Catching Up To The Artisan Movement In Coastesville, PA

Cheese is going the way of the craft beer movement: People are learning how to make it in small batches while taking advantage of local ingredients and characteristics of the land. As with regional brews, demand for Pennsylvania-made cheese is on the rise.

Matt Hettlinger can attest to this. He is a cheesemaker, working for the past two years at The Farm at Doe Run in Coatesville, Chester County, about 40 miles west of Philadelphia. On a table dressed in burlap, several cheeses on plates accompany caramelized red onions, candied nuts and glasses filled with Pennsylvania beers.

The chef-turned-cheesemaker talks with his wife, Yvonne, and visitors as they sample cheeses made on the lower level of this converted barn, where three stone caves have been outfitted as aging rooms. In the tasting area, giant windows look out on a stunning backdrop of rolling hills, stone farmhouses and wide-mouthed barns. Cows, goats and sheep graze in the distance. Adjacent to the space is a windowed, white-tiled milking room. Twice a day, animals are herded inside to a lowered platform surrounded by top-of-the-line equipment from Holland.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette