September 1, 2010 by Debra.

Via our friends at Slow Food Seacoast, the latest news on the current financial state of Maine Organic Milk, also known as MOOMilk:

A grand agricultural experiment — a Maine farmer-owned milk company — is close to folding and will suspend milk production this week as its principles scramble to find investment funding.

 

MOOMilk, which stands for Maine’s Own Organic Milk, processed milk Wednesday but will suspend production on Sunday, as a variety of reasons have combined to force the business toward closure. Only skim and one percent milk are still being processed since the company’s cash flow is so low that it cannot purchase two percent and whole milk car-tons.

 

“We are out of money,” David Bright, MOOMilk’s secretary and one of its founders, said this week.

 

Although the company began with 10 member farmers from Washington, Aroostook and Kennebec counties, that number has fallen to six, threatening the company’s ability to produce enough milk to remain sustainable.

 

Two farmers retired; another sold his herd; and a fourth opted to switch to conventional milk from organic.

Distributed reached more than 49 stores in Maine and New Hampshire. Currently, the company is seeking additional investment funding. Maybe some Slow Money to the rescue?  To read entire article >

Posted in Cheese Chicks, author: Debra, eating locally in the media | Print | No Comments »

August 16, 2010 by Debra.

One of the things we go over in our cheesemaking class is suggestions for draining cheese. Kitchen faucets are conveniently located but, after breaking more than one, I don’t recommend it. Now I rig up a wooden spoon and drain my cheese over a deep pot.

A recent post at Cheesemaking.com shows some of the creative ways people have come up with to solve this problem — it seems my fellow Cheese Chick is not the only one draining her cheese in the bathtub!

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July 14, 2010 by Debra.

Maine’s Own Organic Milk or M.O.O. Milk is the result of an unusual partnership — the milk is produced on Maine farms, and trucked, processed and distributed through a strong network of family-owned businesses, all in Maine. And integral to this partnership is you, the consumer. From Marada Cook of Crown O’ Maine Organic Cooperative:

I usually like to start off easy, but we need to have a hard talk.  M.O.O. Milk needs your help.

 

MOO Milk is the one milk company in the state that stands a chance of offering farmers an independent outlet for organic milk, at a price that makes organic dairy farming commercially viable in Maine.

 

That means, the visitors that love green fields need to drink M.O.O. Milk.

The residents who like their cows to eat hay in the winter instead of a heavy grain diet need to drink M.O.O. Milk.

The moms who care what their kids will look like in 5 or 10 years (never mind themselves) need to drink M.O.O. Milk.

The folks that want farms to thrive in Maine and think that agricultural subsidies are ruining this country need to drink M.O.O. Milk.

The economists who wring their hands over the collapse of the medium scale ag infrastructure in this state need to drink M.O.O. Milk.

Anyone who thinks M.O.O. Milk is too expensive needs to drink M.O.O. Milk.

 

The only way to bring the price of M.O.O. Milk into line with people’s milk expectations is to convey to them that the state minimum pricing for milk is a smokescreen hiding farm decay and false economics. M.O.O. Milk (and any small raw dairy, for that matter) are offering milk at the only price that is ‘affordable’ to our industry. The difference between a small raw dairy and M.O.O. is that M.O.O. Milk works for organic dairy farmers across the state, not just one individual farm. It is the Crown O’Maine of Milk.

 

Without high price benchmarks, we cannot keep farm bankruptcy at bay. Without a company that works for farmers, such as M.O.O. Milk, there is no one to wave a flag when the pricing of milk no longer reflects the costs to produce it.

 

We need M.O.O. Milk to survive so it can grow as a model for other commodity products in Maine.   The state minimum is not enough to help local agriculture thrive. And now is the time for you to take a stand.

 

Six weeks. That is how much time M.O.O. Milk Company has to grow its customer base by 3000 gallons a week.

 

That’s how long I want you to put M.O.O. into every cup of coffee at your store or restaurant. Every scoop of gelato. Every glass your toddler downs. Every Vichyssoise. Every cat dish. I mean that.

 

You don’t even have to buy it from me, but if you want this company to succeed, you have to buy it now.

 

Marada

 

PS: Did I mention it tastes great?

For more information on M.O.O. Milk and where it can be purchased locally > 

Posted in Cheese Chicks, author: Debra | Print | 3 Comments »

June 23, 2010 by Debra.

