EAST CRAFTSBURY — Behind every wedge of great raw milk cheese there's a bale of dry hay.
Dry, sweet-smelling hay is so important to raw cheese production that brothers Andy and Mateo Kehler — founders of Cellars at Jasper Hill in Greensboro — have invested nearly $1 million in the nation's only hay dryer, according to James Coe of nearby Andersonville Farm, who manages the dryer.
"It's an investment in quality," Andy Kehler said. "We're basically trying to manage microbial communities, and dry hay promotes a very distinct microbial community as compared to fermented feeds."
Jasper Hill has done quite well managing its microbial communities. The cheese is sold coast to coast, Kehler said, and the company has also won national and international awards. Jasper Hill's Bayley Hazen Blue took best raw-milk cheese at the 2014 World Cheese Awards.
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