Landaff Cheese

Made from high quality Holstein cow's milk, Landaff has a rustic rind and semi-firm paste showing subtle aromas of cave and grass. Its balanced complexity harmonizes a bright buttermilk tang with savory brown butter notes. 

Affinage

The aging process or affinage is the ripening period that allows the enzymes in cheese to break down the compounds that provide flavor and character to the cheese. To create the proper environment, you must have the correct temperature, humidity, and airflow. The early cheeses were aged in caves providing the right environment for ripening. Today, Landaff is aged in The Cellars at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont, based on a French model.

Farmstead Cheese

Farmstead cheese is handmade using locally produced milk. Landaff uses all the milk that comes from their farm the same day to make cheese. Each handmade batch is completely unique and unrepeatable. The composition and taste can vary depending on the cows diet, the season, and the weather. The cows eat a diet based largely on corn and grasses grown in the fields, the flavors of which change throughout the year causing the taste that comes through to be as different as the seasons.

Doug and Deb Erb craft the cheese on their second-generation dairy farm in the White Mountains. Declining milk prices drove the Erbs’ to pursue cheesemaking as a way to revitalize their farm.

History of Welsh Cheese

Prior to the 1830's the main cheese produced in Wales was a cheddar that required a lengthy aging period. By the 1830’s farmers were developing farmstead cheese varieties that required shorter maturation times as a way to use up their surplus milk. Though the cheeses were mostly developed for their personal use, they quickly became popular and the farmers began selling varieties at market as an additional source of income.

The farmstead cheese was particularly popular with Welsh miners who would take it into the coal mines for their lunch. The cheese rind made it easy to eat when they were unable to wash their hands, and the salt and nutrient content replenished their body’s energy levels for the rest of the day. In addition they believed that the cheese was able to absorb the toxins their bodies were exposed to within the mine.