Do You Love Goat Meat?

I understand that most of the goat herds among us are living in their barns right now during kidding season. But when they are able to emerge to check their email, they should also check out this article in The New York Times food section today:

How I Learned To Love Goat Meat

Timely!

Guild Meeting and Sanitation Workshop

umcoopext

May 11 – U of Maine Cooperative Extension, Orono (Sanitation Workshop)

*Now Full; No Longer Accepting New Registrations*

Agenda:

Sanitation Training & Introduction to HACCP for Cheese-makers

May 11, 2009
McIntire Room, Buchanan Alumni House; UMaine, Orono campus
Time: 10:00am – 4:00pm

Lunch is provided. Free for Maine Cheese Guild Members
$10.00 for non-Guild members

Please register with Melissa Potts via email: mpotts@umext.maine.edu or by calling toll free: 1-800-287-7170, as we have a registration limit of 30 people.

Directions can be downloaded from the University website, including a campus map.

If you do not have internet access, please call Melissa for a campus map.

Tentative Schedule:

10:00am – Registration

10:30am – Beth Calder (Extension Food Science Specialist) will discuss bacteria, bacterial growth and food safety.

11:15am- Gary Anderson (Extension Animal and Bio-Sciences Specialist) will discuss farm and milk room sanitation, cleaning equipment, recommended water temperatures, appropriate cleaning/sanitizing products and how to use them, quality testing and thoughts from a dairy inspector’s perspective.

Break at 12:30pm – Lunch will be provided.

Resume with Gary’s talk at 1:15pm.

1:45pm – Barbara Brooks (Seal Cove Farm; Lamoine, ME) will discuss sanitation from the farm/cheese processing perspective; what has worked for her and problems she has encountered and what she has done to correct the situation.

2:30pm – Beth will discuss recommended cleaners/sanitizers for the cheese-room and FDA recommendations at what level to use.

3:00pm – Beth will briefly describe HACCP principles and how to incorporate HACCP into your cheese-making process along with worksheets to take home.
4:00pm – End of training/Questions & answers.

Guild Members Win Seven Awards at 2008 ACS

[start press release]
July 25, 2008

CHICAGO, IL — Cheesemakers of the Maine Cheese Guild (www.mainecheeseguild.com/MCG-build) won 7 ribbons including two blue ribbons for first place in their categories at the 2008 American Cheese Society (ACS – www.cheesesociety.org) Competition. Six different participating Guild cheesemakers won at least one award. The judging took place at the annual ACS Conference, held in Chicago, IL this year, and included 1149 cheeses entered from 187 North American cheese producers making this one of the largest U.S. cheese competition in history.

The winners from Maine competed in a broad range of categories and styles using cow’s, goat’s , and sheep’s milk, several of them organic. Because the competition provides useful feedback to cheesemakers from the judging in addition to the chance to win a nationally recognized award for their efforts.

The ribbons were awarded on July 25th in the Merle Reskin Theatre in front of hundreds of conference participants including many of the competing cheesemakers.

2008 American Cheese Society Competition Award Winners from the Maine Cheese Guild are:

FIRST PLACE
–Soft Ripened Cheeses / Made From Goat’s Milk
— *Liberty Fields Farm, Saco Bay Dusk

FIRST PLACE
–American Originals / Monterey Jack Cow’s Milk Cheese
— *Pineland Farms Creamery, Monterey Jack

SECOND PLACE
–Feta Made From Sheeps Milk
— *Appleton Creamery, Sophia Feta

SECOND PLACE
–Fresh Goat Cheese / Hand Shaped
— *Sunset Acres, Logs

SECOND PLACE
–Cultured Milk Products / Creme Fraiche Made From Cow’s Milk
— *Silvery Moon Creamery, Creme Fraiche

SECOND PLACE
–Aged Goat’s Milk Cheeses
— *Appleton Creamery, Chevre in Grape Leaf

THIRD PLACE
–Farmestead Cheeses / Fresh Goat Rindless
— *Painted Pepper Farm, Dairy Delights Chevre Farmstead Plain

According to the ACS web site, in order to qualify for the competition, cheesemakers and their products must meet the following basic criteria:

* Entering companies must hold current membership and be “in good standing” with the ACS.
* Cheeses entered into the competition must have been available for sale to the general public at least 12 months prior to the competition.
* Cheeses entered into the competition must be characteristic of the accepted guidelines for the category in which the cheeses are entered.

Entries are judged by teams of technical and aesthetic judges, with each team scoring the individual entry based on a cumulative point system. In order to be eligible for a First, Second, or Third place ribbon, scores must meet a minimum number of points for each level. If no entries meet the minimum score for a placement level, such as first or second place, then an award is not given for that level.

Point total ties were recognized for second and third place, but first place ribbons were given only to a single cheese in each category.

The Maine Cheese Guild’s representation at the 2008 American Cheese Society Conference and Awards was generously supported by:

* The Maine Department of Agriculture
*

[end press release]