Using milk in its unpasteurized state is one of the joys of learning to make cheese at home. With a just a little coaxing, raw milk readily transforms itself, unlike the myriad fixes that go into working with over-processed milk. As we often tell our students, it simply wants to become cheese.

Thus it is with great concern that we’re following Organic Valley’s recent decision to ban farmers that also sell raw milk directly to consumers. The reasons are unclear — other processors, such as Horizon Organic, do not prohibit their producers from selling raw milk — but the ruling is certain to affect local producers. In essence, members of the cooperative will now have to chose between selling raw milk to Organic Valley or to local consumers. Following are several links to help you find out more about this controversy:

• “Organic Valley Lays Down the Law on Raw Milk” by David Gumpert, reposted by the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Association:

Last week, the board voted four to three to prohibit its member dairies from selling raw milk. “It’s not a fun issue here,” says George Siemon, the CEO. “Everyone on the board drinks raw milk.” It’s been the most bitter dispute in the enterprise’s 22-year history, he says.

The decision threatens to tear Organic Valley apart, or at least hamper its business effectiveness, by raising two major risks.

First, Organic Valley could lose a significant number of its dairy members. No one knows how many of its dairies sell raw milk, but 10% seems a conservative estimate, according to co-op insiders. That means 150 or 200 dairies, minimum, are selling raw milk…. A second concern is that Organic Valley’s anti-raw-milk stance could alienate significant numbers of consumers. Organic Valley has many loyal customers among the raw milk crowd, some of whom buy the co-op’s yogurt or cheeses in addition to drinking raw milk.

• With 36 dairy farmers in the coop, “Maine Organic Diary Farmers Question Raw Milk Ban” at Maine Public Broadcasting Network (MPBN):

“If Organic Valley really wants to get picky, there are an awful lot farmers who withdraw a can or two from their tank and either make cheese with it themselves or have another cheesemaker do something for them,” [Spencer] Aitel says. “I don’t think many of them are notifying Organic Valley that that’s happening, and if they wanted to get really nasty about it, they could drop every one of them, and that would probably be better than half.”

•  The Journal of Natural Food and Healing has posted the statement issued by Organic Valley on their raw milk decision:

“At the request of the membership at the co-op’s most recent annual meeting, the board wanted to end this drawn out raw milk debate, and they took the more conservative route, to prohibit the farmer-owners from being in the raw milk business. This decision will require all our farmer-owners who sell raw milk to choose one business or the other. This may end up being a boon for the raw milk movement in the states where it is legal. The Cooperative cannot condone the sale of raw milk in the states where it is illegal.

CROPP Cooperative is not against raw milk. We have let our farmers sell raw milk on the side for two decades. We have gone through a well vetted, inclusive process. It is now time for us to stand by our board’s decision.”

It has not gone without notice that Organic Valley, which was established 22 years ago to help save small family dairies, itself features raw milk in some of their own products such as raw milk cheese.

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January 17, 2010 by Debra.

If learning to make cheese is one of your New Year’s resolutions, two cheesemaking workshops have been scheduled for this Spring. Lenore and I will again be teaching at Traip Academy as part of the Kittery Adult Education Program, while new Cheese Chick friend Marjorie Rogers will be teaching at Marshwood in South Berwick. Both courses will get you started with making two fresh cheeses, ricotta and mozzarella, and introduce you to the joys of home cheesemaking!

Home Cheesemaking

Marshwood Adult & Community Education

Place: 260 Route 236, South Berwick, ME

Date: Saturday, April 10, 2010

For more information: jwade@masad35.net  or (207) 384-5703

http://marshwood.maineadulted.org/courses/course/home_cheesemaking

Home Cheesemaking: Ricotta & Mozzarella

Kittery Adult Education

Place: Traip Academy, 12 WIlliams Ave, Kittery, ME

Date: Thursday, May 6, 2010

Time: 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Registration available online

For more information: cfurbish@kitteryschools.org or (207) 439-5896

http://kittery.maineadulted.org/courses/course/home_cheesenaking_ricotta__mozzarella

While you’re checking out the cheesemaking classes, the one on Sausage Making at Kittery Adult Ed on March 8th also promises to be fun! Additional cooking courses can always be found through the Seacoast Eat Local wiki site.

