Chapel's Country Creamery artisanal cheeses are carefully hand crafted by us from start to finish. We make our handmade cheese with an Amish artisanal cheese maker in Lancaster, PA. Since our cheese is handcrafted in Pennsylvania, we are able to start with fresh non-pasteurized raw milk produced on our Maryland farm. We use only vegetable rennent and all natural ingredients in our cheese. Our roughly 80 head herd of Jersey and Holstein cows graze on clover and rye grass on our 45 acres of pasture. Our cows are rotated among 32 different pastures to insure that the cows are eating the freshest and most nutritious part of the grass thus providing the highest quality of raw milk that is rich in cream. The milk is all natural and contains no synthetic hormones, antibotics, or chemical compounds.

RAW MILK

We use our own fresh raw milk which is about 12-24 hours old. After we put the milk in the cheese vat, constantly stirring the milk as we slowly heat the milk up to about 90º. The culture is then added which determines the kind of cheese being made.

FORMING THE CURD

Using only vegetable rennet, we add it to the heated milk and stirr the rennet in and let it set, until it reaches a custard like consistancy. The time varies from 30 minutes to 2 hours. We personally test to see if it is ready to cut. Only a true cheesemaker can tell when the curd is ready to be cut. Next we cut the curd in small cubes with curd knives. Timing is everything in this step. Then the curds are cooked and stirred in the whey that was expelled in the cutting process.

DRAINING THE CURD

Another important step in the cheese making process is draining the whey slowly from the vat as the curds are gently stirred. Lightly stirring in salt is the next step. The salt is added to create the optimal conditions for the growth of the mold developed during the aging process. During this step extra ingredients like herbs, spices, peppers, etc are added to the curds.

MOLDING THE CHEESE

The curds are placed into molds according to the cheese you are making. Some dryer aged cheese are placed into a press to sit overnight and other cheese drain naturally, leaving them moist.

AGING THE CHEESE

The cheese is then aged 60 days or longer. Our Chapelle, Talbot Reserve and Bay Blue are placed in a climate controlled cave. which gives it's unique flavor. The cave aged cheeses develop their own natural rind.

PACKAGING THE CHEESE

When the cheese is tested for perfection and is then cut into approximately 8 oz. blocks and vaccum sealed and labeled for purchase.