Jasper Hill Farm Cheese

One day a regular customer introduced me to her son and daughter-in-law who were about to embark on an ambitious project: to start a cheese making operation up north, and make a number of different types of cheese. Blue, cheddar and a brie-style cheese were all in their plans, they said, and I smiled and nodded politely, thinking these kids were out of their minds. I figured I'd believe it when I saw it—cheese-making is hard work, and they were talking about three totally different types of cheese, with three different needs in terms of molds, environment, and so on. I'd tried a lot of lousy locally made cheeses by well-intentioned customers, and I was sure this was another case of starry-eyed back-to-the-landers who knew not a thing about cows or cheese.

Five years later, Mateo and Andy Kehler are the movie stars of the cheese world. They not only make fabulous cheeses themselves (cheese guru Max McCalman lists two of them in his book Cheese: A Conoisseur's Guide to the World's Best); they now advise others on cheesemaking, and are building a cave in which to age other people's cheeses. Including Cabot's. Plus, they're really young and really good-looking, and have cute kids. And have been written up in every trade publication, and the New York Times, and Saveur magazine, and so on and so on. So I guess you could say I was wrong.

--Amelia

Jasper Hill Farm Bayley Hazen Blue Cheese

Jasper Hill Farm Constant Bliss Cheese