LUDLOW, Vt. – The Ludlow Rotary Club hosted Rick Woods, vice president of the Vermont Farmstead Cheese Corporation, at its recent online meeting. While the meeting was conducted using the Zoom, the speaker was still able to describe how his cheeses were produced and offer some real time glimpses into the actual process.
Woods spoke to the LRC about his 27 years in the cheesemaking business, starting at Grafton Village Cheese and then accepting a cheesemaker position at the former water buffalo farm in South Woodstock. He noted that VFCC is the only commercial company using an English-style peg mill for making cheddar cheese in the country.
The speaker described the processes used in making soft ripened cheeses and gave the Rotarians a quick tour of the cheesemaking room where they were in the process of making cheese that day.
Woods has more than 20 years of being involved in all aspects of cheese production from cheesemaker to plant manager to developing regulatory compliance programs and educational cheesemaking classes for school groups.