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NATURALLY HEALTHY www.gourmetnews.com n MARCH 2017 n GOURMET NEWS N H 1 7 6 Terroir Comes Through in Jacobs & Brichford Farmstead Cheeses 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 get- ting a taste of the economic realities of trying to make a living as a dairy farmer in 21st cen- tury America. Brichford's been dairy farming since 1995 on the farm that's been in his family since 1819, practicing rotational grazing and organic prin- ciples 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 sustain- able," 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 in- cluded courses in cheesemaking at the Univer- sity 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 Jacobs & Brichford Ever- ton Premium Reserve took a gold award at the World Cheese Awards. His Briana won a silver award. Briana with Truffles won a second- place award at the American Cheese Society Judging and Competition, and Adair won a Good Food Award. Those awards follow a bronze award for Everton at the 2015 World Cheese Awards, a 2015 Good Food Award for Ameribella and a 2014 Good Award for Everton. "We kind of interpret classic French and Italian cheeses, but like Ameribella, it tastes a lot different than a Taleggio you get in the store. It speaks of the flavors of our farm. I like that aspect of it, de- veloping things that work with our flavors here," he says. "I'm a farmer that makes cheese. We're trying to find cheeses that pair well with our milk, which has a distinctive taste because of the breeding and the feeding program we have here." Today, Brichford and his family operate a farmstead cheese operation in which they milk 85 cows, a composite herd with Normande, Jersey and Tarentaise genetics, chosen for the butterfat and protein they put into their milk and for their traditional association with classic French and Italian alpine cheeses. "Protein is what cheesemaking's all about, and the butter- fat adds a lot of flavor," Brichford notes. The Normande breed comprises about 40 percent of the French dairy cow population, and that milk is the traditional milk component of important cheeses like Pont L'Eveque, Li- varot and Camembert. Beaufort, the legendary French alpine-style cheese that was the inspi- ration for Jacobs & Brichford's Everton, is tra- ditionally made from the milk of Tarentaise cows. "The Tarentaise cows have a gene that imparts a particular flavor to their cheese as well," Brichford says. The cattle graze on pasture grasses when- ever the weather permits them to be outside, coming for milking to the outdoor dairy parlor that's managed by the oldest of Brichford and Leslie Jacobs' three daughters, Miah Jacobs- Brichford. "Grass farming is hugely important to what we do. I'm an environmentalist farmer. I come from that background," Brichford says. "I farm using organic methods, taking good care of the soil and the animals. It's all part of one big continuum." The cows are milked seasonally, and cheesemaking follows the rhythm of the year to produce about 50,000 pounds of cheese an- nually. "With a seasonal herd, the milk's dif- ferent every day," Brichford says. "Standardizing, making the same every time, is not what we do. With the seasonal produc- tion, we try to have consistency, but there is going to be some variability anyway. You try to maintain consistency because you have to have product integrity, but you're thrown a curve ball every time.... You're always making guesses about what might happen, based on what you've done with your last batch, but you don't know." Maize Jacobs-Brichford, the couple's mid- dle daughter, is an interior designer in Chicago who uses her vacation days to drive around the countryside selling the family's cheese. The youngest of the three daughters, Eliza Jacobs- Brichford, is completing her PhD in psychol- ogy. "She's going to be the one supporting us in our old age," Brichford jokes. The creamery makes nine cheeses. That's more than Brichford wishes he was making, but he's bowed to the demands of the market. There's Everton, which was named after the small town near the farm. Modeled after Beau- fort, which Brichford calls his favorite cheese in the world, it's marketed at six to eight months old. Everton Premium Reserve is aged at least 18 months. Briana is a fontina-style semi-firm, smear-ripened cheese aged for a minimum of 90 days. Briana with Truffles is the same cheese with Italian truffles blended into the creamy paste and aged a minimum of 60 days. Ameribella, named after Brichford's great-grandmother, is a soft cheese like a Ta- leggio with a moist rind and a funk reminiscent of proofing bread dough, and it's currently the creamery's best seller. Adair is a Rebluchon-style cheese, smear- ripened for a thin and soft orange-yellow rind and a paste that's creamy with a slightly lactic taste. Tomme de Fayette is a traditional tomme-type cheese with fruity and grassy fla- vors and slightly citrus notes, and JQ is a fresh soft-ripened cheese with an earthy flavor that's named after Brichford's great-grandfather, John Quincy, whose picture appears on the label. Phetamias, Jacobs & Brichford's newest cheese, is a cow's milk feta made in Indiana and sold in a package whose label includes a picture of the donkey that runs with the fam- ily's small flock of hair sheep. Brichford is toying with the idea that his next cheese might be an Indiana take on a French-style Munster. "The donkey's name is Pete," Brichford says with a chuckle. "Sacrilege on sacrilege is what we do." "We had to do all those because when I started out, I was just making the Brianna, the Everton and the Ameribella," he adds. "They're