Since spring has sprung and its been a mere five months without a newsletter you might be wondering where o where the Cheese Czarina has gone!
The rumors that I was carrying around raw creme fraiche into restaurants in Normandy are actually true. I made myself at home in Ireland and France by turning our rental car into a cheese cave and meeting the best cheesemakers in Ireland and France.
Besides visiting family and cheesemakers in Ireland and eating my weight in cheese, butter and candy in France I have been hard at work at securing a new location for Jacobs Creamery. The trip to Europe was very educational and I learned a lot from seeing how other producers lay out their facilities from milk production and receiving to processing to aging and packaging. If any of you want to talk about cheese in Ireland I will fill you in on the best 'piece of mind' rental insurance and what to do when your sat map re-reoutes you through an irrigation canal!!! I had not been back to Ireland for many years, I left when I was a young one. It was fantatsic to see all my lovely family members over there and experience the country as a cheese maker. Coming back I had plenty to do!
So basically over the winter we got a makeover and are bigger! We now have a new facility and are awaiting various pieces of equipment to bring us back to our full production capacity and product line. As many of you have been heartbroken to notice we do not have all of our fresh cheeses and dairy, but we do have a tastey new aged product line. We will be having the fresh cheeses back when our new vat pasteurizer arrives. Last month we got our new facility licensed and last week our smaller vat arrived allowing us to start production of the aged cheeses!!! Which is fantatic news because its been awhile since these arms have felt the sily smooth and bouncy texture of curds!
It has been a lot of work but I am finally getting excited seeing that it will all work! On the property is 38 acres divided by a stream- I will be taking over the farm house making it the first cheese processing facility where I will also live! No commuting! At an 1.15 min from Portland and a little further to Seattle its a great location. The small vineyard means that I will be attempting my hand at wine making this year and grape jelly and the small orchard will hopefully produce some nice fruit that I will make into jam for some fall cheese pairings! Boooyaaaa It really is a dream come true for me :)
Hopefully you have discovered that we are selling at the PSU farmers market and next weekend we will start the King market which we will be in every Sunday.
We also had a booth at the Beer and Wine Festival in Portland this weekend and hoped you enjoyed some of the cheese bites we had for tasting. The blue cheese crumbles and honey butter was such a HUGE hit we will be adding the flavor to our butter line! Its the perfect mix of sweet and savory and the european style butter is the perfect base for complimenting those flavors. Our gouda has been our number one seller this spring, it has a beautiful creamy texture with a nutty finish. It was only surpassed this weekend by the debut of our Jarlsburg which has been aged for eight months and seems to be something that no one can refuse!!! I just enjoyed some on my matzo this fine easter morning! The Jarlsburg is the best cheese I have ever made and will be submitted to some competitions because I think it might actually have a chance at a medal (its that good)!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are trying to become a little classier and what better to help with that than a cheese class right??
May 15 at 5pm at the Silverton Grange is our first class this year, please send me an email to sign up the class is $40 and will cover a variety of cheeses and methods.
For those of you who love to experience Spring at the Tulip festival you will be able to find a Jacobs Creamery booth at the Tulip Wine Down in Woodburn Sat and Sunday 12-8
http://tulipwinedown.com/
The above link has information about the massive tulip farm that is open to visitors for this weekend before it closes and also the wine, music, food and of corse cheese event along side it!!!!
Since its Easter I thought I would conclude with some cheesy jokes!!!
Why did the Easter egg hide? - because he was a little chicken!!!!
What’s long and stylish and full of cats? The Easter Purrade!
What did the Easter egg say to the boiling water?- Its gonna take a while to get me hard, I just got laid by a chick!
We have a small amount for next weekend!
Until then have a lovely week!
Yours truely,
Your very own terribly cheesy
Cheese Czarina!!!!
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