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January 12, 2010 by Lenore.

This Cheese Chick enjoyed quite a few excesses this holiday season — there were pies to bake and eat, cookies to bake, decorate and eat, all those pounds of local ham leftovers to finish, to name just a few.  It seems fitting that we welcome the New Year with something simple:  Yogurt Pie.  I’m talking about the Yogurt Pie of Mollie Katzen’s Moosewood Cookbook fame.  It’s a gloriously simple recipe which develops into a sinfully rich dessert, reminiscent of cheesecake but not quite as frightening to your heart and thighs.  If you own one of the original editions of Moosewood Cookbook, you will find that this recipe was then called “Yogurt-Cream Cheese Pie.”  I have a revised edition, copyright 1992, for which this recipe is now named “Yogurt Pie.”  The original pie version needed a large amount of cream cheese to keep the pie thick and together.  Katzen now uses yogurt cheese in place of the cream cheese, which lightens things up considerably!

Yogurt cheese might be the easiest cheese to make, which makes it a great first cheese for anyone to try.  You may use grocery store yogurt or homemade yogurt (we will blog about how to do this later on) — I have used both.  When I first made this back in the early ’90s, my favorite brand for yogurt cheese was Dannon’s nonfat plain yogurt.  Stonyfield Farm made a good pie as well, though the results were slightly more tangy and less sweet than a pie made with Dannon.  The texture with Dannon was a bit silkier as well, which is always pleasing on your tongue.

The pie I made recently used Brookford Farm’s lowfat yogurt, which is now available in both quart and gallon sizes.  It’s been quite a while since I made yogurt cheese and I’ve never made it with Brookford’s yogurt, so there was some experimentation going on.  Surprisingly, I ended up using almost the entire gallon of yogurt instead of the 2 1/2 quarts nonfat yogurt the recipe calls for. I’m here to share some tips as the result of these experiments which should make your own yogurt cheese experience as positive as possible.

How to make Yogurt Cheese for Yogurt Pie (or any other recipe you can dream up!):

1. Choose your brand of yogurt, or make your own.  You will need a minimum of 2 1/2 quarts of whatever yogurt you choose.

2. Next, get yourself some cheesecloth.  The size of your colander will determine how long to cut your cloth, if at all.  Katzen calls for 16″ of cheesecloth for a 12″ colander.  I’ll clarify that you will need enough to line your colander using 6 layers of cloth.  Using less will make you lose too much yogurt through uncovered seams, instead of just liquid.  Using more will allow you to have enough to fold over on top of the yogurt once it’s in your colander, and then a little more to tie it off.

3. Next, find a place to put your cheesecloth-lined colander.  This is where the liquid will drain out, so you can use your sink, or put it in a large bowl on your counter if you need to use your sink while your yogurt drains.  Personally, I am a big fan of using the bathtub for hanging and draining cheese, so don’t be afraid to use yours!

4. Place your yogurt on the cheesecloth then fold it over the top and tie the cloth.  You can use the corners of the cheesecloth and tie them together, or you can twist the cheesecloth around and secure it with a clothespin or baggie tie.  Whatever you do, you’ll need to make sure that the yogurt is securely encased within the cheesecloth, with no gaping seams for the yogurt to leach out from.

5. Next, choose an item that will act as a weight to be placed on top of the yogurt, allowing its weight to press liquid out of the yogurt.  You can throw beans into a Ziplock bag, use frozen vegetables, or do what I do: put enough water in a Tupperware container roughly the size of your colander and seal it.  I think it allows the cheese to drain more evenly.  Whatever method you use, you’re looking for a 3 or 4 pound weight.

6. Let the yogurt drain for roughly 6-8 hours.  The brand of yogurt you use, and its fat content will determine the exact amount of time.  With Brookford’s yogurt, I drained it overnight since I was short on time, which was roughly 10 hours.  The end result looked good, but the texture was a little too dry, so next time I will back off to 8 hours and see what I get.  This extra time is also what probably led me to have to use more yogurt than was called for, though I believe that 3 quarts is still closer to the amount I would use for Brookford’s yogurt.

