Cheesemaker Profile: Firefly Farms
Nestled on the rocky hills of
Western Maryland's Allegheny Plateau, just a few hours west of our
Nation's Capitol, in "Maryland's little Switzerland," Mike Koch and
Pablo Solanet have joined forces to create unique regional goat
cheese under the name of Firefly Farms.
It all began when Koch, who
minored in chemistry in college, and who "loves to eat goat cheese"
began experimenting making some in his kitchen, a process which took
two years. "We made a lot of bad cheese at first," he says. Solanet,
originally from Argentina, was intrigued. Cheesemaking fit into his
culinary background and the idea of farm life was attractive, he
says, because "I used to visit a family farm in the summer outside
Buenos Aires. The animals and rural life always appealed to me."
On a whim they sent two of
their first cheeses to the American Cheese Society Competition and
won medals for both. They quickly realized that they "might be on to
something." This was the moment when they began to get serious.
After considering various
options they decided that what they "can bring to the world is an
unknown cheese." That's exactly what Firefly Farms has done.
As one of only three creameries in Maryland, and making two of only
a handful of all goat cheese blues, they have continued to develop
new cheeses.
Mountain Top Bleu, pyramid
shaped with deep blue veining, with a cover of blue and white mold
is aged 5-6 weeks. Their Merry Goat Round resembles a brie in shape,
but has a firmer texture and tart piquant flavor. They also make
several chevres, both flavored and unflavored, as well as three new
aged cheeses created when they had more milk than they could handle
last year.
Cheese is now made by Matt
Cedro and Dan Porter who joined Firefly in the goat cheese venture a
few years ago. Firefly's milk comes from local Amish dairies just
north of Bittinger.
Community collaboration, the lush
grasses on the Alleghany hills and passionate determination by the
cheesemakers work together to make unique cheeses at Firefly Farm.
Visit their website |
