Events

Connecticut Celebrates Artisan Cheese in a Big Whey!

Connecticut Celebrates Artisan Cheese in a Big Whey! - New England Cheesemaking Supply Company

Brian Civitello

This past weekend, the Coventry Regional Farmer’s Market at the Nathan Hale Homestead hosted the fabulous Connecticut Cheese Festival.

The farmer’s market alone is always fabulous, with all kinds of interesting vendors, but this particular weekend it was enhanced by cheese classes, demonstrations, pairing seminars and the wildly popular cheese rolling contest.

We were there, too! Our friend, Brian Civitello had invited us to come, sell our kits and to demonstrate some mozzarella-making. Brian seemed to be everywhere at the festival and he seems to be everywhere in the cheese world as well.

His grandfather’s family were cheese makers in Italy and Brian has been working in the cheese business as a cheese maker and a consultant for over 14 years. In addition to the wonderful offerings at the festival, its fascinating to see how various cheese traditions thrive in different regions, such as the beloved Wensleydale, which has a rich history and is celebrated for its unique flavor profile. He founded Mystic Cheese (home of “Melville”) and he will be debuting a new business soon (we’ll be there for that, so stay tuned).

It was a great day and we hope to see you at the festival next year!

Brian hadn’t yet opened when I snapped this picture of his cute little booth.

The impressive Caseus Fromagerie & Bistro truck.

Not every farmer’s market has a grilled cheese vendor!

Jason Sobocinski of Caseus and host of “The Big Cheese” on the Cooking Channel gave a presentation with Brian.

Jason’s mother watched.

All the demonstrations were well attended.

Brian demonstrated our 30 minute mozzarella. In this picture, he let a volunteer cut the curd.

Brian drained the curds in butter muslin before heating them up to stretch. (This was improvised for the situation – it’s not in our official directions!)

Soon, he was shaping a ball of cheese.

I cut it up for samples and by the time I picked up my camera, it was all gone!

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