The Date and Time: Sunday November 10, 2019 10AM to 4PM
The Event: Monforte Cheese CSA Carrot & Stick Party
The Venue: Gladstone Hotel
The Target Audience: cheese lovers, especially Monforte CSA backers with vouchers, and those curious about a CSA and what it does.
The Availability/Catalogue: The carrot was the party, the stick was the enticing CSA offer (for details see www.monfortedairy.com). There was a current outage of sheep's milk cheese, but plenty of goat/cow/water buffalo milk cheeses. Sheep will be back by Christmas.
The Quote/Background: The event was in honour of Ruth Klahsen and her family who have been hard at work creating a new CSA for farms, restaurants and cheese artisans, among others. There was a CSA sign up table and spaces for those with cheese vouchers to purchase newly developed cheeses. Community Supported Agriculture is a vital concern these days, with support for the farms by pre-paying for food. Once the farm knows what money is available, then it can go ahead and buy seed and equipment and staff. I'm a member of Monforte, Fiddlehead Farm, and Kendal Hills Farm. These are unusual in that Monforte is cheese (but with some local sausages too), Fiddlehead has a Winter CSA for many root and cruciferous veggies, Kendal has farmed game such as partridge, cornish hens, and boar. Monforte's CURRENT fresh cheeses include Fromage Frais (a creamy cow cream cheese in a french style), Plain Jane (chevre, creamy and tangy, hooped and hung in a traditional way, Lemon Succor (chevre but with lemon oil and zest), Elsie (chevre with a tangy nut- free pesto), Morita (chevre with chipotles and lime together), Water Buffalo or Goat Fresco, and Halloumi from Water buffalo. Water buffalo is also available as yogurt, as is goat yogurt. There are different styles of soft cheeses (goat feta, cow's milk taleggio, goat Camembert-style, cow Camembert-style, water buffalo with pink peppercorns, water buffalo piacere, different ashed cheeses), cheddars, tommes, blues – an endless parade! Sheep will be added back where appropriate for Christmas.
The Wines: There was a cash bar, I had a Quail's Gate Chardonnay.
The Food: this was the highlight of the event since the intent was to create a demand for CSA membership and show off what Monforte can do with its cheeses. The Gladstone's chef prepared lemon ravioli with Monforte Lemon Succor (a creamy cheese with goat's milk) and also a focaccia with Monforte fresh mozzarella. Maizel Tortilleria was there, showing off their freshly made tamales of beans and Monforte cheese curds, with their famous chocolate mole sauce. Chef Taylor (The Chase) and Luke Kennedy gave us pulled pork with goat cheese on a freshly cooked wheat pita, along with Moroccan spices. Ruth was serving large samples of cheeses on ryebread, and running a constant patter about CSA developments and the cheese industry.
The Contact Person: ruth@monfortedairy.com
The Event's Marketing Effectiveness and Execution (numerical grade): 92.
Chimo! www.deantudor.com
No comments:
Post a Comment