Meeting: Holiday Party @ Pineland Farms Creamery

Posted on November 8, 2011November 20, 2012 by President

wiki_ornament300 Our annual Holiday Party was held in New Gloucester at Pineland Farms Creamery, including a catered lunch for Guild members and their guests. Over thirty folks helped us toast our Guild’s accomplishments in 2011, as well as inspired us toward new goals in 2012.

For our Christmas Cheese-taculor this year, many attending brought a batch of Christmas Cove Cottage Cheese for everyone to sample. The one gallon recipe yields about three pints of cottage cheese, so we had asked that everyone contribute: one pint of plain, and one pint of flavored (your choice of add-ins).

We voted on our favorite plain as well as favorite flavored batch, and the winners were:

PLAIN: Forage Farm — Diane Schivera, cheesemaker
FLAVORED: Silvery Moon Creamery (Cranberry Ginger)– Dorothee Grimm and Rachel Lauriat, cheesemakers

Thanks to everyone who participated!

–Eric Rector
President, Maine Cheese Guild

Christmas Party 2010 — It’s Holiday Tomme again!

Posted on November 1, 2010November 20, 2012 by President

Our annual Christmas Party was held on Monday, December 13th beginning at Noon where we cut into the Holiday Tommes that we all (!) made over Labor Day weekend.

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There were a good variety this year: a Goat/Guernsey hybrid from Little Falls Farm with a clear rind; two examples (one made with MM100 and one with Flor Danica) of Jersey cow milk from Monroe Cheese Studio; two examples of goat-cow-sheep mixed milk from Appleton Creamery (one by Caitlin, one by Jesse); and many examples of goat’s milk tomme with a B. linens rind from Kennebec Cheesery.

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All of them were very good with loads of variation on the classic Tomme de Savoie sticky/creamy texture, especially Jean’s cheeses from the Kennebec Cheesery where the B. linens really took over! This exploration of the amazing variety of cheeses possible even when working with the “same” recipe was eye-opening for the new and experienced cheese makers among us. Together with plenty of great food (what a MacAndCheese from Heidi!) and good cheer made this MCGCP another highlight of 2010.

Guild Holiday Party

Posted on November 2, 2009January 13, 2010 by President

holidaytomme_stack December 14th Holiday Party at Liberty Fields Farm, Saco where it was —

Holiday Tomme!

What a great event.

Besides the warm and spirited hosting by Liberty Fields Farm, our Holiday Party featured seven different Tommes made from the same recipe but each bearing the flavor, milk type, local flora and personality of the cheesemakers around the state. There were hard and soft pate’s, there were buttery and silky textures, there was “goaty” and “cow-y” and complex flavors — sometimes all in the same cheese (Appleton Creamery brought a triple-milk version). There was also bright red local membrillo to accompany the panoply of personal cheeses. It was a lesson about how much of the local cheesemaker goes into making their cheese.