Gretchen's Cheese Blog

It’s never fun waking up before the sun does, but on this particular morning, June 15th, I was leaping out of bed, excited about my first introduction to an actual Texas cheese maker.

My name is Gretchen, and I started working with the Houston Dairymaids about a month ago. I have been helping out at the Farmer’s Markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays, learning from Kendra and Lindsay about the subtle and intriguing nuances of Texas cheeses. Until that Friday morning I had been peddling Blanca Bianca and Baby Caprino to Houstonians and really enjoying learning cheese monger tricks like ‘glass wrapping’ (a sophisticated method of sealing blocks of cheese in cellophane). It has been a thrill exposing market-goers to Texas cheeses.

That morning Kendra, Lindsey, and I drove east out of the city to Sealy to meet with Susan Holle, one of the newest among the growing number of Texas cheese makers. Susan left a career in healthcare with a dream of creating her own variety of vegetarian-friendly cheeses. To say the least, this is an ambitious task to undertake, but Susan had a dream and lots of guts. Cheesy Girl Cheese Co. is the product of her determination, and is bound to be a familiar name to foodies in the near future.

(Photo: Susan Holle in front of her cheese room)

We arrived at Susan’s shop in a Sealy shopping center, located between a Christian bookstore and an empty storefront. At first I wondered if Kendra had the right address. However, as I stepped inside I was awed by what Susan had created in her shop.

At first glance, I imagined I was in King’s Candy Shop in downtown Huntsville: to the left, a refrigerated candy display case, to the right, a salvaged beer cooler ingeniously transformed into a cheese cellar for Susan’s cheesy “girls”--Satin Doll, Sophisticated Lady, and Bella Ragazza. The bright green paint of the entryway showed in stark contrast to the pristine white of the cheese making room, which was visible behind an expansive plate-glass window.

Susan, at once, proceeded to explain the unique processes of vegetarian cheese making, which involves substituting vegetable enzymes in lieu of animal-derived rennet. A tour of the cheese room was impressive, especially so because, at this time, Cheesy Girl is a one-woman operation. A stainless-steel tub, large enough to hold 400 gallons of milk, dominates the room. It’s so large, in fact, and so uniquely shaped that Susan had to design specialized “paddles” to cut the curds. “Making batches so large is hard work for just one person,” explained Susan.

Some of Susan’s “girls” were, unfortunately, not quite ready for consumption. We did, however, get to sample a variety of her chevre spreads. My favorite was the plain chevre, smooth and creamy, without a “goaty” aftertaste, the perfect balance of tart and savory. Cheesy Girl also offers an Italian herb, a fiery jalapeño, and a delicate fresh herb chevre, sure to be popular in Texas. While many of Susan’s cheeses weren’t quite ready, Lindsey’s persuasive-/Jedi-mind tricks succeeded in coercing Susan into opening a Satin Doll (a camembert-style cheese) a month early. Smooth, creamy, and delicate, this cheese showed great potential.

Water temperature, air-filtration systems, and, of course, humidity are all factors that can influence a cheese’s final state. Susan is learning all of this as she goes, through honest and earnest trial and error. Her cheeses truly reflect her vege-centric and holistic approach toward cheese making.

My first introduction to a Texas cheese maker has left me with the desire to meet even more. I was so impressed with the entire experience and so inspired by the new insight I’ve gained form this one morning that I look forward to doing it yet again, and again…even at 6:30 in the morning… or maybe even 5:30.

How I Spent my Mother's Day Weekend

Pure Luck Dairy in Dripping Springs holds cheesemaking workshops twice a year, and Lindsey asked if I would like to go for Mother's Day.

Would I!

We had been planning a mother-daughter weekend and decided to include the workshop in my visit. It takes place over three days and includes lessons on goat-raising and cheesemaking. Yes, they let you make your own cheese. We made four Pure Luck orginals: basket-molded fresh chevre, feta, an ashed Ste. Maure, and a goat's milk Camembert called Del Cielo.

Naturally, these cheeses travelled back to Sarasota with me. The Ste. Maure and Del Cielo are still ripening in my refrigerator. What great trip souvenirs!

We arrived in Dripping Springs full of questions about the goats and cheesemaking. Amelia (left), who is in charge of production, and her sister, Gitana (right), are wonderful. They were generous with information and praise for our cheesemaking efforts.

We all donned hairnets, aprons, and rubber soled shoes for the class, which was held in the suprisingly small Pure Luck cheese room.

Making cheese is really a science experiment - with a magical, delicious conclusion.

Later, we learned about goat care. Here Gitana holds the bucket while I give milking a try.
(This is not the best camera angle for the goats or me.)

