Specialty Cheeses

Named after the land formation on which the farm sits, Pleasant Ridge Reserve is made in the tradition of Alpine cheeses like Gruyere and Beaufort. Like the Alpage versions of these cheeses, Uplands only makes Pleasant Ridge Reserve from May through October, when their cows are eating fresh pasture. This grass-fed, raw milk produces flavors in the cheese that can’t be replicated by “ordinary” milk. In mid-summer, when the cows are at the peak of their production, a batch of cheese may yield up to 78, 10-lb wheels a day.

Because Uplands is very particular about using milk from only the best pasture conditions, the weather largely determines how many batches they can make in a year. When the pasture conditions aren’t ideal, Uplands sells the milk. Some years they’re able to make more cheese than other years. This may seem like a luxury, but using only the ideal milk is the most important way Uplands ensures the quality of our cheese.

Uplands ages all of their cheese in ripening rooms built into the creamery. Here, the cheeses are washed several times a week in a brine solution, which encourages the development of certain bacteria on the cheese rinds. These bacteria, along with the microflora indigenous to their raw milk, develop flavors in the cheese over time. As the cheeses age, their flavors become more complex and concentrated. Each batch develops its flavors at a different pace, and an important part of the work in the ripening rooms is to taste each batch again and again to determine when they are ready to sell.