2025 is the International Year of Co•operatives

Cave to Co-op, September 2018

Each month, your Neighboring Food Co-ops feature our region’s artisan cheesemakers by offering a specially selected cheese at a great price. Look for the “Cave to Co-op” sign in the cheese section at your local food co-op. To find one near you, visit www.nfca.coop/members.

This Month’s Selection: 
GOATLET, A RAW JERSEY COW & GOAT MILK CHEESE
Consider Bardwell Farm, West Pawlet, VT 

80% raw Jersey cow milk and 20% raw farmstead goat milk, aged at Crown Finish Caves, Brooklyn, New York

‘Collaboration’  – the action of working with someone to produce or create something

Spanning the rolling hills of Vermont’s Champlain Valley and easternmost Washington County, New York, 300-acre Consider Bardwell Farm was the first cheese-making co-op in Vermont, founded in 1864 by Consider Stebbins Bardwell himself. A century later, Angela Miller and Russell Glover are revitalizing the tradition with goat milk from our herd of Oberhaslis and cow milk from our two neighbor farm partners—the Brooks and the Browes. Rotational grazing on pesticide-free and fertilizer-free pastures produce the sweetest milk and the tastiest cheese. All cheeses are made by hand in small batches from whole, fresh milk that is antibiotic and hormone free. Only microbial (non-animal) rennet is used in the cheese making and all cheese is aged in the farm’s extensive cave system.

Crown Finish Caves is a cheese aging facility and NYS licensed dairy plant located in the former lagering tunnels of the Nassau Brewery in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Thirty feet below the street, the caves were originally designed for fermenting beer and with an average year-round temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit, they provide the perfect environment for aging cheese as well. Crown Finish receives “green cheese”, or cheese around 1-week old that hasn’t developed a rind yet, from mostly local, artisan producers. The main tunnel currently holds 28,000 pounds of cheese, and it’s almost full.

A few years ago, Consider Bardwell was weaning their goats at the end of the milking season and didn’t have enough milk to do entire batches of their goat cheeses. So instead, Crown Finish suggested they put the goat milk in a batch of Pawlet, which they would then purchase from Bardwell, age, and sell as Goatlet. Consider Bardwell benefits because they are able to use up milk that otherwise may have gone to waste, and they get to sell cheese without the hassle and expense of aging it for months at a time. In fact, Crown Finish first opened with the intention of helping small farms keep up with their milk production by selling “green” cheese to them, which they would then distribute and market as a cheese made by both Crown Finish and the cheese farm. Crown Finish Caves markets all of their cheeses that way, working with a wide variety of creameries of all sizes and styles.

Goatlet is a combination of 20% raw goats milk and 80% raw cows milk.  It’s based on the award-winning Pawlet cheese from Consider Bardwell Farm in Vermont.  The goat milk comes directly from the farm and is Animal Welfare Approved while the raw cows milk comes from a select neighboring farm that provides the highest level of grass-fed cheesemaking milk.  Goatlet has notes of a lemon cream pie and recently won 1st place in its category at the 2017 American Cheese Society Conference. And this year, Goatlet took 1st place in the American Made/International Style mixed milk category!

Goatlet is delicious as a table cheese and notable on any cheese board. Try this recipe as well, highlighting its deliciousness in the kitchen.

Monte Cristo Sandwich w/Goatlet


makes 2 sandwiches

  • 2 eggs
  • 4 slices thick white bread
  • 2 tbs yellow mustard
  • ½ lb. thick sliced baked ham
  • ¼ lb. shredded Goatlet cheese
  • 2 T butter
  • salt and pepper

Beat eggs with a dash of salt and pepper in a dish large enough to hold a slice of the bread. Set aside. Make sandwiches, spreading the mustard and layering the ham and cheese. Press slightly to compress each sandwich. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add butter to melt. Dip and coat each sandwich in the egg mixture and place in the skillet. Cook 2-3 minutes per side until golden and melty inside. Serve with a shake of powdered sugar, jam or honey.


CAVE TO CO-OP IS A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN PROVISIONS INTERNATIONAL AND THE NEIGHBORING FOOD CO-OP ASSOCIATION (NFCA) TO SUPPORT LOCAL, ARTISANAL CHEESE PRODUCERS IN OUR REGION AND MAKE THEIR PRODUCTS MORE EASILY AVAILABLE TO CO-OP SHOPPERS.  THE NFCA IS A NETWORK OF MORE THAN 30 FOOD CO-OPS IN NEW ENGLAND, LOCALLY OWNED BY MORE THAN 130,000 PEOPLE LIKE YOU.  FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT WWW.NFCA.COOP.