The award winning organic Tarentaise from Thistle Hill Farm is an aged, raw milk, farmstead organic cheese which is handmade by John and Janine Putnam on their family farm in North Pomfret, Vermont from the certified organic milk of their grass-fed Jersey cows.
Tarentaise is unique to Pomfret, Vermont – its soil, geography, climate and flora, all of which combine to give Tarentaise its characteristic smooth, subtle nut flavor and complex finish, which chamges subtly with the seasons and weather. Tarentaise is made in a copper vat, the first in Vermont, in the tradition of the Savoie region of the French Alsp. The copper vat which is essential to the development of the proper flavor, is one of only a few in the United States and was custom built for Thistle Hill Farm in Switzerland.
Following the traditions of the Savoie, the Putnams use cultures imported from France and make their own rennet using whey from the previous cheese making. Much in the same way bakers use sourdough starter, this traditional rennet gives a complexity of flavor to the cheese which cannot otherwise be created.