Carpenter’s Wheel

We make this one-of-a-kind hard goat cheese in partnership with Murray’s Cheese in New York (original production goes back to the now-closed Crown Finish Caves in Brooklyn). Here in the creamery, we cook the curd in its own whey, and then let it form in our largest molds. Murray’s ages the huge wheels in their own caves, where the flavor ripens and becomes nuttier with each passing day. The barn quilt label honors the terroir of our region and the red barn where FireFly Farms began.

Carpenter’s Wheel

$15.99

The Fable

Barn Quilts: a local pattern with national resonance.

In 2001, a woman from Ohio named Donna Sue Groves adorned an old barn with the first painted “Barn Quilt” square to honor her mother, Maxine, an avid quilter. The project expanded with the support of the Ohio Arts Council to create 20 more painted quilt squares in the area. From there, the idea took off and throughout rural America today, including in Appalachia, you can spy the colorful squares on barns of every shape and size. It’s a way to decorate, a way to celebrate local patterns (each quilting pattern is often unique to its community!) and a way to say — we are here! “Where we are in northern Appalachia there is a deep farming history, and beautiful barns, including the one on our farm, where FireFly started, with a barn quilt on the side that is Carpenter’s Wheel,” explains Mike Koch, FireFly’s president. This particular quilt was selected and hung on the original FireFly barn with the help of the Garrett County Barn Quilt Foundation, (the barn now features in local tours), and the quilt naturally became the label for the this cheese.

Production

Our fresh goat milk is first pasteurized and cooled. Then vegetarian rennet is added and the milk is allowed to set. We cut it into a very fine curd, which we cook in its whey at a moderately high heat. Once put into molds, the cheese is pressed and flipped frequently to release excess whey.

After brining in its first 24 hours, the young wheels are sealed to prevent excess moisture loss and carefully shipped to Murray’s Cheese, where their affineurs take over the aging process.

Ingredients

Pasteurized Goat Milk, Salt, Enzymes, Cheese Cultures, Calcium Chloride

Allergens

This product contains milk, and FDA-designated “big-8” allergen. Note that in January 2023, the big-8 allergens become the big-9 with the addition of sesame.