Is there anything better than eating locally made cheese? The answer might be eating locally made cheese that has been aged to perfection in a brand-new cheese cave at The Better Cheddar.
The Better Cheddar’s new affinage (cheese-ripening) program launched about one year ago. Lincoln Broadbooks, an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional (CCP) who works as the manager and cheese buyer for both Better Cheddar locations, approached owner Ron Shalinksy about the idea.
“About a year ago, I asked Ron if I could take an unused walk-in from the Prairie Village location and move it to the basement of our Plaza location to create the perfect environment for a cheese cave, where I could age cheese to sell at retail and to local restaurants,” says Broadbooks.
He found a kindred spirit for the project in Pat McCroy, a former chef and current cheesemonger who came to Kansas City from Chicago to work for Green Dirt Farm in 2016. Now, McCroy has found a new home at The Better Cheddar on the Plaza. He shares the same CCP designation as Broadbooks; in fact, they were in the same graduating class.
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Now, the two work together to monitor the cheese blocks and wheels they currently have aging in their state milk board-monitored and -approved cheese cave in the basement of the retail store. It is a grand adventure for both; just this week, they pulled their first 9-month aged, 20-pound block of Hemme Brothers Farmstead Creamery Brother’s Keeper Cheddar out of the cheese cave to sell at retail.
“We have decided to name it 48th Street Reserve, and we plan to start selling it today with 10 lbs. located at each store for people to buy who are interested in tasting one of our first batches of aged Cheddar from the cave,” Broadbooks says.
The Better Cheddar is currently looking for other local creameries that can supply large 20 to 40 pound wheels or bricks that the company can purchase to age in its cheese cave. They are also talking with small local and regional cheese companies about their aging program, including Green Dirt Farm's sheep’s milk cheeses from Weston, Missouri; Lovera’s cow’s milk Italian cheeses from Krebs, Oklahoma; La Clare Family Creamery goats milk cheeses from Malone, Wisconsin; and Dutch Girl Creamery goats milk cheeses from Lincoln, Nebraska.
Hemme Brothers Farmstead Creamery, located in Sweet Springs, Missouri, provided some of the first blocks that were aged in The Better Cheddar's cheese cave. They were happy to partner with them on this project to learn more about how their cheese tastes when it ages in the cave versus in a bag.
“We receive the blocks from Hemme Brothers in large vacuum sealed bag, which is how they age their cheddar,” Broadbooks says. “Then, we take them out of the bag, rub them down with rendered pork fat we get from Local Pig to seal and protect it from moisture before we place it in the cheese cave downstairs to start the aging process.”
There is no exact science to aging cheese in a cheese cave, McCroy explains. “You have to consider the type of cheese it is, how the cheese is aging in the cave, where we keep it on ash wood planks and brush and rotate it weekly,” he says. The two keep their cheese cave around 53 degrees with 93 percent humidity. To tell when it is ready to sell, they feel it for firmness, then pull a small plug out of the cheese to taste it.
The excitement for this aging process becomes real for these two talented cheese experts when they are able to taste test the cheese as it ages. Aside from the 9-month aged block currently sold in The Better Cheddar stores, the next wheel or brick likely won’t be ready to sell until August or September of 2018. “You cannot rush the cheese aging process; it is not quick, but the flavor achieved from doing it makes all the difference in the end product,” says Broadbooks.
The flavor of the 48th Street Reserve is earthy, with a very thin, edible and almost unnoticeable rind from the rendered pork fat. The cheese is creamy and fresh with a bit of truffle, dirt and nuttiness to it. True to the art of affinage, the cheese is much more complex in flavor and texture.
The 48th Street Reserve is available for purchase while supplies last at both Better Cheddar locations on the Country Club Plaza and in Prairie Village Shops.
The Better Cheddar, multiple locations, thebettercheddar.com