Let’s be honest, not everything gets better with age. But fortunately for Islanders, Mermaid Farm’s feta cheese does. The flavor gets richer, the texture softer, and if it’s covered in brine, the feta can last up to a year.
Farm owner Allen Healy and cheese maker Jackee Foster are showing people the way real feta is supposed to taste.
“We’re trying to change people’s perception of what feta traditionally is,” Ms. Foster said, taking a break from pouring brine into the pints containing perfect prism shapes.
“I’ve made it with lower salt. People always expect this tough or brick-like, crumbly, very salty cheese, but when you get it traditionally in Greece it’s not salty. And when it is salty, you’re supposed to rinse it off.
“We’re trying to highlight the actual flavor of the milk, which is so delicious without just hiding it with salt,” she added.
As of this summer, Mr. Healy holds a pasteurization permit allowing him to sell his yogurt and now feta cheese in grocery stores across the Island, including Morning Glory Farm, Cronig’s Market and the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market. After milking his eight cows, Mr. Healy pasteurizes the milk, when it either becomes yogurt or is passed off to Ms. Foster for cheese making.
“It’s all about controlling moisture and acidity, that’s what cheese making is about,” Ms. Foster said. “You’re trying to get the right level to attain the specific type of cheese you’re making. That will affect the flavor, the texture and how the milk is fermented.”
Ms. Foster first acidifies the milk by bringing down the pH level (which adds flavor) in the pastuerization process. Next is the coagulation, when the milk becomes solid. When the solid separates from the liquid it creates liquid whey and solid curd; the mass needs to be cut in order to allow moisture out. Ms. Foster then pours the milk into perforated hoop-molds to shape the cheese.
“The tough part is making it exactly the same every time,” Ms. Foster said of her six batches thus far. “I’ve nailed down the recipe. There are no recipes for cheese out there because once people have them they’re under lock and key. It’s highly scientific.”
One of the biggest challenges with taste is the constant changing of the flavor of milk. Because the cows eat differently throughout the season, Ms. Foster said the taste of the cheese is constantly changing as well.
Mr. Healy and Ms. Foster came up with feta because of Ms. Foster’s Greek heritage and decided it would be a good yield from the milk available. Ms. Foster has been making cheese on the Vineyard for the past two years; after having her fill in the culinary world for many years, she searched for a way to concentrate her passion for food.
“I have a huge love of food and I wanted to get closer to that production in something very focused, and cheese making was it,” Ms. Foster said. “This is great because I get to learn about farming as well, which has been a huge interest of mine.”
But feta is only the first step for Mr. Healy and Ms. Foster, who also makes cheese for Jan Buhrman’s Kitchen Porch. Mr. Healy is planning on building a cave on his property off Middle Road in Chilmark so they will be able to make aged cheese. When asked what kinds of cheese they planned on making, they were not ready to divulge any hints.
“It’s kind of the wrong time of year, but it’s doing well considering it’s just local people around,” Mr. Healy said of the success of the cheese and yogurt so far during the off-season. “Everybody seems to like it. I think they’re having a hard time with the price. But as a society, we’re going to have to learn to pay more for good food. We’re working on making this even better.”
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