Dairy Queens - Indiana women are blazing trails in the artisan cheese industry
We’ve all been told that milk does a body good, but for hard-core dairy aficionados great cheese is really what makes life worth living. There’s a fine art to producing flavorful artisan products with nuance and skill, and learning the intricate process and all it entails can take years, much like training to become a sommelier.
Here in Indiana, women are taking on leadership roles to shape the future of the artisan cheese industry. Let’s get acquainted with several of the most influential.
JUDY SCHAD
Cheesemaker, owner and founder, Capriole Farm
CaprioleGoatcheese.com
A pioneer in the artisan cheese movement, Schad was a teacher and an editor before she took up farming on a Southern Indiana spread in 1977, later launching Capriole Goat Cheeses in 1988. Her career since has included speaking and judging engagements at international conferences, positions on the boards of the American Cheese Society and the American Dairy Goat Association and a number of industry honors and awards.
Q: What’s the first cheese that really made an impression on you?
A: It was a fresh goat cheese from Westfield Farm in Hubbardston, Mass. I went there in 1988 to observe small-production commercial cheesemaking.
Q: What originally inspired you to get into cheesemaking?
A: Great food has always been the catalyst for me—the perfect piecrust or the perfect biscuit. I had goats and I had too much milk so I figured, “Why not try cheesemaking in my kitchen?”
Q: How has Capriole evolved since it opened?
A: We sold our goats six years ago and now buy our milk back. For years, we were dependent on our own supply. Our cheeses are very specialized and fragile, so the small, specialty market is still a good fit for us.
Q: What are the proudest moments of your cheese career so far?
A: Seeing international interns who are now making cheeses in their home countries. An American Cheese Society Best-of-Show award for our Wabash Cannonball. The incredible friendships I’ve made. And most of all, to look back and know I was there in the beginning when artisan cheeses were just getting off the ground.
LAURA DAVENPORT
Co-owner, Tulip Tree Creamery
TulipTreeCreamery.com
Davenport studied public health and biology at Ball State University, but after spending 10 years in the healthcare industry, she was ready for a new work environment more in line with her passions for sustainability and natural foods. After working with several organic dairy farms and creameries, she teamed up with cheesemaker Fons Smits to launch Tulip Tree in 2014.
Q: How has Tulip Tree grown since it started?
A: When we first opened, Fons was making the cheese; his wife, Eileen; my mom; and I were wrapping it. Our small team was participating in as many local farmers markets as we could and selling directly to a few local specialty shops like Goose the Market. We’ve since narrowed down to about four farmers markets a week, and we now work with nearly a dozen distributors who sell our products to specialty retailers locally and across the U.S.
Q: How would you characterize our local cheese community?
A: It’s growing and supportive. Not only have our sales at farmers markets increased over the past four years, other artisan creameries have popped up and are now operating in Indiana.
Q: What’s been your biggest cheese achievement so far?
A: Passing the Certified Cheese Professional Exam. I studied in 2016 for about six months and determined I wasn’t ready yet. I studied again in 2017 and passed on the first try. There are only five of us in Indiana who’ve earned the certificate.
LESLIE JACOBS
Co-owner, Jacobs & Brichford
JandBCheese.com
A licensed clinical social worker by trade, Jacobs was a self-professed city girl before moving to her husband’s family farm when they got married in 1981. Never one to shy away from a challenge, she embraced her new country lifestyle, pitching in with the farm work and helping get the Jacobs & Brichford cheesemaking operation off the ground in 2012.
Q: What’s the first cheese you really remember tasting?
A: I discovered so many delicious cheeses during a farm tour in France, but the Beaufort and Pont L’Eveque blew me away.
Q: How has the farm grown since you moved there?
A: We were a grass-fed dairy for about 20 years, and I was active in the intensive grass management, helping with fencing, moving cows and milking. We began farming in 1981, dairying began in the ’90s and we started making cheese in 2012.
Q: What’s been the proudest moment of your cheese career so far?
A: We’ve won national and international awards; that recognition has been tremendous, and we were featured in the New York Times food section. Also, to be part of a family farm that’s been operating for close to 200 years is meaningful to me in terms of being able to provide a sustainable legacy that brings health and vigor to the land and animals. I take great pride in responsible stewardship.
