Library of Cheese

All of Saxelby’s selections organized from A to Z


1841 Havarti cheese
Cheese Stats

Milk Type: Cow

Milk Treatment: Raw

Rennet: Vegetarian

Style: Waxed Rind

Texture: Semi-Firm

Age: 2-3 months

Size: 10lb wheel

 

1841 Havarti

Calkins Creamery - Honesdale, Pennsylvania

1841 Havarti gets its name from the year that Highland Farm (now home to Calkins Creamery) was established in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. This milky, creamy cheese is light and mild with a semi-firm texture and just a touch of tang. It is perfect for sandwiches, super kid friendly, and udderly delicious! The wheels are dipped in yellow cheese wax before being aged for 2-3 months.


Cheese Stats

Milk Type: Sheep and Cow

Milk Treatment: Raw

Rennet: Animal

Style: Blue

Texture: Semi-Firm

Age: 3-6 months

Size: 6lb wheel

 

1924 Bleu

Herve Mons - France

In 1925, France granted Roquefort the first ever Appellation d’Origine Controllee to ensure that the famous cheese was made according to rigorous standards, and that no sub-par product would ever be labeled as Roquefort. Prior to 1925 however, it was common practice for local cheesemakers to add a bit of cow or goat’s milk to the cheese, depending on what local milk supply was available to them. 1924 Bleu is a creamy and decadent blue cheese with gamey, spicy, and nutty flavors imparted by the sheep’s milk, and more mellow buttery flavors imparted by the cow’s milk.


Alpha Tolman cheese
Cheese Stats

Milk Type: Cow

Milk Treatment: Raw

Rennet: Animal

Style: Washed/Natural Rind

Texture: Firm

Age: 9-10 Months

Size: 20lb Wheel

 

Alpha Tolman

Jasper Hill Farm - Greensboro, Vermont

This deliciously nutty Alpine-style cheese is named for Alpha Tolman, a philanthropic dairy farmer who made an indelible mark on the town of Greensboro, VT. Among his many good works, building the town library was one of the most important. This cheese is a project that ties together many local enterprises: The milk comes from Andersonville Farm, a dairy close to Jasper Hill that produces excellent quality raw cows’ milk. The cheeses are made at the Hardwick Food Venture Center, a food production incubator where Jasper Hill is an anchor tenant. And last but not least, the cheesy know-how comes from Mateo Kehler, master cheesemaker, and owner of Jasper Hill Farm. Fresh wheels are washed with a cultured brine to cultivate a rosy orange rind that imparts a funky depth to the ripening paste beneath. Young wheels have milky, fruit and nut flavors and a smooth mouthfeel. Mature wheels are more bold and meaty with amplified butter and caramelized onion flavors enhanced by a rich and crystalline texture. Aged between 9-10 months in the Cellars at Jasper Hill.


Cheese Stats

Milk Type: Sheep

Milk Treatment: Pasteurized

Rennet: Animal

Style: Washed Rind / Natural Rind

Texture: Semi-Firm

Age: 5-9 months

Size: 10lb wheel

 

Anabasque

Landmark Creamery - Albany, Wisconsin

Anabasque is a riff on the traditional sheep’s milk cheeses of the Pyrenees. It was the first cheese made by Landmark Creamery, and is still their most popular and award-winning cheese. The texture is semi-firm, smooth, and creamy, and the paste tastes of sweet cream, grass, tangy yogurt, and tart cherries. The wheels are washed as they age, giving the rind a tawny glow and imparting just a touch of funk to the finished cheese.


Animal Farm Buttermilk
Cheese Stats

Milk Type: Cow

Milk Treatment: Pasteurized

Rennet: N/A

Style: Fresh

Texture: N/A

Age: 4-6 Weeks

Size: Quart

 

Animal Farm Buttermilk

Animal Farm - Orwell, Vermont

This buttermilk is the real deal. Made by Diane St Claire, whose butter graces the plates of those lucky enough to dine at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry, or its New York cousin, Per Se. Traditional buttermilk is simply the liquid left over from butter making, not the cultured skim milk you most often encounter in stores. Diane presses each block of butter and kneads it by hand, squeezing out the buttermilk, which she later bottles and sends to Saxelby’s. Makes the best biscuits on the planet, also is killer served as a cold buttermilk soup, baked into pancakes, or blended into a tangy riff on caesar salad dressing.


