{"id":35353,"date":"2018-09-22T07:45:58","date_gmt":"2018-09-22T11:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=35353"},"modified":"2021-08-24T15:26:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T19:26:58","slug":"in-northern-california-a-150-year-old-creamery-believes-in-keeping-it-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/in-northern-california-a-150-year-old-creamery-believes-in-keeping-it-local\/","title":{"rendered":"In Northern California, A 150-Year-Old Creamery Believes in Keeping it Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s all about the local milk, according to the cheesemakers behind Laura Chenel\u2019s and Marin French Cheese<\/a>, sister companies located, respectively, in Sonoma and Petaluma, California. A cheese company can have the best branding in the world\u2014but if their milk isn\u2019t just right, the rest is just noise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Laura Chenel herself, the company\u2019s namesake and a native of Sonoma, spent a decade studying abroad and on the East Coast before returning home. She bought some goats and began applying techniques she learned in France to transform the goat\u2019s milk into artisanal cheese. Decades later, Chenel partnered with Marin French Cheese, which has been making cheese in the upper Bay Area since 1865.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Magic Milk<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

According to former director of marketing Elyzabeth Dehapiot, the key to their cheeses is <\/span>terroir<\/span><\/i><\/a>, the taste imparted by the environment in which the ingredients are produced. <\/span>With the milk harvested from within 15 <\/span>miles of the creameries, Dehapiot said, <\/span>\u201c<\/span>The climate, soil, and topography all contribute to the [flavor] of the milk, and therefore of our cheeses.\u201d The goat\u2019s milk harvested for the sibling brands leads not only to traditional goat cheeses but also to bries, cabecou<\/a>, and the aged Taupini\u00e8re. <\/span><\/p>\n

While <\/span>Dehapiot acknowledges the lengthy history of cheesemaking in the Sonoma Valley\u2014even predating much of the industrialized winemaking in the region\u2014she said the landscape itself has far less to do with that industry than does the animal husbandry techniques passed down over generations.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has been historically made in a region plays a role,\u201d she said. \u201cMarin French Cheese has been making brie-style cheeses in Petaluma since 1865, so it\u2019s normal that the company has continued to make and excel at what it knows best.\u201d She cited the example of Marin French Cheese\u2019s Petite Breakfast<\/a>: Back in the mid-1800s, the first cheese the company made was a breakfast cheese, so by making Petite Breakfast, they\u2019re staying true to their roots. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSimilarly, Laura Chenel\u2019s expertise is in creating products with goat\u2019s milk, and the proximity to the source of the main ingredient, goat\u2019s milk, is key.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

From the Land<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

That local milk is worth it: Laura Chenel\u2019s ash-ripened Buchette<\/a> picked up a gold at the 2017 World Cheese Awards UK, and its Buchette Original nabbed a silver at the same event. <\/span>But while the accolades are all well and good, Dehapiot said, it\u2019s important to not rest on past achievements. \u201cIf anything, we have more pressure to prove how good we are,\u201d she said.  <\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to locally sourced milk, the two creameries also make use of local olive oil for products like the marinated cabecou. Jalape\u00f1os are grown in California, too, and thus the Marin French Petite Jalape\u00f1o\u2014gradually revealing itself on the tongue, its combination of heat is offset by the creamy profile\u2014marries two of the many flavors of the Golden State. \u201cAnother unique quality that allows Marin French Cheese to stand out is the range of flavors,\u201d said Dehapiot. Those include Camembert, jalape\u00f1o, and Cendr\u00e9e<\/span>\u2014<\/span>which come in seven varieties of 4-ounce wheels.   <\/span><\/p>\n

The size of cheese wheels has evolved with customer desires and also modern consumption habits<\/span>, but for Marin French Cheese, the smaller wheels have withstood the test of time<\/span>. \u201cWhile a traditional wheel of brie can weigh as much as seven pounds, from the beginning we have broken with tradition and reimagined what a brie can look like,\u201d Dehapiot added. \u201cThe smaller size met consumer needs over 150 years ago, and today meets the desire for smaller products.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Not Just About Wine<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

While Northern California is known for wine country, its valleys, used so much for viticulture, are as adept for cheesemaking, Dehapiot said. The arable land, while ideal for growing grapes, is also quintessential for the needs of farming, cow pasturing and, therefore, cheesemaking. \u201cSome farmers have been working with us for almost 20 years, so they\u2019re practically family!\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe fog and hills make for wonderfully green pastures upon which many types of livestock are raised,\u201d she said, <\/span>\u201cWith an abundance of milk, it makes sense to make cheese.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo credit: Marin French Cheese<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These pioneering sister creameries prove there\u2019s more to NorCal than wine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":35357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26354],"tags":[2319,178,2063,5264],"coauthors":[5246],"class_list":["post-35353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-california","tag-cheesemaking","tag-laura-chenel","tag-northern-california"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIn Northern California, A 150-Year-Old Creamery Believes in Keeping it Local<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"These pioneering sister creameries prove there\u2019s more to NorCal than wine.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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