all raw milk. Ameribella has a short lead, Brianna a little longer and Everton is aged a little longer. Being in the Midwest, some of the cheeses are too strong for some people." With the awards they're bringing home, Jacob's & Brichford's cheeses are generating a premium price that's moving the farmstead towards profitability. "I really like doing it. Marketwise, we'll see how things pan out. Adair is starting to take off. We won a Good Food Award with it," Brichford says. "Things are improving all the time in that regard." Authentic Taste from Italian Foods With all the gluten-free products hitting the market in recent years, it has been easy to miss the fact that pasta is trending upward again. Google's 2016 Food Trends report noted that growth for interest in pasta was slow from 2011 through 2014, but that changed in 2015 as de- mand rose and has continued to rise in 2016. Italian Foods Corporation, which has been importing regional Italian delicacies since 1999, has also seen similar interest, not only in its pasta line, particularly its best-selling shelf- stable stuffed pastas, but also in its other gour- met products as consumers explore new Italian recipes they can cook at home, said Francesca Lapiana-Krause, Italian Foods' General Man- ager. That interest has fueled recent new prod- uct introductions into the U.S. market, such as the Romantica Happy Apple Condiment, a ver- satile apple cider vinegar-based product im- ported from the Emilia-Romagna region near Modena, Italy. "Consumers are most interested in making pasta dishes at home on the weekends. They're experimenting with new recipes and sauces that can be prepared at home or picked up at the grocery store. There's interest in under- standing the differences between certain types of pasta and their accompanying sauces," ac- cording to Google's 2016 Food Trends report. "It's time for marketers to refocus their atten- tion on pasta. There's growing interest for a va- riety of pasta recipes, and consumers are seeking new ideas for their weekend adven- tures." This quest for adventure can be seen in the demand for Italian Foods' La Piana brand ravi- oli, tortellini and mezzaluna stuffed pastas. "Consumers tell us they like the convenience and authentic taste of our stuffed pastas, which are produced by a family-owned business near Milan, Italy, that has been making stuffed pas- tas for three generations," Lapiana-Krause said. "Our customers like the gourmet fillings, which include squash, Gorgonzola cheese, sun- dried tomato and oregano, basil pesto and Parmesan cheese." These pastas also fit con- sumers' search for ingredients to keep on hand for speed scratch meals because they stay fresh on pantry shelves for 15 months. They are available in 8-ounce pouches and 16-ounce boxes. Italian Foods also offers imported pasta sauces along with basil and sundried tomato pestos, bruschetta toppings, bronze die-cut pas- tas, shelf stable gnocchi, a line of aged bal- samic vinegars of Modena, white and black balsamic pearls and grilled Italian vegetables, including artichokes, cipolline onions and sun- dried tomatoes. Italian Foods also offers its ex- pertise for private labeling, including helping customers create or find new products to sell under their own label, Lapiana-Krause said. "Italian Foods Corporation is a family owned company. It started with my father, Gi- ancarlo Lapiana, who began providing Italian specialties requested by customers of his truck- ing company in the 1960s, which launched Al- imentitalia, our European food distribution business," she said. "Today, we still hand-select every item, and we only carry products that we love." For more information, call 888.516.7262 or go to www.italianfoods.com. Stonewall Kitchen Adds New Oatmeals and Coffees Specialty food creator, Stonewall Kitchen, is adding convenience to its impressive line-up of tasty products with the introduc- tion of three single-serve oatmeal varieties and two single-serve coffees. The two coffees, Coastal Morning and Hazelnut Crème, are available in boxes of 12 and are compatible with most leading single-serve brewing systems. Both are made with 100 percent Arabica beans that deliver a rich, wonderfully balanced, robust flavor and aroma. Stonewall Kitchen cus- tomers have been enjoying fresh ground or whole bean versions of Coastal Morning for years, and will be delighted to see it now available as a single-serve. The new Hazelnut Crème features the delicious taste of roasted hazelnuts with a distinctively creamy, nutty, almost buttery essence that's sure to satisfy coffee lovers everywhere. After successfully launching four flavor- ful varieties of oatmeal earlier this year, Stonewall Kitchen is following it up with three single-serve options. Just like the originals, these single-serve varieties fea- ture hearty whole grain oats that are steel cut for a full bodied texture. Available in Maple Brown Sugar, Farmhouse and Apple Cinnamon, they are also the ultimate in convenience. Each package is its own cooking vessel and bowl in one. Simply pour the recommended amount of hot water into the package, stir and eat. No pan or bowl is required, and when you're fin- ished, simply dispose of the package re- sponsibly. Best of all, they are all delicious. The Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal has real apples and tasty cinnamon, the Farmhouse variety is great on its own or mixed with your fa- vorite toppings, while the Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal has the perfect balance of enjoyable sweetness. Busy mornings are sure to get a little easier with these great new single-serve coffees and oatmeal from Stonewall Kitchen.