Meet the Maker
May 9th, 2011
Nancy Taber Richards
is the owner/cheesemaker at Finger Lakes Farmstead Cheese Co, just miles away in Meclkenburg, NY. All the milk used to make the cheese comes from Taber Hill Farms' 50-head Holstein cowherd belonging to her parents and brothers. The farm has been in the Taber family since 1919. Nancy's business partner, an experienced Dutch cheesemaker, helped establish the cheesemaking process.
Come Sample the Cheese!
Schuyler- (pronounced "sky'-ler" in this neck of the woods), is based in the Dutch Gouda (Boerenkaas) tradition. It is name for the company's county, which is named after a prominent early Dutch settler. A typical Dutch sponge-on yellow coating is used for the Schuyler cheese.
Red Meck- named after their village of Mecklenburg, this cheese is made similarly to Schuyler, but is aged differently. They use an aromatic red bacteria surface wash, and in so doing encourage the development of this characteristic natural rind and tangy, lingering cheese flavor.
Bier Meck- is the Red Meck cheese that was soaked in brine made from Ithaca Beer Company's Smoked Porter Ale.