Cave to Co-op, April 2025

This Month’s Selection:

MOSES SLEEPER from JASPER HILL FARM • Greensboro, VT

A classic Brie-inspired soft cheese with a nutty, mushroomy flavor and a creamy, milky center.
 

Andy and Mateo Kehler are the cheesemakers at Jasper Hill Farm. The Kehlers began farming and making cheese with a goal of creating a model to be replicated by other farmers in Vermont who wished to diversify their quickly disappearing farms into more workable options. They wanted to demonstrate that it is still possible to prosper on a rocky hillside farm, creating a vehicle for the renewal of the local dairy economy in the form of a business model that can be replicated by other dairy farms.

Jasper Hill works with Cabot Co-op graders to hand select vats of young cheese that are suited to graceful cave-ripening. They have a 22,000 square foot, 7-vaulted underground cave where they age their award-winning cheese.

Moses Sleeper is a Jasper Hill Creamery original, inspired by classic, French Brie and is a 2019 World Cheese Awards Gold Medal Winner. This cheese’s historic namesake, Moses Sleeper, and his compatriot, Constant Bliss, were Revolutionary War scouts killed while defending a blockhouse along the Northeast Kingdom’s legendary Bayley Hazen Military Road.

Moses is an approachable and nuanced soft-ripened cheese made with pasteurized cow milk. Beneath its thin, bloomy rind lies a gooey, milky core showing a complex array of flavors at peak ripeness: cauliflower, crème fraîche, and toasted nuts. A bright, clean finish with a hint of white mushroom aroma follows the rich flavors of the paste.

Putting together a cheese platter? Moses is perfect for a festive cheese board or for baking en croute as an elegant dessert. At room temperature, this cheese is pliable and decadent without being runny. Include this wonderful brie-style cheese and check out “Creating the Perfect Cheese Plate” for tips on pairing and combining!