Allow your mind to wander for a moment……A husband and wife team producing farmstead cheeses on an idyllic country farm; contented dairy cattle peacefully grazing away. As cheeses ripen in the caves, breads bake to crusty perfection in a wood fired oven. Now, where do you imagine that this takes place? A ferme-auberge in the Normandy region? A Swiss Alpine mountain dairy? Or perhaps right here in the USA along the ocean-sprayed Oregon coast?
Well….how about New Jersey.
Jonathan and Nina White
Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse in the pastoral hamlet of Miilford is where founders Jonathan and Nina White are turning out one of a kind farmstead cheeses and a bounty of handcrafted products. Their simple no-nonsense philosophy regarding cheesemaking is to let the milk speak for itself. That milk being farm fresh grass-fed raw cows milk exclusively. Cheeses that express the season, or even the day. Cheesemaking, as the Whites like to say, “using methods that resemble how things were done two hundred years ago”. And during my visit on an unseasonably warm May morning, I witnessed that very process firsthand.
Draining curds at Bobolink Dairy
Old World Cheesemaking in New Jersey
The cheesemaking began with a warm vat full of that morning’s golden hued milk, which had been inoculated with the previous day’s naturally cultured whey. This is how each new cheesemaking day begins at Bobolink, as opposed to using pre-made starter cultures. Jonathan explained that “We need to taste the milk every five minutes or so, so that we can determine the exact point of desired acidification.” At that moment a small amount of rennet was added; about one sixth the quantity typically used in the industry. This technique of natural acidification and less coagulant results in a wetter, softer curd that is responsible for the signature texture of their soft ripened cheeses. Jonathan draws a distinction between his soft cheeses and “A typical Camembert style cheese, for example, that at room temperature will start to ooze toward the rind but still be firm in the middle. Our cheeses will have that soft or runny texture throughout the entire cheese.”
Cheese curds draining at Bobolink Dairy
After the silken curds had been hand-ladled into molds to make their soft ripened Amram and Baudolino cheeses, a portion of whey was drained off to make the significantly larger and firmer Drumm and Jean-Louis. Those slightly drier curds will result in cheeses with an open texture, allowing for increased flavor development during aging. Jonathan has found that “the center of a Jean-Louis will remain slightly warm for up to four days in the cave, providing the warmth for the continuing lactic fermentation.”
Cheese aging at Bobolink Dairy
For those keeping score, that’s four distinct cheeses from one curd. With only a modicum of rennet and a touch of salt added. This was achieved by timing the curd set, and the weight of the curds upon themselves as determined by the size of the molds. No cooking, pressing, washing, or brushing. Just superior grass-fed raw cows milk, combined with Jonathan’s vast empirical cheesemaking knowledge. The one exception is the blue version of Jean-Louis, which not surprisingly incorporates their own house-made traditional Roquefort-style rye bread culture, and is pierced regularly to support the growth of the blue mold. Now, if that’s not letting “the milk speak for itself”, then I don’t know what is.
Their cheeses offer a symphony of true farmhouse flavors that I have experienced all too rarely in my twenty years behind the counter. An Amram that sat under a glass cheese dome on their kitchen table (that was referred to as “a mistake” no less!), was an absolute epiphany and quite simply the best cheese of its type that I’ve ever eaten. I could not refrain from consuming the entire disk, whose crusty gray rind was also incredibly delicious and refined in both flavor and texture.
Cows Outside Means Pasture Raised 100% Grass Fed
Cows at Bobolink Dairy
Despite his considerable cheesemaking acumen, Jonathan insists that it is the impressive herd and their milk that deserve the credit, and jokingly refers to himself as simply “the closer.” The health and welfare of their herd is as important to the Whites, if not more so, as the cheeses they give forth. Bobolink’s well cared for bovine family is composed of the Celtic Kerry breed, some of whom have been cross bred with other more typical dairy breeds. Their animals are unique in that they only require one milking per day, allowing them more time on the open pastures. Cheesemaking ceases after Election Day and resumes in early spring, allowing for plenty of bonding time between mother and calf, with the newborns receiving the highly nutritious colostrum exactly as nature had intended.
“Cows Outside” is a phrase that Bobolink uses often on both their website and in promotional materials, however it is much more than simply a marketing term. In yet another break from standard dairying procedures, their cows spend all of their time except for milking outdoors on the pasture. They are routinely taken to the more insulated lowlands in the bitter cold of winter, but Jonathan is quick to point out that they do not choose to remain there for long.
Bobolink cheese and bread
Baking Breads & More
Nina White, a former New York based dancer and choreographer who studied at Alvin Ailey, also leaves her own equally indelible mark on Bobolink. In addition to handling the administrative duties, she is responsible for their wholesome country style breads and other baked goods. The rustic loaves are baked in their newly remodeled traditional wood fired hearth, using heritage grain flours supplied by a local grower. Nina’s stellar Cranberry Walnut Bread remained fresh at room temperature for over a week and was absolutely delicious when toasted and slathered with their cultured butter. An avid baker since childhood, Nina happily shares her baking expertise during Bobolink’s hands-on bread baking classes.
They also produce their own farm raised meats including salamis and sausages, whey fed pork, bacon, scrapple, pastured beef, suckled veal, as well as butter, buttermilk, and a selection of other prepared items, available for purchase in their farm store adjoining the bakery.
Looking Ahead
Bobolink Dairy cheeses
While the Whites remain energetic and passionate towards their vocation, they also realize that there will come a day when that torch will need to be passed. They hope to find like-minded individuals that share in their sustainable farming philosophy, and who will carry on in their footsteps. Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse is so much more than just a dairy or agro-business; it serves as a template for responsible land stewardship and regenerative farming. Jonathan and Nina White, by employing practices and principles reminiscent of farming some two hundred years ago, may well have created the farm of our collective future.
Find Bobolink Products or Visit the Farm
Bobolink Dairy and Bakehouse, 369 Stamets Road, Milford NJ 08848. (908) 864-7277. Their cheeses and foods are available for sale online and in person at the farm, and at selected area farm markets The farm also hosts tours as well as cheesemaking and bread baking classes..