written by: REBECCA HALEY-PARK photographed by: ADAM DETOUR styled by: KENDRA SMITH
Calderwood
Jasper Hill Farm
What happens when you take a flagship cheese and roll it in hay? If you’re Jasper Hill Farm, you win awards. After netting Best of Show first runner-up at the 2018 American Cheese Society Judging and Competition, demand for Calderwood soared (Jasper Hill also secured Best of Show that year with Harbison). Calderwood begins as Alpha Tolman, a raw-milk Alpine written by style, and its transformation starts when the rind is washed with brine and pressed with toasted, shredded hay—but it’s not any old hay. Jasper Hill Farm was the first in the nation to build an Italian-style hay-drying facility, which allows their cows to be grass-fed year-round, even in Vermont’s rainy climate. This same hay is used to coat wheels of Calderwood. By doubling down on the terroir, Jasper Hill’s taste of place is compounded in the nutty, complex cheese.
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