Each month, your Neighboring Food Co-ops feature our region’s artisan cheesemakers by offering a specially selected cheese at 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 Cave to Co-op cheese is Vermont Herdsman from Parish Hill Creamery, Westminster West, VT 
Parish Hill Creamery produces seasonal, hand-made, raw milk cheeses inspired by the traditional cheeses of Italy.
Made in Westminster West with raw milk from cows grazing the hillside pastures of Elm Lea Farm at The Putney School, Vermont Herdsman is made only during pasture season and aged for at least 12 months. The result is full and slightly sharp, with notes of pineapple and hazelnut, a straw- colored edible rind, and a texture that becomes beautifully granular with age.
Parish Hill Creamery produces seasonal, handmade, raw milk cheeses inspired by the traditional cheeses of Italy. They love making cheese and make cheese traditionally, simply, as near to home as possible, and with the highest quality ingredients and results as can be had.
Under the legendary direction of Peter Dixon and Rachel Fritz Schaal, Parish Hill uses natural, propagated cultures made from the milk of individual cows in the herd — cultures that have been maintained at the creamery since they began making cheese. These native cultures, combined with raw milk, seasonal pasture, traditional cheesemaking, and the work of the cheesemakers themselves, allow the character of the place to come through. As Peter and Rachel put it, natural cheese can be an expression of “the land, the animals, the milk, their hands.” Vermont Herdsman is a delicious example of exactly that: Vermont in a wheel of cheese.
Herdsman pairs well with roasted pears, dried apricots, roasted hazelnuts, honey, brown ales, cider and your favorite cornbread!
Cave to Co-op is a partnership between Provision 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 40 food co-ops in our region — including yours — that are working together to advance their vision of a thriving regional economy, rooted in a healthy, just and sustainable food system and a vibrant community of co-operative enterprise. For more information, please visit www.nfca.coop.