7. Don’t be afraid to check on the status of your yogurt cheese during the process.  Open up your tie and poke a finger in to see just how thick it’s getting.  The more liquid that drains out, the thicker (and drier) your pie will be.  The goal is to achieve a perfect balance of thickness while still maintaining a creamy, moist texture.  You can stop the process whenever you feel your yogurt cheese is “done.”  Ultimately, you should end up with about 5 cups of thick and creamy yogurt cheese!

The rest of Katzen’s ”Yogurt Pie” recipe goes like this:

Ingredients

• One 9-inch, baked and cooled, graham cracker crust
• 5 cups of yogurt cheese (this is approximate)
• 5 Tablespoons of sugar (or more, to taste)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Katzen includes optional toppings like fresh berries (something juicy, like raspberries, on this pie are my favorite!), her Berry Pudding, and Berry Sauce.

Place the yogurt cheese in a medium-sized bowl with the sugar and vanilla, and beat lightly with a whisk until completely blended.

Spoon mixture into the prepared crust. Katzen offers the option of using any leftover crust mixture to sprinkle on top of the yogurt if you have made your own graham-cracker crust.  Cover lightly and chill.  Serve plain or with a topping.  

Enjoy — and if this was your first attempt at making any type of cheese, I hope you are hooked!

Posted in Cheese Chicks, author: Lenore, learning, recipes | Print | No Comments »

November 17, 2009 by Debra.

Ever wonder where the dairy products you’re buying were processed? It’s easy to find out by checking out the Moo Milk (Maine’s Own Organic Milk) website. They have posted an explanation of how to decode the numbers stamped on commercial cartons of milk, and figure out the state and specific plant that it’s been processed at — it’s 23 for Maine and 33 for New Hampshire:

Some dairies print the name and location of the processing plant on their label. But many dairies, and almost all “store” brands of dairy products, use the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) system.



To find the FIPS number, look at the area where the sell-by date is stamped on your carton. Depending on the brand, there may be different sequences of numbers, but part of the sequence will have a two-digit number followed by a hyphen and then another number, which could be two to four digits. The two-digit number before the hyphen tells you the state where the processing plant is located. The number after the hyphen identifies the particular processing plant.



Dairy processing plants located in Maine have number 23. So if you want to purchase products that are processed in Maine, remember “It’s 23 for ME.”

The state number is then followed by the plant information for Maine processing plants. These numbers are assigned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to all interstate milk shippers. This site enables you to locate any plant in Maine and New Hampshire. For example, these are the assigned plant numbers from the January 2009 report (up-to-date information available online):

Company	Plant Location	Plant #
Oakhurst Dairy	Portland	1
H.P. Hood	Portland	3
Houlton Farms Dairy	Houlton	20
Garelick Farms of Maine	Bangor	26
Kate’s Butter	Old Orchard Beach	30
Smiling Hill Farm Dairy	Westbrook	31

Posted in Cheese Chicks, author: Debra | Print | 1 Comment »

October 17, 2009 by Debra.

A recent article in the Bangor Daily News describes a new collaboration — MOOMilk or Maine’s Own Organic Milk Co. — that should benefit regional dairy farmers as well as consumers, and expand the options for home cheesemakers:

Last February, a group of Maine organic dairy farmers thought that their businesses as they knew them had come to an end. Citing a soft organic market, a depressed economy and the great distances to serve organic milk producers in far-flung Washington and Aroostook counties, 10 farms were given their pink slips by H.P. Hood Inc.

The farmers were flabbergasted. Each had a contract, and all said they had made substantial investments in their farms to convert to organic.

 But this is rural Maine, and with true Yankee ingenuity, the 10 farmers banded together to find a solution. Through a cooperative agreement among the farmers, private investors, Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook, Oakhurst Dairy in Portland, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, the Maine Farm Bureau and the Maine Department of Agriculture, a new company has been launched: MOOMilkCo., short for Maine’s Own Organic Milk Co.

“We have created a company using all the different parts already existing in the state,” MOOMilk’s general manager, Bill Eldridge, said this week. “This is a real Maine story. I have been totally astounded as to the level of cooperation and partnership in this state.”

Milk should start appearing in stores in early November, taking only 96 hours to get from the cow to the shelf….

“This is a terrific example of what can happen when all members of the Maine agricultural family pull together,” said David Bright, a member of MOOMilk’s board of directors. “Beyond that, the support from the industry and the public has been outstanding.”

