Grafton Village Cheese Company

An award-winning cheesemaker on a mission…

History

What happens when Vermont dairy farmers come together with a surplus of raw milk? In 1892, those dairy farmers formed the Grafton Cooperative Cheese Company. Due to the lack of refrigeration and a surplus of rich, creamy milk, many rural agricultural communities banded together to preserve their milk by turning it into cheese, thereby allowing dairy farmers to make use of the milk for a much longer time. Hooray for the creative minds that turned milk into cheese!

Unfortunately, the original factory was destroyed in a fire. Fortunately for the Windham Foundation, the company was restored decades later, in the 1960s. Grafton Village Cheese has been an award-winning cheese company ever since the restoration. Mariano and Grafton Village Cheese pride themselves on making cheese by hand with the original traditions from when they first began more than 128 years ago. This attention to detail combined with traditional values and the use of small dairy farms (all within a 65-mile radius) have helped them make award-winning artisanal cheddars for more than 50 years.

The Windham Foundation and Grafton Village Cheese go hand and hand. Grafton Village Cheese Company is a renowned cheese company on a mission to help preserve Vermont’s rural way of life. The Windham Foundation showcases the history, natural resources and agricultural practices of small rural communities in Vermont.

One of the ways that Grafton Village Cheese partners with The Windham Foundation is by working with smaller farms, such as Billings Farm in Woodstock, Vermont. Grafton Village Cheese offers their experience, space and award-winning cheddaring practices and Billings Farm offers the milk. Together, they make the wonderful Billings Butter Cheddar. This helps to preserve the Billings Farm and their mission as a working monument to Vermont’s rural past. 

Cheese Making

Local Milk from Jersey Cows

Quality milk is the most important factor when it comes to making award-winning cheese. Then follows the masterful mind of Mariano Gonzalez and the traditional cheddar process.

Fresh, raw milk is shipped in daily from 30 farms, all within a 65-mile radius. Jersey cows produce milk with a high-protein and butterfat content, which adds a special quality to the cheeses at Grafton Village Cheese Company. Before the milk is even placed in the storage tanks, it’s tested for antibiotics. The milk used at Grafton Village Cheese is all natural, free from rBST and hormones.

The milk is then heat treated to get it ready for the “cheddaring” process. Once the milk is heat treated, it is pumped into vats and a culture is added. Later, a vegetarian rennet is added to the milk.

Curds & Whey

Roughly 30 minutes later, curd begins to form. When the curd is set and solid, a series of wires on frames cut the curd vertically and horizontally, breaking it up into smaller curds. The smaller curds are separated from the whey by jostling it up. Large paddles then agitate the curd, which is then cooked for an hour. Next, the whey is drained off and shipped to farms for animal feed and fertilizer. Mariano and his team then press the curds against the sides, or “banks”, of the vats. This compacts the curds and removes excess whey so it is ready for the cheddaring process.

Cheddaring

Cheddaring is the process of flipping and stacking curds to remove whey. Mariano cuts the curds into slabs and then flips the slabs three to four times over two to three hours. While the slabs go through cheddaring and the whey is drained, he checks the whey for a lactic acid level that determines when the slabs are ready to be stacked on the side of the vat.

Later, the slabs are milled into finer pieces. Under the watchful eye of Mariano, smaller paddles stir the cut curds to prevent them from sticking together. He then adds salt to the milled curds three times. The curds are then placed into 40 lb. hoops lined with a disposable nylon liner. Mariano then weighs the hoops and presses them overnight. The next day, he removes the cheese blocks from the hoops and wraps and seals them in cardboard cartons for aging.

Aging

Grafton ages cheeses anywhere from two months to four years, and sometimes longer. Generally, flavored cheeses age for two months. As cheese ages, the enzymes break down proteins, forming the crystals that are characteristic of exceptional aged cheeses, much like Grafton Village’s four-year aged cheddar.

Cheesy Facts

• Grafton Village Cheese Company has two locations: one in Grafton Village, and the other in Brattleboro.
• The creamy-yellowish color of Grafton Village Cheddar speaks to the quality of Jersey cow milk.
• Grafton Village Cheese Company practices a traditional cheddaring process. It takes up to six hours to hand make the cheese.
• 1.5 million pounds of cheese are produced each year, with a whopping 15 million pounds of milk needed to produce such a large amount of cheese.
• Cheesemaker Mariano Gonzalez of Grafton Village Cheese Company have been producing award-winning cheeses for years. I’ve listed a few of their most recent awards, but the company has been winning cheese awards for a very long time.

• 2019
  • • US Championship Cheese Contest
      • Bear Hill – Second
      • Queen of Quality Clothbound Cheddar – Second
    • Good Food Awards
      • Bear Hill – Finalist
  • 2018
    • American Cheese Society
      • Bear Hill – Second
      • Shepsog – Third
    • Big E Gold Medal Cheese Competition
      • Clothbound Cheddar – Silver
      • Queen of Quality Clothbound Cheddar – Silver
      • Two Year Aged Cheddar – Bronze
      • One Year Aged Cheddar – Bronze
      • Truffle Cheddar – Bronze
      • Smoked Cheddar – Silver
      • Smoked Chili Cheddar – Bronze
      • Bear Hill – Silver
      • Shepsog – Gold
  • 2017
    • US Championship Cheese Contest
      • Bear Hill – Best In Class
      • Queen of Quality Clothbound Cheddar – Second and Third
    • Good Food Awards
      • Bear Hill – Winner
      • Queen of Quality Clothbound Cheddar – Finalist
    • Big E Gold Medal Cheese Competition
      • Shepsog – Gold & Best in Show
      • Traditional Clothbound Cheddar – Gold
      • Bear Hill – Gold
      • Smoked Garlic Cheddar — Bronze
      • Maple Smoked Cheddar – Bronze
  • 2016
    • World Cheese Awards
      • Shepsog – Gold
      • Bear Hill – Silver
    • Big E Gold Medal Cheese Competition
      • Shepsog – Gold & Runner Up for Best in Show
      • Traditional Clothbound Cheddar – Bronze
      • Two Year Aged Cheddar – Bronze
      • Bear Hill – Silver
      • Smoked Chili Cheddar – Bronze
      • Maple Smoked Cheddar – Bronze
    • International Cheese Awards
      • Traditional Clothbound Cheddar – Bronze
      • Queen of Quality Clothbound Cheddar – Very Highly Commended
      • Bear Hill – Bronze
      • Shepsog – Gold
      • Best USA Cheese – Cheddar & Mature
      • Traditional Clothbound Cheddar – Silver
      • Best USA Cheese – Sheep
      • Bear Hill – Gold
      • Best USA Cheese – Any cheese with additives
      • Vermont Leyden – Bronze
      • Best USA Cheese – Any variety not in the above classes
      • Shepsog – Bronze