This is their other end . . . The goats eat while being milked twice a day. Talk about multi-tasking!

These are two curious members of the herd. The goats have distinct personalities and were happy to have our attention. Dogs herd them and keep them safe at night. There is a strong working relationship between the caretakers, dogs, and goats. Everyone has a job.

I loved my goat cheese weekend. What's next?

Coveted Cuesta

We've been coveting the super-fresh goat's milk cheese from La Cuesta Farm in Clifton since we started our little biz back in October. They were one of our first cheesemaker visits, and sweetly apologized for not only not having cheese to sell us (they sell locally and are perfectly content with their size), but also for choosing not to ship due to bad past experiences. It's imperative to understand that the loss of artisanal cheeses carry more value than the dollar that's placed on them. Cheesemakers, like John and Alberto of La Cuesta Farms, cringe at the thought of their cheeses going to waste, as do we. It's one thing for a large supermaket to buy your cheese, and then an entirely different animal to find that it's sitting on the shelves wasting or, even worse, as in the case of La Cuesta, to find that it's sitting on the loading dock at the wrong time, melting in the summer sun. It didn't take long for us to understand La Cuesta's trepidation to selling us cheese way out in Houston. But, we can be a bit relentless when it comes to getting good cheese here in H-town. Not just for our customers, sorry to say, but for ourselves!! Heaven forbid I should be left with our box of samples for one minute. When La Cuesta agreed to sell to us recently, needless to say, we were ecstatic. I haven't been able to get the bright, almost champagne-like flavor of their kefir out of my mouth since last October.

John, an ex-architect, works closely with the goats, all named and doted upon appropriately. "Come on ladies," he says to the herd as I get them to pose for a picture. Alberto makes the cheese, and I finally got to meet him last week. This time, they were ready and willing to provide us with a case of their much-coveted (for us at least) plain chevre and original Suave, an unsalted feta ready to crumble over any drab salad in need of a boost. Although my visit was short, had to make it on to two other cheesemakers afterwards, I got a taste of their chocolate and goat cheese torte that's in the works. John's been working with a local chef to perfect the recipe, and I can't wait--layers of their plain chevre, chocolate mousse, and a soft chocolate ganache over top. Although we've been trying to get John and Alberto to ship to us, I can't help but sympathize with their shipping mishaps. I would love to make the trip out to Clifton each week to gather cheese for Houstonians and, of course, say hello to the ladies.

Travels to the Hill Country and Back

Last week we finally had a good reason to go west: the Hill Country Food and Wine Festival. It was perfect timing as the wildflowers were in bloom. (We refrained, however, from taking photos of ourselves basking amidst the bluebonnets.)

The festival was in Georgetown, outside of Austin. There we saw two of our favorite Texas originals, Paula Lambert (far left) of the Mozzarella Company and her master manager, Mitchell (center).

(Don't assume from this photo that we were working hard, most of our time was spent in wine tasting.)

On our way back we stopped at Pure Luck, where we didn't find Amelia, but peeked in on her assistant Juana, busy making cheese, and some of their new arrivals.

(Can you believe all of the Pure Luck comes out of this tiny room?)

Our final stop was to visit a new cheesemaker, 18-year-old Chrissy Omo of CKC Farms in Blanco (pronounced Blank-oh, not Blahn-co, as Kendra kept reminding me). Cheesemaking at CKC is a family affair with younger brothers Kenny and Connor (the K and C of "CKC") chipping in and Mom and Dad giving their full support. The inspiration, however, comes from Chrissy, who after visiting cheesemakers in Italy, came back impassioned and determined to start making cheese. Now in her second year of goat-raising and cheesemaking, Chrissy seems as happy and confident as ever, and her efforts are impressive. We loved her Baby Caprino, a small soft-ripened round, and her Baby Blue, a soft blue with a molded rind reminiscent of Montbriac.

After getting up to milk the goats she travels to Texas State where she's studying international business. And I could rarely make a 9 a.m. class . . .

What a cheese plate!

A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to witness cheese history, the first gathering of Texas's 14 cheesemakers. Jealous? Don't worry your Houston cheesemongers will bring them to you here soon enough. Slow Food of Dallas hosted the sold-out event, which included a tasting of one of each cheesemaker's cheese. We enjoyed our Texas favorites, including Velhuizen's Gruyere, Pure Luck's Ste. Maure, Chateau de Fromage's Truffled Chevre, and Mozzarella Company's Blanca Bianca, but also came across some new finds.

Keep your eye on our blog as we visit the farms of our new discoveries!