Good News!

After a week of eating beaucoup formage I get these reassuring words of advice in this weeks Saxelby newsletter:

Cheese has sustained people across the globe for millennia in a dizzying array of climates, geographies, and cultural food traditions. In talking to Max McCalman, author of 'Mastering Cheese: Lessons for Connoisseurship from a Maître Fromager' yesterday on Cutting the Curd he got into the nitty gritty of why cheese, one of our most primordial foods, is a friend and not a foe on the nutritional (and even the psychological!) front.

Did you know that cheese contains lots of beneficial vitamins and minerals as well as 'good' fats and cholesterol? Cheese is chock full of calcium and protein, and contains high levels of both A and B vitamins. In his book, Max points out that if you were to consume a 3.5 oz piece of cheese (a pretty hearty little hunk!) you'd be getting twice the protein and about one quarter the cholesterol found in two eggs. The fats found in cheese that make it so satiating and delicious actually work in our favor, allowing our bodies to absorb all those vitamins and helping to metabolize fats from other foods as well. In other words, a little piece of cheese gives you a lot of nutritional bang for your buck, and will certainly keep that hungry, rumbling tummy feeling at bay for much longer than most snacks.

As for the psychological effects, Max asserts that the amino acid tyrosine, which is found in cheese is absorbed into our bloodstreams to the benefit of our brains. When we eat cheese, we also ingest and break down casein, the most prolific protein in cheese. Part of the casein is converted to casomorphin (yes, in the same family as morphine) to produce a 'feel good' effect that probably contributes to that indulgent 'oh, let's just chill out on the couch for a bit and slice off a few more chunks' phenomenon.

As the old saying goes... 'Everything in moderation... including moderation.' But seriously, a modest chunk of real, farmstead cheese is a tasty, and very nutritious element to add to your daily repertoire. If you eat just a little bit of the good stuff, it'll leave you satisfied, happy, and healthy. As for the casomorphin, maybe we're on to something... I can see the headline now: Doctors Prescribe Cheese For Just About Everything!

I feel much better now!

A Day A Whey with the folks from Saxelby Cheese

You all know I'm a big fan of Saxelby cheese (the people and their products!) so today I get their regular Monday newsletter and see they are having one of their trips out of town which sounds like so much fun I am going to just cut and paste the whole darn thing right here so you have all the info at your finger tips!

This Week at Saxelby Cheesemongers August is upon us. And we New Yorkers know what that means... the dog days of summer are truly here. Well, if August is full of days for dogs, then September is bound to be full of days for cows! Moo-ve on over summer, Saxelby Cheesemongers is pleased to announce our fall Day A-Whey Farm trip to Sprout Creek Farm and Terhune Orchard! You'll feel cooler when you're done reading this, we promise...

A Day A-Whey to Sprout Creek Farm and Terhune Orchard
Sunday, September 27th 2009 9:00 am to 7:00 pm
Trip begins and ends at Saxelby Cheesemongers, 120 Essex Street
for tickets ($95) and more info, visit We here at Saxelby Cheesemongers would like to interrupt your Monday afternoon to ask you a very important question: what could be finer than spending a day out in the country, communing with cows, noshing on cheese, and picking loads of juicy apples? Not a whole heck of a lot.

So jump on the bus and come along on our Day A-Whey farm field trip to Sprout Creek Farm and Terhune Orchard! Join us on our chartered coach as we explore the finest of the Hudson Valley's farm country at the peak of fall foliage. The first stop on our Day A-Whey adventure is Sprout Creek Farm, where we'll see first hand how fine farmstead cheese is made. After a tour of the farm and creamery, guests will be treated to a lavish picnic lunch featuring locally foraged foods and Sprout Creek cheeses. In the afternoon we'll continue on to Terhune Orchard for a few hours of sunshine and apple picking. The coach will return to the city in the early evening after a full day of farm goodness!

