Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Area farm garners awards at PA Farm Show
Yellow Springs Farm LLC (YSF), a family farm business focused on selling artisanal goat cheeses and yogurts to local communities and restaurants, recently announced that four of its cheeses were honored at the fourth annual Pennsylvania Farm Show Cheese Competition in January. YSF’s Black Diamond™ and Cloud Nine™ cheeses were awarded Second and Third Place respectively in the ripe goat cheese category and its Pickering™ and Goat’s Beard™ cheeses won First and Third place among aged goat cheeses.
This was the fourth year for the Pennsylvania Farm Show Cheese Competition where 57 different cheese varieties were evaluated. Dairy Foods Research & Extension Associate Dr. Kerry Kaylegian, with Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, presided over this year’s cheese competition as Chair and emcee.
“We are extremely pleased to have four of our cheeses honored at this year’s Pennsylvania Farm Show Cheese Competition,” said Catherine Renzi, Co-owner, Yellow Springs Farm. “Black Diamond has also been a two-time blue-ribbon winner at the national American Cheese Society (ACS) competition and our Goat’s Beard placed 2nd there in 2017, so we are especially proud of our goat cheeses for the continued recognition.”
About the PA Farm Show Winning Cheeses from Yellow Springs Farm
Black Diamond is a bloomy rind aged goat cheese in French Valencay style with its vegetable ash rind, Cloud Nine is a French-style, surface ripened cheese, akin to a Briestyle cheese, and Goat’s Beard is a mild aged goat milk cheese that is firm, with crisp flavors including hints of honey and butter. Pickering, the newest cheese from YSF is aged in the Alpine tradition. It is named in honor of Pickering Creek, the high-quality watershed where the farm is located.
The farm’s cheeses and yogurts can be purchased at regional Whole Foods Markets, Kimberton Whole Foods Stores, and Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia,
You can also sign up now for the YSF Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) goat cheese share for the 2018 season. Visit www.yellowspringsfarm.com to buy a CSA share for any of the seven CSA distribution sites in Chester County and Philadelphia. Pickup weeks begin late May, and continue through November. A CSA refers to a particular network or association of individuals who pledge to support a local farm by purchasing products like goat cheese and yogurt. Members will receive a cheese share two times per month; there are 12 pickups per season. About Yellow Springs Farm Yellow Springs Farm is a Native Plant Nursery and Artisanal Goat Cheese Dairy founded by Catherine and Al Renzi, in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania. The farm and nursery consists of an historic farmhouse, dairy barn, and a springhouse with a pond on eight acres of land. Originally a dairy farm 160 years ago, the Renzi’s purchased the farm in 2001 protecting it from future development with a conservation easement.