I discovered Bobolink cheese when I was working at Lincoln Center, and would visit their stand at the weekly Greenmarket across the street on Thursdays. So when they moved their farm to Milford, which is only a hour away from us, I vowed to go for a visit.
Well, it took us a while, but we finally made it out to the Bobolink Dairy on a spring Sunday afternoon. We first stopped for lunch at the nearby Frenchtown Cafe, where I got a nice spinach, bacon, tomato and cream cheese sandwich, and Redneckhunter got a massive omelette.
Then off to see cows! The tour was leisurely - probably could have gone faster than the hour it took, but it was informative, and it was a lovely day. First stop was to see their wood-fired oven, which gets up to 900 degrees Fahrenheit. They burn wood all night, then stop the fire in the morning, so the temperature regulates to around 500-600 degrees and bake the bread.
We learned how the different grasses on their land in different seasons lead to different flavors imparted to the cheese. And how the males who didn't make the cut to become future breeders became nice suckled veal. And we got to get right up close to the cows!
The pigs were there for "waste disposal" as the owners put it -- happily eating whey and other by-products of cheese-making. Seemed like a pretty nice life sleeping all day in a pile -- that us until they become tasty bacon.The conclusion of the tour was a tasting of pate, cheese, and bread. The pate was nice and chunky - big hunks of liver, mushrooms mixed in, nice flavor. Needless to say, we went home with a tub, along with a hunk of cheese.
Bobolink Dairy and Farmhouse369 Stamets Rd Milford, New Jersey 08848
(908) 864-7277
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