 

Every study done on the buying-local market, in Maine and nationally, has overwhelmingly revealed that when consumers can find local products, they will buy them to support local agriculture.

Posted in Cheese Chicks, author: Debra | Print | 2 Comments »

October 3, 2009 by Debra.

Our friends at Silvery Moon Creamery will be participating once again at this year’s Open Creamery Day. A trip to Westbrook could also include stops at The Edible Rind, a new cheesemaking company in Scarborough making soft and semi-soft edible rind cheeses, and Liberty Fields Farm, specializing in award-winning cheeses made from their herd of Nubian goats in Saco. Selling cheese, wine and specialty foods, The Cheese Iron is also in Scarborough. Their on-site cheese cave and commitment to affinage, the craft of maturing and aging cheeses, would make them worth a visit on any day.

Learn to Make Cheese at Pineland Farms!

When: Saturday, October 10, 2009 and Sunday, October 11, 2009

Cost: $275 per person

Pineland Farms is now offering the unique experience of learning to make cheese with our Head Cheesemaker, Mark Whitney. Come stay with us for the weekend, and in one of our six beautiful countryside Guest Houses, while you learn the art of cheese making.

 

On Saturday, students will learn the history and steps of basic cheese making. Each student will have supplies to create their own batch of three types of cheeses, as well as butter. Cheeses will include: ricotta, farmers cheese, and fresh mozzarella. After the workshop on Saturday, the group will head to one of our gorgeous Guest Houses* to partake in a wine and cheese tasting with Mark Whitney. We will be serving a selection of hors d’oeuvres inspired by our cheeses and other farm provisions.

 

On Sunday, you will become an apprentice in Pineland Farms’ own Creamery, working side-by-side with our experts through every stage of the process. Experience the hard work, science, and sensitivities that go into each pound of cheese. The cost of $275.00 per person includes: 

• • Saturday’s workshop with lunch from our Market, beginning at noon.
  • Saturday evening’s wine and cheese tasting.
  • Recipes for all the menu items at the wine and cheese tasting.
  • Sunday’s apprenticeship at The Creamery (start time 8:00 am) with lunch from our Market.
  • The three cheeses and butter prepared during the workshop.
  • A 2-pound wheel that each student will make during Creamery production. The wheel will be shipped to participants after 2 months of aging.
  • A Pineland Farms baseball hat.

 

Mark Whitney, Head Cheesemaker and Creamery ManagerMark has 13 years of cheesemaking experience. Mark designed and operates a visitor compatible cheese production facility at Pineland Farms where he crafts small-batch award-winning cheeses. He is a five-time American Cheese Society award winner.

 

*Guest Houses are billed separately, but can be booked at the time of registration based on availability. Please contact Emily Marczak at emarczak@pinelandfarms.org or (207) 688-4691 for registration and questions.

Posted in Cheese Chicks, author: Debra, events | Print | 1 Comment »

October 2, 2009 by Lenore.

Welcome to the first installment of “Cheese Chicks!”  The actual “cheese chicks” would be Debra (who already writes wonderful blogs here on how to cook all your fabulous, locally produced food) and myself, Lenore.  We are both home cheesemakers and want to share our experiences, experiments, and recipes with others who love cheese just as much as we do.  You don’t have to want to make cheese to enjoy our installments, but you do have to like eating cheese!  We will also be writing about local, fabulous cheese finds as we eat our way through the region.  Someone has to do it, so let us save you the calories!

Debra and I met several years ago during one of Northwest Earth Institute’s sustainability workshops, called “Menu For the Future.”  During the last session, the group comes together to celebrate the experience, and I decided my contribution would be a homemade mozzarella cheese braid.  Now, I knew that Debra was a professional chef, so I was pretty nervous about bringing food in, but it turns out that she, and the entire class, loved it!  I learned that she had tried cheesemaking as well, and so our friendship began.  We have since shared many cheese successes, failures, and discoveries and we even began teaching cheesemaking together through the Kittery and Exeter Adult Education programs.  The classes sell out, they’re a blast to teach, and we’ve loved watching our students see the “magic” of turning milk into cheese.  We hope our students, and you the public, enjoy the upcoming installments of “Cheese Chicks!” as we continue to learn and discover all that is cheese.

Posted in Cheese Chicks, author: Lenore | Print | No Comments »