Farmstead Cheese Associates
Natural raw milk cheeses from organically raised, grass-fed cows
Eldore Hanni, a Wisconsin-born cheesemaker for over 50 years, and Robert Webb have joined forces to create Farmstead Cheese Associates, a new business in Winfield, PA. Starting out, Eldore and Robert have encountered all the challenges of opening a business - developing a website, affording liability insurance, making contacts, and working long hours. Eldore trains local organic dairy farmers to make their own natural cheeses. They collaborate in finding markets, and marketing their product. Farmstead Cheese has many new customers including us and it looks to be a good year. This is good for Eldore, who has been happy making cheese all his life and just can't seem to retire (even though he's tried!). He is experienced in making more than 40 kinds of cheeses, and he still makes cheese the way it was made 100 years ago.
All of the cheese coming from Farmstead comes from grass-based farms who don't use pesticides, artificial fertilizers, or hormones. They only milk their cows during the grass growing months of March through November. This way the product is more flavorful and healthy, and the farms aren't polluting the countryside. Conventional dairy farms inject their cows with growth hormones so they produce three times as much milk, which causes an imbalance of nutrition and can lead to hormonal imbalance in people as well. Farmstead's cheese, however, has a natural, healthy balance of hormones and fats and retains more nutritional elements because the milk is not pasteurized. The pasteurization process kills naturally occurring enzymes and alters the cheese's calcium and protein in a way that makes it undigestable for some people. These raw milk cheeses are then aged at least 60 days to meet FDA requirements. Farmstead also uses vegetable enzymes rather than animal rennet in making their cheeses.
Aside from the health benefits for people and the land, Farmstead Cheese Associates also offers a financially viable opportunity for small dairy farms. Through Farmstead, a family with a herd of 20 dairy cows and a small factory on their farm can make a good living. Farmstead helps farmers reach different markets of customers who appreciate and are overwhelmed by the quality and flavor of their products.
