The Amazing Nettle Meadow Artisan Cheese!

Where you find a cheesemaker who deeply cares about the quality of their product, you’ll find they care just as much about the wellbeing of the animals from which they source their milk. This could not be more true of Lorraine Lambiase and Sheila Flanagan, the owners of Nettle Meadow Farm. Located in Thurman, New York, Nettle Meadow is not only producing award winning cheeses, but it is a sanctuary to over 130 farm animals, which includes older sheep and goats from their production herd. 

Nettle Meadow Farm produces a variety of fresh and young small format cheeses from their herds of goats and sheep as well as cow’s milk from neighboring Hudson Valley farms. Quality is of the utmost importance and they adhere to sustainable and nutritional practices that benefit the animals, which ultimately benefits the cheese. Fresh milk goes directly to cheesemaking and cheeses are aged in a cellar that originally held butter from the existing farm. Each cheese is made in small batches, which allows for attention to detail and consistency. Many of Nettle Meadow’s cheeses are inspired by the land around the farm and you can see that in the myriad of herbs and local plants used to infuse nuanced flavor into these delicate cheeses. We love Nettle Meadow because of what they stand for as farmers and cheesemakers and because there’s never a bad time to enjoy one of their cheeses - they always deliver amazing flavor! Below are a few of our favorites from them--we hope you’ll enjoy them too!

Kunik is Nettle Meadow’s award winning cornerstone triple cream cheese made from goat’s milk and cow’s cream. This bloomy rinded little round has a lush creamline and cakey paste. It tastes of sweet cream, butter, lemon, and has just the right amount of saltiness. Kunik is the type of cheese that you can enjoy for breakfast, as a snack, or make it the centerpiece of your cheese plate. Pair it with something bubbly to drink, and fresh fruit or jam.

Thunder Nest is a bloomy rind cube made from milk from non-GMO Jersey cows raised on pasture. This buttery gem is infused with caraway and sumac which lends it a subtle nutty and lemony flavor. The paste is dense and smooth--it's like biting into a buttered piece of pumpernickel toast. 

Briar Summit is a beautiful pyramid shaped cheese made of goat, sheep, and cow milk, plus cow cream and is infused with raspberry leaf tea. This unique cheese is smooth and buttery, slightly tangy, with subtle earthiness from the raspberry leaf. We recommend pairing this with a glass of champagne, raspberries, and chocolate.