The Farm

Thistle Hill Farm is a certified organic dairy farm located in North Pomfret, Vermont, owned and operated by John and Janine Putnam and their children for over 3 decades. Today the family produces Tarentaise cheese during the grazing months and ships their milk to Horizon Organic when not in production. The farm has been able to fulfill nearly 100% of its energy demand with solar power since 2015.

Thistle Hill has a closed herd of certified organic Jersey cows, they are fed only certified organic grain, as well as hay that is cut, bailed, and stacked by the Putnam’s. The Jerseys of Thistle Hill are given outdoor access 365 days a year. From late spring through early fall the cows are rotated throughout a series of paddocks that make up the hillside. This rotational grazing system allows the cows to continually have access to fresh grass and permits the Putnam’s to more easily manage the health and wellness of their pasture. When not outside each Jersey has her own comfortable tie stall where they come in to get milked twice per day. In the winter they spend much of their time in the barn and out of cold laying on fresh sawdust beds that are cleaned continuously throughout the day.

Cows were meant to graze, and Thistle Hill’s Jerseys access to the outdoors and natural feeding environment makes them happy and healthy. The girls grass based diet is important not just to their health but also to ours. The warm butter-scotch color of Tarentaise is a testament to the high beta-carotene, vitamin E, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and omega-3 fatty acids found in the milk.

The Cheese

Thistle Hill Farm Tarentaise is an aged farmstead cheese made from the certified organic raw milk of grass fed Jersey cows. Tarentaise is unique to Pomfret, Vermont. The soil, geographic climate, and flora combine to give Tarentaise it’s smooth, subtle nut flavor, and complex finish. The cheese is handmade in the tradition of the Tarentaise Valley in the Savoie region of France. These cheeses are some of the finest in the world. The process of using a traditional rennet made from the whey of the previous cheese makes adds a complexity which cannot otherwise be created. The copper vat, essential to developing the proper flavor of an Alpine cheese, was the first in Vermont and one of only a few in the United States. This vat was custom built for Thistle Hill in Switzerland. Unlike commercial cheese operations which use pumps that can harm the curds, Thistle Hill carefully removes the curds from the vat in large cheese cloths and hand-carries them to the fore press. The presses are imported from France, as are the cultures used to mature the fresh raw organic milk. The cheese goes through a series of molds and turnings, giving each wheel of Tarentaise its distinctive concave shape. It is then transferred to the aging room. The atmosphere of the aging room, constructed primarily of stone, is developed from French cultures, and is kept at the temperature of a natural alpine cave. Each cheese is scrubbed twice a week with a burlap cloth using a traditional culture and brine solution also known as Morge. The textured rind, butterscotch color and concave sides are all characteristics of the superb French Alpine cheese which inspired Tarentaise. From beginning to end, no preservatives, synthetic flavors or additives are added to cheese. Every aspect is done by the Putnam family on the farm. “One place, one cheese” is a phrase we have heard time and time again and it encapsulates the concept of “terroir”. If we brought milk, or feed in from elsewhere the flavor of Tarentaise would express those regions not ours. This practice, while necessary on a small farm, is also needed to understand how the elements of a farmstead cheese are so closely intertwined.

What’s Farmstead?

Thistle Hill Farm Tarentaise is a true “farmstead” cheese. The American Cheese Society defines “farmstead” as limited to cheeses produced with:

• Milk from herds on the farm where the cheese is produced

• Care and attention to the purity, quality, and flavor of the milk

• Production primarily by hand

• Natural ripening with emphasis on development of characteristic flavor and texture without the use of shortcuts and techniques to increase shelf life at the expense of quality

• Respect for the traditions and history of cheesemaking regardless of the size of production