Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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183 that delivers the milk from the dairy barn, the massive stainless steel vat where she separates the milk's curds and whey, the round molds that form the cheese, and the refrigerators or "cheese caves" where the cheese is aged. "I pasteurize the milk at a low temperature so it does not dena- ture," she explains. "I gently cook it at 145 degrees for 30 minutes to get rid of most of the natural bacteria, and then I add my own culture, which I know will taste delicious. This gives me a little bit more con- trol— a blank slate to work with." She stirs the culture into the milk, and when she has the right acidity, she adds the rennet. Once the liquid, or whey, separates out after about an hour and a half, she scoops up the curd, which almost resembles popcorn, and places it into the forms that are lined with cheesecloth to wick away moisture. The cheese is then pressed to create one solid rind. "Too much moisture can create bit- terness in cheese," notes Cantelmo. She then dry salts the cheese over a two-day period. Once this step is finished, the cheese goes into the 55-degree F. caves to age and ripen. "Farmhouse cheese ages for four months—mold starts to grow the first month, so we brush or wash the mold off until the rind is estab- lished," she notes. "The mold con- tinues to grow on the rind, which ripens and flavors the cheese." Re- sembling more of a science project than a delicious snack, each cheese is covered with different mold—B. linens, white Penicillin, Scopulari- opsis. "It's beautiful—it's like suede to me," she says, referring to the fungal shrouds covering the large wheels of cheese. When asked what makes the cheese taste so good, Cantelmo ex- claims, "The cows!" Dairy manager