Sprout Creek Farm, located just about an hour and a half north of the city in Poughkeepsie, was founded by nuns in the late 1980s as a place for children to reconnect with nature and learn about agriculture. After almost 30 years of agri-education, Sprout Creek has come to be one of the premier creameries in the country. Colin McGrath, a graduate of the prestigious Culinary Institute of the Arts, is the talented young cheese maker behind Sprout Creek's award-winning cheeses. Colin will lead us on a tour of the creamery, showing from start to finish how top quality farmstead cheese is made. Sprout Creek's founder Margo Morris will then guide us on a ramble of the multi-faceted farm, showing off the gardens, goats, cows, pigs, sheep, ducks and chickens that make up the day to day rhythm at Sprout Creek.

After the farm tour, daytrippers will be treated to a bountiful picnic lunch, served in Sprout Creek's cozy, historic barn. Salads, fruits, and cider from New York City's own Greenmarket will be laid out for the noshing alongside a sampling of charcuterie, freshly cut chunks of Sprout Creek cheese and a selection of fresh breads from the Sullivan Street Bakery.

Once we've all had our fill of delicious farmstead fromage, the coach will amble on down the road to Terhune Orchard for an afternoon of apple picking in the sunshine. Come mid-September, Terhune Orchard boasts an amazing array of apple varieties. Daytrippers can pick a peck of Empire, Gala, Golden Delicious and Cameos to munch alongside their cheeses. The chartered coach will return to the Essex Street Market by 7:00 pm, full of happy, sated daytrippers.

So what are you waiting for?! Isn't it about time you had a Day A-Whey?

For tickets ($95) and information visit saxelbycheese.com
***Please note that the ticket price includes transportation, food, and apple picking***

saxelbycheese.com
saxelbycheese.blogspot.com

Cheese and Crackers

Our friends Debbie and David came over on Saturday and to start the night out right we open a nice bottle of Tempranillo and had some home made crackers and a selection of fine local cheese from where else? Why Saxelby Cheese of course!

Kunik
Pasteurized Goats Milk with Jersey cream
Nettle Meadow Farm

Olga
Raw Goat and Cows Milk
Seal Cove Farm

Tomme de Brebis
Sheeps's Milk
Hope Farms

Cracker Recipe

I encourage great experimentation with this super easy recipe. Try all sorts of flours and mix and match. For example, add a 1/2 cup of corn meal to 1 1/2 cups bread flour or all purpose. Try different kinds of toppings, just be creative, it's a no fail, easy recipe and so much nicer then store bought. This recipe will make enough for two sheet pans worth.

Pre-heat the oven to 400. Line two cookie sheets with unbleached parchment paper.

In a bowl add 2 cups of flour (bread flour has more protein in it so it will make them crunchier, pastry flour has less protein so it will make them softer and all purpose will make them some where in between, I used all purpose)and 1 t of salt.

Add 8 T butter and incorporate with your fingers until the mixture resembles a course meal. Then gradually stir in 1/2 cup of heavy cream. The mixture should resemble a pie dough.

Roll out the dough on a lightly flour surface until as thin as you want 1/4" or so. Place the rolled dough on the parchment paper and lightly coat with olive oil. Sprinkle with Malddon salt (or any salt really, Malddon is really salty and comes in nice flakes, but sea salt would work just as well). You can add any variation of toppings, fresh herbs like rosemary or thyme, grated black pepper, sesame, flax or poppy seeds, finely grated Parmesan cheese or, or, or....knock yourself out!
These can be scored with a knife or pastry wheel or pizza wheel or you can just break them up after they are cooked, up to you.

Bake in the over for about 17 minutes or until brown and as crispy as you want. Let them cool for 5-10 minutes before breaking them up and serving them.

Also don't forget that a cheese and crackers course is a great opportunity to serve your home made pickles, relishes and chutney's. Add a bowl of soup and a salad and you have a wonderful, easy meal that will seem far fancier and more complicated that it actually is.