THE STORY
The history of the Lake Champlain and St. Lawrence River valleys is the history of the French farmers who settled the region. Nearly 400 years ago, the Bouchers received several allotments (seigniories) in New France, which eventually became Quebec, Canada. Wealth, respect, and additional land were the reward for supporting the community, but the risk was very high. During the French and Indian Wars one ancestor, Pierre Boucher, saved a besieged Fort Trois Rivieres by making peace with the Iroquois – a pivotal event in the history of the province. Boucherville was named in his honor and his statue stands on the grounds of the National Assembly Building in Quebec City. The French legacy remains in the religion, language, culture, and cuisine of the province.
For 14 generations the Boucher family has passed the farm from father to son. Rene moved the farm to Vermont in the 1940’s. Today, two of his grandsons, Daniel and Denis, perform the daily operations, milking 140 Holstein, French Normandy, and Guernsey dairy cows.
In the late 90’s, Daniel’s wife Dawn was exploring ideas that would create a job for her on the farm. In 1998, she began handcrafting cheese using the farm’s own milk, warm and fresh from the cows. With re-purposed equipment she made 100 pounds of blue cheese a month, gradually working up to the current output of 300 pounds a week (of washed-rind, blue, or aged tomme-style cheese). Cheeses are unpasteurized, aging a minimum of 60 days on site, with several varieties ripening over nine months before sale.
Shortly thereafter, Dan and Dawn started selling the farm’s meats, eggs and cheeses at the Burlington Farmer’s Market. Though Boucher Farm remains primarily a fluid-milk dairy, it is diversification that has enabled the farm to remain “in the family”. Today, their niece, Kayleigh, is their new cheesemaker and attends the Burlington Markets on Pine Street.
LOCATION
Green Mountain Blue Cheese
Dawn Morin-Boucher and Daniel Boucher
2183 Gore Road, Highgate Center, VT 05459
978-578-5348
boucher.kayleigh17@gmail.com
greenmountainbluecheese.weebly.com/
OUR PRODUCTS
Connor Abbey
Connor Abbey is even drier and harder than our tomme, and has a slight fruity aroma due to being washed in cider beer. Both are in limited production and are only available at farmers’ market.
For information on where to purchase, click here.
Tomme Collins
This small-production alpine-style semi-hard cheese is aged a minimum of 6 months, becoming harder and sharper as it gets older, until it is a piquant grating cheese.
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Madison
Our third Blue cheese debuted in 2010 in limited quantities. We hope to add it to our seasonal line in 2011. It is creamier in texture than our other Blues and has a lactic tang on the finish.
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Brother Laurent
A washed-rind French Muenster-style cheese named for an uncle, Holy Brother Laurent Boucher, who made frequent trips from Montreal to the farm during his lifetime. This cheese is very aromatic, dense, and tangy. It melts well and is traditionally served over boiled potatoes. Serving suggestion: A great addition to creamy meat sauces, or at the side of a wine-poached pear as dessert. We simply eat it alone with crusty bread at the side, savoring each bite. An A.C.S. award-winner.
For more information on where to purchase, click here.
Gore-Dawn-Zola
Made in the Gorgonzola style, tangy, sharp and crumbly. This cheese is cured over a three-week period attracting naturally occurring flora to form a rind. The surface is scraped down before wrapping and further aging in our cellar. It has a unique character and bitter chocolate aroma. Due to its crumbly texture, it is best cut with a wire. Serving suggestion: try as dessert or an appetizer with caramelized walnuts, sweet raisin bread, or drizzled with honey. Great over a light green salad with a sweet dressing. Has won the Cheese Reporter Trophy at the British Empire Cheese Show. […]
Boucher Blue / Vermont Blue Cheese
Smooth, very creamy, and mild, with undertones of chestnuts, sweet hay, and truffles. Based on a French Fourme d’Ambert over the years it has become a true farmhouse cheese, unique to our farm. Serving suggestion: Part of an American Cheese course with sweet fruity wine: its mild character does not conflict as other, more well known blues can. You may serve either of our blue cheeses on a spoon as an amuse-bouche with a drop of Amaretto. An American Cheese Society award-winner.