savor
Trompeo, a cheesemaker from Northern Italy, traveled to Alessandra’s
birthplace to study different styles of cheese, spending months experi-menting
Samantha now produces cheese modeled on Northern Italian
types, like Robiola and Taleggio, using a unique selection of cultures.
Their handcrafted cheeses are catching the attention of patrons
beyond the boundaries of the Tar Heel State, finding their way to
New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
Boxcarr now produces nine different varieties of cheese, some of
which are seasonal. Their top-selling varieties include Cottonseed, a
Scimudin-inspired, mixed cow and goat’s milk with a pale pink rind
and a full-bodied creamy center; Rocket’s Robiola, named after one of
their goats, a silky cow’s milk cheese with an ash-dusted rind and hints
of almond and mushroom; and Lissome, washed in Piedmontese birra
from Clan!Destino, a rich, melt-in-your-mouth cheese. Almost all of
their cheeses have gone on to win awards from the North Carolina
State Fair, the American Cheese Society, and the Good Food Awards.
like artisan, locavore and
craft become monikers
for quality, we can’t resist
applauding anyone wanting
to make fresher, healthier,
better-tasting food, taking
entrepreneurial risks and
seeking meaning in one’s
work. Our cheesemakers
are a wonderful microcosm
of this trend.
Top, left to right: St
Pat, a seasonal cheese
with a smoky, artichoke
flavor. Blue Stilton, a
semi-soft English cheese.
Camembert, a creamy
French cheese. Parmesan,
a flaky Italian cheese.
107
Samantha headed to North Carolina, where she spent a decade
learning the art of cheesemaking at Goat Lady Dairy and later
Chapel Hill Creamery.
Longing for country life, Austin and his wife, Dani, bought a
small farm to raise chickens and plant vegetables. Samantha lived
across the road and raised goats.
“We started a food truck and catering company using our own
produce and meat, and we did it while holding down ‘real’ jobs to
realize our ultimate goal: making and selling handcrafted artisan
cheese,” Austin Genke says. “In April 2014 we broke ground on a
2,900-square-foot cheesemaking facility and started making cheese in
early 2015.”
They arranged to source milk from other small farms: Jersey and
Holstein cows’ milk from a neighbor, and Alpine, Nubian, and
Sannen goats’ milk from a friend’s farm. Inspired by their family
roots in Piedmont and Sicily, they set out to make Italian-inspired
farmstead cheeses. Samantha and longtime friend Alessandra
and taste testing.
As we evolve as con-sumers
and buzzwords
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