Culture Magazine

T R AV E L 202 2 culturecheesemag.com 49 butteriest triple creams that has ever graced my taste buds. Apparently, I'm not the only one to notice the deliciousness of bestselling St. Stephen. "We're completely at capacity right now," explains Shaleena Bridgham, one of three managing partners at the creamery. "We need more racks, molds, and bigger vats to keep up with demand." The creamery, in the former Stephentown Elementary school, is beguiling. But behind the tie-dye t-shirts tacked to the wall and vats in renovated computer and music rooms, lies an operation with over 50 years of combined artisanal cheesemaking experience. The trio is rounded out by husband Willy Bridgham (head cheesemaker), along with his sister Josie Madison (operations manager). Both of the Bridghams worked for many years at the Old Chatham Sheep Co. before launching their own operation. "We tested batches in my grandmother's kitchen," Willy Bridgham says, grinning. "We tried 16 molds and 12 cultures, until we ultimately developed what's close to the final product we make now." Bridgham plied his friends, family, and colleagues in the industry with samples from those early St. Stephen tests in 2012. But it wasn't until he brought it to Kate Arding and received an "exceptional" appraisal that he understood its potential. "Based on Kate's review, we built a business," he says. Before they knew it, St. Stephen was on the shelves at Murray's, Whole Foods, and Zabar's, among others. Today, Four Fat Fowl sources its milk and cream from the Jersey cows at Dutch Hollow Farm in Schodack Landing. Along with 3,600 wheels of St. Stephen, they produce 300 wheels of CamemBertha, and 75 to 100 pounds of Inagadda Ricotta every single week. CamemBertha, a funky and vegetal camembert, arose as a solution for a cheese that didn't rely on the potential cream shortages or delays that occasionally occur with triple creams. All of the Bridghams' cheeses are playfully named after the music they love. CHURCH T O W N D A IR Y At the end of a weekend of travel, Laura and I finally arrive back in Hudson—our final destination just 15 minutes outside the historic town. Churchtown Dairy is the archetype of the picturesque dairy farm. It wasn't always this way. After years of steady milk price declines, and the passage of the Food Security Act, the three previous dairy farms on the 250 acres Churchtown now inhabits were unable to stay in business past the mid 1980s. Developers Jean-David Derreumaux with cuttings from the medicinal gardens at Churchtown Dairy Calves rest inside the milking barn at Churchtown Dairy

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