HARD CHEESES
Listed in order of sharpness, with least sharp first
CAERPHILLY
$15.00 per pound
A pasteurized cheese made from cows’ milk, this cheese has its roots in a region of
Wales, known Caerphilly. In the 1830’s farmer in this country side area of Wales
produced excess milk that they could not hold and sell fresh. There were no tanker trucks
or refrigeration systems that made it possible for it to be transported to large population
area. Caerphilly cheese was the product made with this excess milk. Welsh miners enjoyed a piece of the cheese for lunch, the hard rind protected the cheese from the miners’ dirty hands and the salt replaced the nutrient that the workers loss during their 10 hour plus days in the mine. The cheese has been traditionally used in making Welsh Rarebit, a smooth creamy cheese sauce served over toast and then briefly toasting the two together so that the cheese sauce turns thick and bubbling.
Caerphilly produced at the Argyle Cheese Farmers cheese house is mild yet favorable cheese. The flavors seem to blossom in the taster’s mouth just after the cheese is consumed. It is a semi-firm cheese with a buttery texture and a natural rind. It is aged about a month before it comes out of the aging room.
This is the cheesemakers’ favorite.
HAVARTI
$17.00 per pound
The newest cheese to enter the aging room is Havarti. This traditional Danish sandwich
cheese is made with raw milk and develops into a full flavor, creamy cheese in 75-90
days. The cheese making process includes throwing pails of hot water into the curds and
whey to heat up the mixture, instead of using the more traditional method of adding heat
to the water bath which in turn heats up the curd. The cheese is pressed into 15 lbs
rounds that are waxed before the aging process is started. The aged cheese develops tiny “eyes” in the body of the cheese during the aging process.. The cheese is great added to a sandwich or omelets. Dried dill weed is added to some of the cheese to create a version of the cheese that in not only pleasant to the taste buds but also to the eye.
People that sample the cheese and have purchased Havarti from the grocery store remark how Argyle Cheese Farmer’s Havarti has more flavors and is creamer. The cheesemaker believes the difference is the quality of the milk, the aging process and the cheese is made with raw milk not pasteurized as the store Havarti is.
GRACE
$18.00 per pound
This cheese is developed on the farm because Marge, the cheesemaker. She purchased some Italian cheese molds that she discovered in her early years in the cheese making world. The cheese that was produced in these molds caught her eye because of the natural rind on the basket weave designed that encircled the cheese. Her goal was to have her cheeses to be distinctive not only to the palate but also to the eye. So, she had the mold; now she needed the cheese, a little backward, but it worked. With the help of another cheesemaker and several trial cheese makes, a recipe was born, to use the Italian molds. The recipe used to make Grace today is a combination of about three different cheese recipes and several adjustments to the original recipe.
This raw milk, aged cheese is similar to aged Gouda. It has a creamy texture, with a smooth bite. It is washed with a special liquid during the aging process, which runs between three and six months. During this time it develops its distinctive taste and rind. The longer it is aged the sharper it becomes. It melts well and makes a great macaroni and cheese if you have any left-overs after
serving it with wine.
MERCY
$16.00 per pound
This raw milk cheese was developed by the cheesemaker at Argyle Cheese Farmer. Sharp dry cheddars
are not her “cup of tea”. She created this cheese that brings the sharp flavor with a smooth, creamy
texture. It’s finishing tastes on the back of the mouth are a mixture of complex nutty flavors. The
cheese is aged a minimum of 90 days in the cheese cave/room at the farm. A great melting cheese
makes a gourmet macaroni and cheese when blended with Grace. 
REVIVAL
$20.00 per pound
This cheese was created to carry on the tradition of North Argyle Cheese Factory, local
cheese making facility located about a mile and half north of the Argyle Cheese Farmer’s
current cheese house. The North Argyle Cheese Factory was known for the delicious
cheddar cheese it made using local farmers’ milk. The Randles have copies of invoices
detailing the milk sold and cheese produced from their farm, Randles Fairview Farm, in
the early 1900’s.This cheese is based on Dunlop, a Scottish cheddar cheese. It is an old cheese recipe made by the farmers of Scotland. Several changes were made to the recipe to adapt it to Randles Fairview Farms milk. Several critical techniques were taught to the cheesemaker by Val Brines, a well known expert on making farmstead English Cheddars. In 2008 Val spent three days making cheese with Marge at the cheese house in Argyle. Her input has resulted in a smooth, creamy yet sharp cheese.
The cheese is waxed to hold in the moisture as the flavors develop over the 6-12 months aging process.
Revival is the farmer’s favorite. He enjoys a piece with his apple pie or puts a couple of slices on whole grain bread to make a toasted cheese sandwich, fit for an “important person”.