Appalachian cheese
Cheese Stats

Milk Type: Cow

Milk Treatment: Raw

Rennet: Animal

Style: Natural rind

Texture: Semi-firm

Age: 4-5 Months

Size: 8lb Wheel

 

Appalachian

Meadow Creek Dairy - Galax, Virginia

A bright, nutty quadrangular cheese with a snow white, mushroomy rind. Appalachian is made from the raw milk from Meadow Creek Dairy’s closed herd of dairy cows - they’ve been evolving their herd’s genetic line since 1988, starting with purebred Jerseys and introducing some European genetics that are indigenous to the Alps to make their cows hardier and to create the most delicious, rich milk possible! The golden paste is supple yet snappy and has a grassy, buttercream sweet flavor that is attributed to the genetics of the cows as well as the fine pasture that the cows graze on. Meadow Creek Dairy is one of the few farms that Saxelby works with that is purely grass-based - meaning they only make cheese when their cows are out on pasture from about mid-March through November each year. The result is cheese with a bright yellow paste and unrivaled complexity of flavor. Aged 4-5 months.


Ascutney Mountain cheese
Cheese Stats

Milk Type: Cow

Milk Treatment: Raw

Rennet: Vegetarian

Style: Natural Rind

Texture: Firm

Age: 8-10 Months

Size: 10lb Wheel

 

Ascutney Mountain

Cobb Hill Farm - Hartland, Vermont

Ascutney Mountain (incidentally a cheese and a mountain) hails from an intentional community in Vermont started by Donella H. Meadows, a Harvard PhD in biophysics. What is an intentional community, you may ask? Wikipedia defines it as a ‘planned residential community with a much higher degree of social interaction that other communities.’ In the case of Cobb Hill, the community is devoted to sustainable agriculture, and cheesemaking is one of their communal pursuits. Ascutney is made from the milk of their small herd of Jersey cows, is deep yellow in color, and is packed with a diverse range of rich flavors typical of Alpine-style cheeses. One of our perennial favorites, Ascutney Mountain is a bit like all of our favorite aged cheeses - Gruyere, cave-aged Cheddar, and Gouda - all wrapped up into one round package. Each wheel is grassy, earthy, hazelnutty, pineappley, and can become downright butterscotchy as it ages. Aged for 8-10 months.


cheese
Cheese Stats

Milk Type: Cow

Milk Treatment: Raw

Rennet: Animal

Style: Washed Rind

Texture: Semi-Firm

Age: 3-4 Months

Size: 20lb Wheel

 

Ashbrook

Spring Brook Farm - Reading, Vermont

When FDA decided to blacklist raw milk Morbier from France, we mongers nearly cried. Little did we know that the team at Spring Brook Farm was working behind the scenes to craft a new American artisan original that can go toe to toe with the French! Ashbrook is supple and creamy in texture, and the flavor is fruity and funky with just a hint of vegetal sourness. The wheels contain a line of vegetable ash (maritime pine ash if you’d really like to know!) and are aged for at least 3 months. This cheese is wonderful on a cheese board, scrumptious with charcuterie, and melts like no other, making it a real chameleon in the kitchen.


Ayersdale cheese
Cheese Stats

Milk Type: Cow

Milk Treatment: Raw

Rennet: Animal

Style: Natural Rind

Texture: Semi-Firm

Age: 2-3 Months

Size: 4lb Wheel

 

Ayersdale

Bonnieview Farm - Craftsbury, Vermont

A simple, delicious, and rustic cows’ milk tomme from Bonnieview Farm. Think domestic cacciocavallo with a fruitier and more buttery finish. The name of the cheese comes from the Ayers family, who farmed the land that Bonnieview sits upon in the 1800’s. Ayersdale is in season each year from July to October. Bonnieview Farm has a unique seasonal cheesemaking cycle because they milk both sheep and cows - their sheep produce milk from May through October each year, and the cows come online in the late summer when the sheep milk supply is beginning to dwindle. They make mixed milk cheeses until the sheep are dried off for the fall and winter and then transition to 100% cows’ milk cheese. Ayersdale is a great cheese for snacking and cooking. Aged 2-3 months.


Cheese Illustration Credits: Debra Ziss

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