say it's a unique Vermont cheese." Schuman Cheese Debuts New Cheddar Flavor of Cello Whisps Schuman Cheese has just launched a new flavor of its beloved crisp snack with Ched- dar Cello Whisps, an all-natural, rBST-free, gluten-free, high-protein snack. This flavor- ful, protein-rich snack has just hit grocers' shelves nationwide. "As a company, our mission is to enhance everyday eating experiences with the highest quality cheese. With Cheddar Cello Whisps, we were able to provide consumers with a new delicious way to enjoy our hand-crafted artisan cheddar," said Ilana Fischer, Vice President of Innovation and Strategy at Schuman Cheese. "In fact, cheddar cheese ranks as the top flavor requested in the U.S., so this innovation made perfect sense. Mak- ing Cheddar Cello Whisps was the natural choice for the next flavor in the Whisps port- folio." The newest flavor was called for by Cello Whisps lovers who loved the Parmesan-fla- vor Whisps and wanted another choice. Cello Whisps has already received recogni- tion in the industry with several awards, in- cluding a gold at the 2016 World Cheese Contest. "The space is inundated with fake ingre- dients and unhealthy choices, and Cello Whisps brings a uniquely wholesome and delicious option for those wanting a better- for-you cheese snack," continued Fischer. "What better way than to use our expertise in artisan cheese to bring a pure cheese snack to the market." Cheddar Cello Whisps are a real-cheese snack that won't leave orange fingers and re- gret behind it. They provide consumers with a delicious, protein-rich treat that does not consist of a long list of unfamiliar ingredi- ents. The snack is all-natural, gluten and wheat-free and provides an excellent source of calcium with 10 grams of protein and zero percent carbohydrates per serving. It's easy to enjoy them as-is or toss them on a salad or appetizer plate for flavor and crunch. Cello Whisps are available to purchase throughout the U.S. in Costco, Publix, Shoprite, Stop & Shop, Amazon.com, and many others. To learn more about Cello Whisps' new product, Cheddar Cello Whisps and Schuman Cheese, visit www.cellowhisps.com and www .schumancheese.com.

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