Vermont Creamery is a creamery and artisanal cheese and butter-maker in Websterville, Vermont, USA. [1] It was founded in 1984 by business partners Allison Hooper and Bob Reese. [2] Previously known as the Vermont Butter and Cheese Company, the company adopted its current name in 2013.
The creamery produces a variety of fresh and aged dairy products from cows' and goats' milk. Cow cream and butter products sold by the company are crème fraîche, crème fraîche-vanilla and cultured butter. Cows' fresh cheese products sold by the company are fromage blanc, mascarpone and quark. Goats' aged cheese products sold by the company are bijou, Bonne Bouche, Coupole and Cremont. Goats' fresh cheese products sold by the company are creamy goat cheese, feta, fresh crottin, fresh goat cheese and fresh goat cheese-crumbled. [3]
Cows' milk is sourced from the St. Albans Cooperative Creamery in St. Albans, Vermont, while goats' milk is sourced from approximately 20 Vermont farms and Hewitt's Dairy in Hagersville, Ontario, Canada. In 2012, Vermont Creamery launched the Ayers Brook Goat Dairy initiative, with the goal of becoming the first goat dairy demonstration farm in the United States. [4]
The company was initially based in Brookfield, Vermont, where it began in a small barn by Hooper's house, before moving to larger premises in Websterville in 1989. [5] In 2014, the Creamery employed approximately 45 individuals.
The company introduced the French fromage blanc to the United States and is well known for this cheese. [6] The Bonne Bouche, another signature product, is an "ash-dusted" goats' cheese. [7]
On March 29, 2017, Hooper announced they were selling Vermont Creamery to Land O'Lakes. [8]
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process is accelerated by using centrifuges called "separators". In many countries, it is sold in several grades depending on the total butterfat content. It can be dried to a powder for shipment to distant markets, and contains high levels of saturated fat.
Tomme, occasionally spelled Tome, is a class of cheeses produced mainly in the French Alps and in Switzerland. It can be made from cow's, ewe's, or goat's milk. Tommes are normally produced from the skimmed milk left over after the cream has been removed to produce butter and richer cheeses, or when there is too little milk to produce a full cheese. As a result, they are generally low in fat. However, Tomme de Boudane and Tomme de Revard can contain as much as 20–40% fat. Tomme cheeses date back to ancient history.
Goat milk is the milk of domestic goats. Goats produce about 2% of the world's total annual milk supply. Some goats are bred specifically for milk. Goat milk naturally has small, well-emulsified fat globules, which means the cream will stay in suspension for a longer period of time than cow's milk; therefore, it does not need to be homogenized. Eventually, the cream will rise to the top over a period of a few days. If the milk is to be used to make cheese, homogenization is not recommended, as this changes the structure of the milk, affecting the culture's ability to coagulate the milk as well as the final quality and yield of cheese.
Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Limited is a dairy products co-operative in Canada producing butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, whipped cream and lactose free milk for retail, foodservice, industrial and export markets. Gay Lea also produces a new product called "Spreadables", which is a spreadable butter, made as a canola oil and butter blend, that tastes like butter but is spreadable directly out of the fridge. The company is based in Mississauga, Ontario and owned and operated by Ontario milk producers, currently representing approximately thirty-five per cent of all Ontario dairy farms.
Quesillo refers to different Latin American, Spanish, and Filipino foods or dishes depending on the country:
Alouette is an American brand of French-style cheeses produced by the French company Savencia Fromage & Dairy.
Cowgirl Creamery is a company located in Point Reyes Station, California, which manufactures artisan cheeses. Founded in 1994, the company manufactures its own cheeses and sells other imported and domestic cheese and fine artisan foods. Its own cheeses include Red Hawk and Mt. Tam. Until April 2021, the company operated a storefront in the Ferry Building of San Francisco. Founders Peggy Smith and Sue Conley worked for years in the kitchens of the Bay Area, and Alice Waters' Chez Panisse, where Peggy worked for many years, is among many Bay Area establishments to incorporate cheeses from Cowgirl Creamery into its menu.
Bonne Bouche is an aged goat's milk cheese made by Vermont Creamery, of Websterville, Vermont, United States. "Bonne bouche" is French for "tasty bite".
Fivemiletown Creamery is based in Fivemiletown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, and is a producer of handmade speciality soft cheeses and cheddars The company is a farmers' co-operative, and employs around 40 people. The creamery draws its milk supplies mostly from over 60 dairy farmers from across Northern Ireland. The company was founded in 1898 and added cheese production in 1972. Fivemiletown Creamery is the only speciality cheese maker in Northern Ireland. In 2014 Fivemiletown Creamery was acquired by Dale Farm.
Meyenberg Goat Milk is a brand of goat milk products created by the son of John Baptiste Meÿenberg. Meyenberg was established in 1934. Goat milk was first evaporated by John P. Meyenberg, John B. Meyenberg's son.
Quark or quarg is a type of fresh dairy product made from milk. The milk is soured, usually by adding lactic acid bacteria cultures, and strained once the desired curdling is achieved. It can be classified as fresh acid-set cheese. Traditional quark can be made without rennet, but in modern dairies small quantities of rennet are typically added. It is soft, white and unaged, and usually has no salt added.
Sheana Davis is an American cheesemaker, chef, and culinary educator. She is the owner of the Epicurean Connection, in Sonoma, California, and is the creator of Delice de la Vallee cheese, along with other fresh cheeses. Davis is also the author of Buttermonger.
Dairy is a primary source of agricultural output in the state of Vermont. As of December 2021, the state had 568 dairy farms milking cattle, sheep, and/or goats which produced 2.5 billion pounds of milk annually. Vermont ranks 15th in the United States for raw milk production.
Brinza de vaci, literally translated as “cow cheese”, is a type of fresh dairy product made from whole milk, the product resembles quark. It is traditional in the cuisines of Moldova, Romania and Slavic-speaking countries.
Switzerland has a strong and ancestral dairy farming and cheesemaking tradition. The breeding of cattle, sheep and goats for milk is attested in the Neolithic period and, since Antiquity, cheese has been exported from the Alpine regions. The rugged nature of the country makes approximately 80% of the agricultural land unsuitable for cultivation, which is therefore mainly exploited for cattle and sheep farming. This mode of exploitation has forged a large part of the Swiss landscape, in the Alps, the Jura and on the Swiss Plateau.
