Finger Lakes Cheese Trail Adds Two New Members!
Like all members of the Cheese Trail, Keeley Cheese Company is a working farm
Inspired by the success of the Finger Lakes Wine Trails, the initial five members of the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail banded together in Spring 2010 to marshal resources. Their goals were to raise visibility for their businesses and to strengthen marketing efforts through collaboration.
“We had three meetings and decided to form the trail,” explained Tom Murray of Muranda Cheese Company, one of the trail’s founding members. At the beginning, the group talked to wine trail members for guidance. According to Tom, it’s been a process of taking small steps, working to grow and moving everyone forward by investing in themselves.
Even the littlest members of the farm get TLC at Muranda Cheese Company
Obviously, the strategy is working because, as of this week, the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail will have grown to 15 members, including its two newest, the certified organic Jerry Dell Farm located near Ithaca that produces raw milk cheddars, and Kenton’s Cheese Co. of Trumansburg, that will introduce the trail’s first Brie cheese (one of my personal favorites!).
Muranda Farms has seen a retail sale increase in its tasting room that’s open seven days a week, and they anticipate a growth in wholesale business going forward.
Lively Run Goat Dairy and Muranda Cheese will produce a bleu cheese this year
“We had 350 pounds of three-year-old cheddar that sold out in two weeks!” Tom shared, remarking on the strong demand for longer-aging cheeses. The problem with making cheeses that have a longer maturity cycle is that the process takes the milk out of the cash flow for more time, so developing aged cheeses must be a gradual process. Muranda Cheese currently produces 15 cheeses and will be introducing three new ones this summer, including an asiago provolone, a smoked cheese and a bleu cheese they’ll be producing with Lively Run Goat Dairy.
At Sunset View Creamery, the Hoffman Family currently produces more than 20 varieties of plain and flavored cheeses. Some of the most common questions Carmella Hoffman hears include “are your cheeses low fat?” “…low sodium?” “…all natural?” She assures visitors that the creamery is as close to organic as possible without actually being organic.
Finger Lakes Farmstead's Cheese Cave
“We don’t use hormones,” she stated, adding that she didn’t think any of the farms on the trail do. “Our milk is not altered and it’s your call whether we’re low sodium or not. We use only 5 pounds of salt to 200 pounds of cheese.”
Carmella has seen dramatic growth as a result of the trail. “We’ve doubled or tripled our income as a result of the trail. On open house weekends, we triple or quadruple the sales we have on a normal day.”
At the outset, many of the farms and creameries – especially the smaller ones that produce only 50 to 80 pounds of cheese – weren’t prepared for the dramatic initial onslaught of business that has continued to grow as a result of forming the trail. Tom and Carmella both spoke about “growing pains,” but noted that for all of the farms and creameries, especially for those that are smaller or off-the-beaten path, the trail has been a boon. It’s a way for small, artisanal cheese makers to attract Foodies that live in or visit the region. It’s also a way to share synergy with the wine trails.
"The Team" at Finger Lakes Farmstead Cheese
As Tom points out, wine and cheese have historically been paired, so in a region so rich with wine trails, a cheese trail makes perfect sense. In fact, one wine tour operator has indicated that many of his tours will stop at Muranda this year in order to diversify the wine trail experience.
The Finger Lakes Cheese Trail currently runs four open houses per year and, in 2012, they’ll occur on May 26 & 27 (Memorial Day Weekend), August 25, October 6 & 7 (Columbus Day Weekend) and November 17 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition, many of the members also take part in other events such as the upcoming Between the Lakes Wine & Food Day on January 28, the Locally-grown Food Festival in Corning on February 10 and Say Cheese & More on the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail March 24 & 25.
At Sunset View Creamery, the cheese curds come in a variety of flavors
The Finger Lakes Cheese Trail sees itself as “a work in progress.” Its cheese producers range in diversity from the small farm, open only by appointment, that encourages self-service by leaving an “honesty box” next to the cooler, to those like Muranda and Sunset View that are open year-round and have tasting rooms where they sell cheese and, sometimes, other products. The members’ cheeses run the gamut from gouda and goat cheese, from kefir and curd cheese, to checkerboard and raw milk cheddar.
If you are planning to spend a delightful day visiting members of the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail, be sure to take a cooler, and don’t forget to confirm the individual creamery’s days and hours of operation. which are more limited during the winter season. For a map of the Finger Lakes Cheese Trail Members, CLICK HERE.
Photos courtesy of Break the Ice Media. Header image is of Sunset View Creamery.
If you enjoyed this article, you may also want to check out:
- The Maiden Voyage of Your Culinary Compass video , featuring Muranda Cheese
- Your Culinary Compass, Innovative New Tour Biz, Sets Your Senses Full Sail!
- Twenty Best Finger Lakes Winter Activities for under $25