Valley Shepherd Creamery

The Valley Shepherd Creamery in Long Valley New Jersey is owned and operated by Eran Wajswol. But the cheese here is a bit different from what you might be used to. The cheese here is made from sheep's milk. Eran says, "Sheep's milk has been used for generations in other countries. But we don't see it here much in the U.S. You may see it; you may not know you've been having it. For example, in Italian the word for sheep's milk is pecorino- so all the pecorino, pecorino you've had all your life is sheep's milk. Roquefort, 100% sheep's milk. We have 120 acres - we're sized up to handle up to 600 dairy sheep. We don't have that many yet - because we're busy making our own. Sheep milk is very special. The feel is different, the taste is different, the texture is different, everything is different. When you make cheese from cow milk, you get a different product than you do from sheep milk."

And how did he come to be a cheese maker? Eran says he did many things in his life before this, but found he wanted to make something really really good, "We're making a blue cheese today, in this vat, and right now we're steering the curd, which has been formed already. And when the curd gets to the right consistency, we are going to ladle it into these molds."

Nearby, you'll see something that may look like a greenhouse but it's where flock manager Amy Ridinger starts each day where the newest bunch of lambs is growing, "I help with the birthing process, if they're having birthing difficulties, help them with that. I make sure they're getting the proper feed that they need, they're getting milk properly, I supervise the milking at night."

The "adults" live in these sprawling beautiful pastures. But the serene setting turns to controlled chaos at milking time. Hundreds of sheep running and sometimes flying bound for the feeding and milking carousel. Eran says, "We hold groups of about 100 at a time. And then when we're done with the 100, we feed another 100 in. Every four seconds a sheep walks onto the rotating carousel and while eating a special snack of grain and molasses, gets milked twice a day. Not only are they getting milk, but at the same time the transponders on the ears are talking to the computers upstairs and the little meters underneath are reading their milk and their conditions."

Then it's out of the safety brace and off the line with 100 more sheep waiting their turn! Head for the cold mountain cave which holds blocks of cheese and you will find more than 20 varieties of sheep's milk cheese. Brick after brick, wheel after wheel, aged anywhere from 2 weeks to 18 months. After being on the shelf you'll notice some of the cheese starting for form white and green mold. Once you see that mold form, someone will come up to the cave and rub the cheese. To keep the process going by rubbing off the bad mold and keep the cheese curing going.

"So crème, crème de blue. Like a creamy gorgonzola almost. It's a nice bite to it. It's a little stronger, it bites back a more then the last batch did. It does a little bit. It's still very creamy like the last batch though which is nice." Christine Ayers drives 40 miles to find that perfect ingredient. She says, "Everyone will be very excited. They've been asking, when are you getting that blue cheese back?"

Eran's daughter is dishing up the delights. She points to one of their new products, "This was an alpine style experiment. And it came out with a little bit more body and a little more flavor and it's closer now to a gruyere. Wonderful, one of my favorite cheeses."

And where will the future of the creamery wind up? Eran says, "Probably a small co-op, a partnership and several young people that have the energy to keep doing what I'm doing, because you need three of them to do what I do. Is the way to go on, if my kids don't want it. Time will tell.