GOSHEN, New York—Dairy farms have been declining in Orange County, but Goshen’s 5 Spoke Creamery is staging a comeback. Owner and CEO Alan Glustoff is re-purposing a former working dairy farm into an operation that makes artisan cheeses for restaurants and stores in New York City.
He’s doing it in a way that protects the environment and provides a sustainable lifestyle for his family. Glustoff admits right now it’s a work of love and not a road to riches. He raises 35 cows on a 75-acre spread, small by any standard. Economies of scale work against him, and he faces burdensome regulations at every level.
A Better Cheese
Consumer tastes are trending toward fresh, locally-grown food products. Yet, most food for American tables comes from large farm corporations that ship their products over long distances.
Orange County farmers have an opportunity to serve locally-produced food to their big city neighbors and beyond. Glustoff’s creamery in Orange County is less than 100 miles from the Big Apple and is positioned to provide some home-grown specialty cheese to city dwellers.
“Some large coastal cities, like New York City, have limited local food capacity—farmland within 50 miles can only support about 10 percent of its population. But if the limits were expanded to 100 miles, New York’s surrounding farmland capacity grows to about 30 percent,” the Epoch Times previously reported.
5 Spoke wants to set itself above the crowd. “We make raw milk cheese, which is healthier,” Glustoff said. His latest, a Porter cheese, has a semisoft texture, somewhat nutty, with an earthy undertone.
Glustoff said 5 Spoke’s cheeses have the flavor of the raw milk his farm produces and drew a sharp contrast with the taste—or lack of taste—of the cheeses produced by large, corporate farms.
Head cheesemaker Evan Veltahouse has big hopes for the cheeses he makes. “I’m responsible for producing a high-quality, safe product that someday people all over the world can enjoy.”
There are for almost any cheese: milk, salt, bacteria, and enzymes. The different cheeses come from varying the temperature, and the amount of time it cures.
