Page 34 - Ei 2018-2019 Catalog

Handmade in Vermont
The Grafton Cooperative Cheese Company was founded in 1892 by dairy farmers who gathered together in a cooperative to make their surplus raw milk into cheese. In the days before refrigeration, there were many such cooperatives in the rural agricultural communities and an abundance of fresh, creamy milk was turned into a food that could be stored for a longer period of time.
In 1912, a fire destroyed the original factory. Several decades later, the nonprofit Windham Foundation restored
the company in the mid 1960s, and a new era for the town was born. Today, quality and taste are the hallmarks of our company’s award-winning cheeses. Our traditions have stayed over the years: we make our cheese by hand using premium raw milk from small, local family farms.
We produce small-batch cheese made by hand using traditional methods and unpasteurized milk for our characteristic flavor profile. An individualized grading process delivers cheese at its optimum age. We
choose high butterfat, high protein milk from small local farms, which produces a creamy cheddar texture throughout the aging process.
Our products include aged cheddars matured as long as four years; distinctive flavored cheddars; and specialty cave-aged cheeses with cow, sheep and mixed milks.
Grafton Village Cheese is a Windham Foundation-owned enterprise, supporting Vermont’s rural communities through grants, programs, and social enterprises like these:
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Kindle Farm School, serving students with learning needs,
renovated and expanded its kitchen, helping them prepare nutritious foods for its students, and enabling the school to offer culinary classes to its students.
The Vermont Hut Association is developing a network of backcountry
huts in Vermont’s Green Mountains. The association’s first hut is scheduled for use by hikers in the summer of 2018.
Food Connects strengthens farm-to-school programs across
Southern Vermont. The groups purchase local produce for cafeterias and promote school and community gardening as a learning tool.
CHEESE • CHEESE