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Artisan Cheese: Chapel's Country Creamery
Every morning, there’s the 5 a.m. milking for the 100+ Jerseys and Holsteins at Eric and Holly Foster’s
Chapel Country Creamery and another again at 4 to 6 in the afternoon. People take turns, catch naps, and accommodate each
other. “You don’t wake up the person who’s milking,” says Holly. That’s the rule. And
while the schedule would make most of us cringe, it seems to be working for them.
The Fosters are finding themselves on the forefront of Maryland artisanal cheeses. Just recently, their Chapelle Cheese made the cheese counter at the legendary Cowgirl Creamery, which opened its D.C. store last fall. All of which leads one to dream that maybe — just maybe — D.C. and the Eastern Shore could be headed in the same direction of food mecca San Francisco and its surrounding country suppliers. For the Fosters, the story began only a few years ago, when Holly discovered her first cow, Rainey, a
beautiful little Jersey, waiting for her in the garage on Christmas morning.
From a garage dairy to a commercial dairy, from home-cheesemaking to a commercial business, the creamery has grown to now offer nine cheeses, including two raw-milk cave-aged varieties: a medium, creamy cave-aged cheese called Chappelle, and a cave-aged Cheddar. The Chappelle is aged about two months and reaches its peak at 4 to 6 months. Moist with a bloomy white rind, it has a light earthy flavor. The Cheddar is aged 8 to 12 months to a medium sharpness. The milk is transported to Pennsylvania, where it's made into cheese at an Amish farm.
But about the aging process…while there’s a certain marketing cachet to being “cave-aged
in Amish country,” the reality is it’s a requirement. Currently, Maryland law doesn’t allow for raw milk
cheese production. Milk must either be pasteurized, or shipped to Pennsylvania where it must be aged for at least 60 days. Firefly Farms, the western Maryland farm that produces award-winning artisan goat cheeses, pasteurizes the milk for their cheese and claim to be “just fine with it.” But even they address the debate between pasteurized and raw milk cheeses, taking the stance that their 5 to 8-week pasteurized cheese will stand up against the raw milk competition any day. And that’s Holly Foster’s next
challenge — to lobby for a legislative change in Annapolis. It’s long past due. Because other nearby cheesemaking
states can follow federal guidelines and can use raw-milk cheese, Marylanders are losing business and production opportunities.
Changing the law will give small family farms a boost, and a drafted bill is now awaiting a hearing, which could happen within the next month. If and when it is approved, look for farms to begin producing cave-aged cheeses locally. And look for even more of a boost to artisan cheesemaking on the Eastern Shore. Right now, it’s a little hard to find stores that carry Chapel’s Cheeses. We were delighted to find blocks of the two cave-aged cheeses, where it can be cut to order, at Todd's Market in Easton, along with the rest of the line. (Also a delight to find Todd's Market. More on them in the future!) We found some of Chapel's conventional cheeses at Chesapeake Gourmet at the outlets in Queenstown. And as noted, Cowgirl Creamery in D.C. carries their cave-aged cheeses.
Cheeses from Chapel’s Country Creamery:
• Chapelle Cave Aged Cheese • Cave Aged Cheddar Cheese • Cheddar Cheese • Crab Spice Cheddar Cheese • Garlic and Chive Cheddar Cheese • Pepper Jack Cheese • Herbal Jack Cheese • Colby Cheese • Colby Dill Cheese Chapel’s Country Creamery 10380 Chapel Road Easton, Maryland 21601 Phone: 410-820-6647 Fax: 410-820-5957 www.chapelscreamery.com Email: info@chapelscreamery.com For recipes, information, ordering and places where you can buy Chapel's Cheese, click here: www.ChapelsCreamery.com Chapel's cave-aged cheeses and conventional cheeses are available at: Todd's Market 124 South Aurora Street
Easton, Maryland 21601 410-822-0362 |
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