Tuesday, June 12, 2012

NYC: Beecher’s cheesemakers.



NYC: Beecher’s.  Originally from Seattle’s Pike Place Market cheesemaker Beecher’s Kurt Beecher Dammeler has just opened a cheesemaking kitchen, store, café and restaurant in the Flatiron District on 20th  Street and Broadway in New York City

 

Beecher’s - the store and café.  You can grab a sandwich in the cafe  and sit on milk churns and watch the cheesemakers at work or wander downstairs into The Cellar where you can enjoy a glass of wine in the glow of the cheese cave where row upon row of Beecher's Flatiron cheese made and available only in New York, ripens to perfection.


A corner of Beecher's Cafe.


Beecher’s – the store. The artisan cheeses they sell, and the meats, vegetables and other foods used to make Beecher's café and restaurant items, are chosen with care and with a desire to support broadly local, small-scale enterprises that share their philosophy and commitment to pure food.


 
Beecher’s – open vat cheese making.  You can watch the Flagship cheese being made, in the open vats, not only from inside the Beecher’s store but also from the long window on 20th Street. The Beecher's credo reads; "Food produced by Beecher's Handmade Cheese is free of all artificial preservatives, coloring and flavor enhancers. It's just pure, all-natural, full-flavored food, handcrafted in traditional ways with the freshest ingredients available."
Above: Flagship cheese is a semi-hard cow’s milk cheese with a uniquely robust, nutty flavor. It is carefully aged for 18 months under the watchful eye of the cheesemaker to fully develop its complex flavor and ever-so-slight crumble.