Category Archives: Rich Rogers

By Rich Rogers

“Do you want to participate in the Conundrum Project?” I usually say no to “a difficult problem or question.” As a small retailer, we have loads of Conundrums of our own. But this is a cheese problem and I couldn’t say no.

Jasper Hill Farms, a great Vermont cheesemaker, built the Cellars at Jasper Hill several years ago. The 22,000 square foot Cellars is the premiere aging facility in the United States. While many US cheesemakers practice the art of affinage, or cheese aging, themselves, much of Europe’s cheese production is split into 3 tiers – Milk production/animal husbandry, cheesemaking, and affinage (aging). The difficult task of cheesemaking is part science and part art. Aging cheeses also requires another skill set. Jasper Hill built the Cellars as a way to not only age their own cheeses, but to help a host of Vermont Dairy folk to take their unsustainable milk dairy and to help them become sustainable cheesemakers. By dropping their young cheeses off at the Cellars at Jasper Hill to be aged and distributed, these new cheesemakers can focus on just the cheesemaking aspect. Continue reading →