SAY CHEESE:

from Country Zest and Style October 2021 Edition

by Country Zest & Style

The Unsinkable Molly Morgan

Kelly Harding and Eric Hilgartner

SAY CHEESE: Two Guys Making Cheese

Photos by Doug Gehlsen Middleburg Photo

By Vicky Moon

Kelly Harding knows how to say cheese. And make it. He grew up in Frederick County, Maryland and has “mostly worked on dairy farms.

And make it. He grew up in Frederick County, Maryland and has “mostly worked on dairy farms.

“I was managing a dairy farm in New Jersey in the early 2000s,” he recalled, adding that he got into the cheese business after not being able to find a cheesemaker himself.

“I decided to figure it out,” he said, doing just that at the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese at the University of Vermont. “That was a big help.” Since 2006, Harding has run a cheese consulting business—The Village Cheesemaker. He works with anyone who wants to learn how to make cheese, launch their own business with help on feasibility, budgets, design and equipment as well as management goals.

He and Eric Hilgartner are now partners in their own cheese business, with products they’ve named Zulla, Round Hill, Bluemont and Atoka. Their Village Cheese Works is on a farm located between Middleburg and Upperville.

“We wholesale to small shops and retailers, CSAs, wineries, chefs, restaurants and caterers,” Hilgartner said. “All our cheeses are small format soft cow’s milk cheeses that are difficult for many of these businesses to keep in supply consistently at the right quality level and price.”

Hilgartner grew up in Round Hill, now lives in Middleburg and has worked at a dairy farm in Aldie, where they also made cheese. Village Cheese Works products range between $6-10, providing a ton of value and quality in shareable portion sizes.

Our goal is to make a local cheese that lots of folks will enjoy.---Kelly Harding, The Village Cheesemaker.

Harding works mostly with farmers wanting to process their own milk. He sources the milk from the last commercial dairy farm in Loudoun County. “The Potts family has been milking cows on that farm for over 100 years,” he said. “We want to do our best to support their farm.”

In describing the steps of cheesemaking, Harding told Country ZEST that, “First we bring in the milk from the farm. Then it gets pasteurized. We add cultures and rennet (that coagulates the milk). Then the curd is cut into one-inch cubes. Stirred, then poured into the moulds to shape the cheese. The next day the cheese is salted. It’s then put on racks and moved to the ripening room to ripen before packaging.

“All our cheeses are small format. 4-6 ounces. They’re meant to be shared with a couple or a small group. They are best when enjoyed with fruit, fig jam, a baguette or crackers, and friends.”

How would he pair his cheese with wine?

“I recommend a crisp white wine with the Atoka,” Harding said. “I like the Atoka. It’s different, but delicious.”

“Folks are loving the Round Hill,” he said of the Brie type cheese, and recommended a chardonnay.” With Zulla, Harding suggested, “It’s best with beer, a brown ale or Belgian Dubbel.”

Hilgartner said the names of their cheeses “really came from a few thoughts, feelings that start with the name of our business. We feel so strongly about supporting the structure and values family farms bring to the community, and we also knew that to get this going, it would literally ‘take a village.’ The name Village Cheeseworks materialized very naturally. We‘re actually carrying forward a traditional naming method of other cheese varieties in the world by using localities. For example, Cheddar is actually a town in England.”

“I want to be able to pursue my craft,” Harding concluded, “improve the cheeses we have already, and explore new products. We also want to be good neighbors and focus on the community.”

Kelly Harding http://thevillagecheesemaker.com kellyrharding@gmail.com

In following the photos he continued: “The first photo is our Round Hill in the moulds. There are photos of me loading the Round Hill onto racks and salting it. There are photos of the Zulla in the ripening room.” In the production room, which is not open to the public, Kelly peeks into the cheese vat.