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Business & Tech

Nyackers: Don't Be Afraid of Sheep Cheese

Valley Shepherd Creamery at Nyack's farmers' market offers some delectable dairy.

Stop by one booth at Nyack's farmers' market and you'll likely leave with recommendations for another. Last week, my new friend at Warwick Winery suggested I try Valley Shepherd Creamery.

When I got there, the attendant Amy was packaging some cheeses for a customer—so I fiddled with the brochures on the table while she finished up.

I must admit, all the pictures of sheep on those papers made me a bit nervous. I am an avid cheese lover—when it's from cows. I decided not to ask what the cheese was made of when I took my first two tastes.

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First, I tried aged English cheddar, called Valley Thunder. It had a delicious crumbly texture from being aged between eight and 14 months in a cave. The second I tried was Huntesdon—a cheddar parmesan gruyere—which was also very flavorful. I summoned up my courage and asked if they were made with sheeps' milk.

They were! (Well, partially at least.)

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Amy explained they were a mix of sheep and cow milk. After I admitted my fear, Amy coaxed me into trying a cheese made entirely out of sheep milk—and to my surprise, it wasn't bad. There were no weird "sheepy" flavors (whatever that might mean). And another sheep cheese fact: it can be made in as little as three months, whereas cows' milk can take, in many cases, over a year.

Besides the amazing spread of all textures of cheeses and yogurts, Amy was also taking orders for grass-raised lamb meat raised on the Creamery's farm.

(They don't keep the meat at the market, but if someone requests it, the Creamery brings it next week. Also, it can be ordered for pickup at their shop.)

Valley Shepard Creamery is located in Long Valley, New Jersey, about an hour away. It was started not too long ago by Eran and Debra Wajswol, when the couple took a strong interest in the cheeses of Europe. And after the purchase of a farm and sheep in 2005, they got to work.

On their 120 acre farm, visitors can see all different phases of the cheese making process. There is a petting zoo, shops, observatory areas, party rooms and more. Eran Wajswol is often at the entrance of the shop, giving out tastes of sheep gelato to customers.

Being the only commercial sheep dairy in New Jersey, Valley Shepard Creamery has grown in popularity—enough to win the Edible Communities' New Jersey Food Artisan Award in 2009. The Creamery can barely keep up with the demand from fine supermarkets and restaurants in Manhattan, Chicago and San Francisco, and they appear at close to 20 different farmers' markets.

According to Amy, Valley Shepard Creamery has been coming to the Nyack farmers' market for about five years. Business in Nyack has always been fairly good, she added—they have regulars who will be there first thing in the morning before work.

But trouble may be brewing: this season, a new cheese booth has been introduced to the Nyack Farmer's Market. Ever since, the Creamery has lost their monopoly on the cheese world. Next week I will have to scout out this new enemy!

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