Cheese | Food For Thought Blog

Spring Hill Farmstead Goat Cheese – Karin Eide

September 17, 2017 at 5:06 pm (Cheese, Goats)
Tags: feta, goat cheese, Karin Eide, Spring Hill Farmstead

Karin Eidi (pronounced Kuh-rin Eye-dee) is the proud owner of Spring Hill Farmstead Goat Cheese. Humboldt County, home also to Mary Keehn’s Cypress Grove, has a taste for goat cheese and we’ve been missing that small batch, farmstead crafted flavor. Thanks for Karin, it’s baaa-aaack!

Karin tends her goats on her lovely little farmstead in the Bayside area, and she milks them, and she makes the cheese. I got a chance at the Saturday Arcata Farmers Market to taste some of her feta — bought some, and whipped up a Greek Zoodle Salad (yes, I have a spiralizer — you are surprised?!) It was FAN-tastic! Her cheese is so popular and her batches small — so if you don’t get there early beware… She sells out at every market.

You can listen to the interview with Karin and/or check out her facebook site (and video made by a WOOF-er), at https://www.facebook.com/springhillfarmsteadgoatcheese/

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Cannibal Island Creamery, Lori Hansen

October 21, 2014 at 8:57 pm (Cheese, Goats)
Tags: Cannibal Island Creamery, Chevre, feta, goat's milk cheese, Lori Hansen

What a pleasant surprise I had this year at the Farmers Markets to see a new face, Lori Hansen’s. Lori has been raising goats for milk for over a decade, but this year decided to diversify her operation and put in a new creamery on her Cannibal Island ranch. She is making a lovely chevre which she has been selling plain as well as herb blends, and will soon start selling her feta cheese (I will be lining up for that for sure!)…

There are many theories about how Cannibal Island got it’s name — but rest assured that none of them involve consumption of human flesh…despite the popularity of all these zombie movies! It is actually a lovely spot down by Cock Robin Island in Loleta. How do I know where it is? well I know a good deal when I hear one — and not only am I buying chevre but have been the shoveler of several loads of goat manure for my garden. Win-win!

Not only is Lori selling her cheese directly to customers like us — but more and more restaurants are picking up her cheese and putting it on the menu. Luke’s Joint in Arcata was the first on board — and others soon followed. And now Lori has printed up some T-shirts with the lovely logo..

Check out their facebook page or Listen to the interview

Cannibal Island Creamery T-Shirt

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Gianaclis Caldwell, Pholia Farms

June 3, 2012 at 1:14 am (Cheese, Goats, Support for Food Business)
Tags: Cheese Rogue River, Gianaclis Caldwell, Pholia Farm

Pholia Farms

Gianaclis Caldwell and her husband own Pholia Farm in Rogue River Oregon. There she raises some very sweet dairy goats, write a blog, wrote 2 books — one on how to start a farmstead cheese business and the other, most recent book, on making cheese — how does she have the time?…I think she must wonder the same thing!

Cheesemaking Class offered by Gianaclis Caldwell

Check out her website and her fascinating blog where I learned why they dis-bud goats

The business end of the dairy goat herd

(remove the cells that turn into horns — so they don’t get caught on fences).

Part 1

Part 2

The Farmstead Creamery Advisor:The Complete Guide to Building and Running a Small Farm-Based Cheese Business

by Gianaclis Caldwell.

Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking: The Ultimate Guide for Home-Scale and Market Producers– by Gianaclis Caldwell and Ricki Carroll (Queen of Cheese), coming out September 2012.

Takelma cheese, the various varieties of artisan cheese produced by Pholia Farms are named after local landmarks…but are much more tasty!

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Simona Carini

August 18, 2011 at 3:45 pm (Cheese)
Tags: Briciole, Simona Carini

Montasio in Simona's right hand and cabra al vino (lovely purple cheese) and caerphilly on the cheese mat.

Simona Carini is what I would call an Extreme Cook. Her recent experiments have led to cheese-making and she has traveled to the east coast to take an advance class. She is a free-lance writer and has written articles for the food section of the North Coast Journal and Edible East Bay. Her blog Briciole began as a effort to help people who struggle with pronunciation with Italian words (mostly food related) but has blossomed to include instructions and photos of her latest food adventures. To listen to the interview with Simona, click here.

Montasio cheese! mmmmmm.....

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Loleta Cheese Factory

April 3, 2011 at 6:22 pm (Cheese)
Tags: local food production, locally produced food, Loleta Cheese

In an interview with Bob LaFrancchi we talked about the things Loleta Cheese Factory does to make great cheese — Listen here

To check out the Loleta Cheese Factory…website

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Maggy Herbelin and Goat’s Milk Cheeses

November 10, 2010 at 11:09 pm (Cheese, Eat Local Humboldt, Goats, Uncategorized)
Tags: Cheese, Goat Cheese Humboldt, Humboldt Cheese, Slow Food Movement

On a glorious sunfilled afternoon, we talked with Maggy Herbelin about extreme cooking and food preparation. Maggy creates her own ingredients by making cheese, yogurt, sour cream — as a microbiologist, Maggy has fun playing with the creatures that make some of the foods we savor. Let me entertain you with some of Maggy’s photos of her “babies” and then you can listen to the interview.