A couple of days ago I was at the local kosher supermarket and was very pleasantly surprised to find that they have a new offering – grass fed raw cow’s milk cheddar cheese! After looking at the price, I went back and forth with myself for a few minutes as to if I should buy some, because it was very expensive – 12.99 lb!
On one hand, it was waaaay more than I usually pay for cheese. On the other hand, this is the kind of cheese I really would want my family to eat. Additionally, I want to support products like these so the management realizes there’s a market for them and brings in more of them. So though my budget doesn’t allow for me to totally start buying this in place of the regular cheese we use, I decided to buy a couple of small packages to show my support.
If you’re interested in finding out about it, the name of the company is 5 Spoke Creamery (www.5spokecreamery.com). It’s really delicious!
(edited to add: for those who don’t keep kosher but are interested in raw milk cheeses, you can easily find them at Trader Joe’s for about $6 a pound.)
Avivah
we love this cheese, it is our favorite! This is also the kind of cheese we want to eat and when we could not find this (or the other brand that escapes my mind, that has raw, grass fed milk) in our local kosher markets, I contacted the company and bought directly from them. It turns out these cheeses are in high demand in non-kosher restaurants in NYC and that they sell these cheeses at many Whole foods and specialty cheese stores. The cheese is expensive, but we bought it at $8 a pound. the shipping was what was really crazy, but we ordered enough for 6-9 (hopefully closer to 9) months and so far we are truly pleased. Actually, we just finished eating our bean and chesse burritos with their Redmond cheddar.
So I was wondering regarding raw milk- doesnt it have certain bacteria in it, like listeria? How do you make sure that you don’t get infected by that?
Dina -I’m going to call the company tomorrow – thanks! Also went into the kosher market to find out if they’d order a bulk amount for me and give me a discount, but I have to speak to the owner so I’ll give him a call tomorrow, too. I’m thinking that I’ll start buying a small quantity of cheese high quality cheese instead of a larger amount of regular cheese, and that will balance the cost differential somewhat.
Mamamoomoo – raw milk has lots of great bacteria that enhances your health, and also has many protective features that protect you from harmful bacteria that are inactivated by pasteurization. Did you know that all the listeria, e coli, etc outbreaks have come from *pasteurized* foods or from vegetables that were contaminated with water runoff from contained animal feedlot operations? Diseased animals in unhealthy living conditions produce harmful and diseased waste products. Contamination can and does occur after pasteurization, but never has a health warning come out to caution consumers of that, and eating feedlot meat or dairy is much more dangerous than eating raw milk from healthy well cared for cows. The gov has done a fantastic snow job on the American consumer in convincing them that raw milk is dangerous when there is actually no statistical or documented proof, despite their repeated and determined efforts to make that correlation.
5 Spoke Creamery is awesome. Their cheese is fantastic.
Re: bacteria in cheese. Hard cheeses like cheddar, even if made from raw milk, are heated during production and are very well-cultured, so they should be very safe, even for pregnant mommas and young children. Soft cheeses such as certain Mexican cheeses (not available Kosher AFAIK), would be more of a concern because the lactic bacteria have not developed to the extent that they suppress other bacterial growth. These could still be fairly safe if produced under hygienic conditions and properly stored, but if you didn’t know the source, you might be warry.
5-Spoke cheeses have a lovely lactic tang that lets you know the lactic acid bacteria are well-developed.
I feel like I’m the last to know about 5 Spoke Creamery cheeses! 🙂
Dr. Ron Schmid addresses the Mexican cheese issue in his newly updated book, The Untold Story of Milk. http://www.amazon.com/Untold-Story-Milk-Revised-Updated/dp/0979209528 – as always, it’s interesting and educational to read the reviews, even if you can’t access the book itself. Here’s a link to the original version – it has more comments http://www.amazon.com/Untold-Story-Milk-Pastures-Contented/dp/0967089743. If you’re in the US, check your library or try an interlibrary loan.
I learned about them here:
http://jcarrot.org/resources/kosher-organic-cheese-list
They also have wine and chocolate lists.