Pennyroyal’s Laychee
The First Cheese of Spring
by Torrey Douglass
When I was seven, I asked my parents for a bike. When my daughter was seven, she asked me for an American Girl Doll. When Erika McKenzie-Chapter was seven, she asked her parents for a cow. A live one. That she could milk.
This probably was not such a surprise for Erika’s parents, as they had family members who’d worked in the dairy business for generations. Erika’s great-grandfather operated a cow dairy in Sonoma County, later joined by his son. Her great-aunt also operated a cow dairy in Sonoma County with her husband, and currently a cousin owns a sheep dairy in the Central Valley with his wife. But for a child living in Fairfield, raising livestock was not an option, so Erika was forced to postpone the launch of her dairy career until more suitable conditions could be arranged.
This setback did not deter Erika from her destiny, though it did allow time for her to transition her focus from cows to dairy goats. “As soon as I started working with goats at UC Davis, I was hooked. They have so much personality,” Erika shared. “You have to develop trust with dairy goats, to milk them, to pull babies.” She was in the midst of a dairy science course at Davis when the class paid a visit to Vella Cheese Company, a creamery in Sonoma. Stepping into the facility was a singular delight, a kind of homecoming similar to the sensation of meeting a new-old friend. “I loved the smell,” she recalls. “I have a genuine joy for being around aged cheeses.”
After completing her Bachelor of Animal Science degree, Erika apprenticed at a goat dairy in France before returning to Davis to work on her M.S. in Animal Biology. There she met fellow grad student Sarah Bennett, a viticulture student who had grown up in her family’s winery, Navarro Vineyards of Anderson Valley. Though they were pursuing different fields, they shared a love of sustainable farming—agricultural endeavors that harmonize with the cycles of nature.
Sarah dreamed of integrating her ecological values into a new winery—specifically a combined winery/creamery, home to a herd large enough to produce enough manure for 100% of the vineyard’s fertilization needs. After two years of planning, three years of building, and the arrival of Erika’s 85 goats, the creamery at Pennyroyal Farm opened in May of 2012.
Pennyroyal provided the ideal testing ground for the pair’s agricultural ambitions. Some creameries use hormones or artificial lighting to stagger births so milk is available year round, but Pennyroyal prioritizes seasonality. This means the milk ebbs and flows throughout the year, as does the availability of certain cheeses. In the summer, milk production starts to wane from its peak of 15 pounds per day, and the decline continues once the goat and sheep mamas are bred in the fall. By the end of December, they’re “dried off,” producing no milk as their energy shifts to growing babies. It’s a welcome respite for everyone. “We want to embrace the seasonal nature of animals,” Erika explains. “We have a break in winter so no one gets burned out.”
This “winter maternity leave” lasts through January and into February and is one of Erika’s favorite times of year.She’ll walk into the barn where the pregnant goats are barely visible, buried in the straw and gently groaning from time to time, creating an ongoing soundtrack of maternal contentment she refers to as “the pregnancy hum.”
Then, in mid-February, the seasonal clock clicks forward again and the baby goats and sheep start arriving, and, with them, the milk. As cheesemaking resumes, the first product to hit the shelves is Laychee, a combination goat and sheep cheese that takes just 48 hours from start to finish. The milk arrives at the creamery, it ferments for 24 hours, the whey is drained from the curds, and voilà! Mix in salt (and blueberries if you’re feeling frisky), and it’s ready to eat.
Spring brings the maximum milk production from the sheep, so the proportion of sheep to goat milk is as high as 20% in the early batches of Laychee. This lends the cheese a particularly rich and creamy texture, as sheep milk is higher in fat and protein. It’s just a touch sweeter than the Laychee made later in the year, which expresses more citrusy flavors due to the higher amount of goat milk.
Other Pennyroyal cheeses take longer to mature. Bollie’s Mollies requires four weeks, while harder aged cheeses like Boont Corners, Fratty Corners, and Boonter’s Blue can take two months or more. Laychee, in contrast, is fast and fresh, the perfect spring cheese. Spread it on a slice of fresh bread with chutney, mix it into a creamy salad dressing, or go all out with Erika’s favorite Laychee Cheesecake for the perfect celebration dessert. Its creamy-sweet decadence embodies the jubilation that comes from being alive while the world shakes off winter’s frost and starts pushing green things up from the dirt under the welcome spring sun.
Laychee Cheesecake
by Erika McKenzie-Chapter
I take this cake to get-togethers, make it for holidays, etc. The crust can be modified with choice of spices to make it fit the occasion (i.e., I add nutmeg and cinnamon in the fall, some lemon or orange zest in the spring).
Crust:
10 graham crackers, crushed
6 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Spices to taste
Cheesecake:
2 lbs Pennyroyal’s Laychee cheese
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsp flour
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
Heat oven to 350˚. Grease 8” spring-form pan. Using a fork, mix the ingredients for the crust. Pour into pan and tamp down with a spoon or bottom of a glass. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden around the edges. Set aside to cool.
Combine Laychee, sugar, and flour in a stand mixer. Mix on low speed, then add one egg at a time. Add vanilla. Pour batter over the crust. Bake for 12 minutes at 350˚. Then lower temp to 250˚ and bake an additional 45-55 minutes, until the top of the cheesecake is slightly puffy and spongy-firm to the touch. The center should jiggle slightly when the pan is tapped. Let cool, serve, and enjoy!
Pennyroyal Farm, 14930 Highway 128, Boonville
(707) 895-2410 | PennyroyalFarm.com
Open Mon–Sun, 10am–5pm
Torrey Douglass is a web and graphic designer living in Boonville with her husband, two children, and a constantly revolving population of pets and farm animals.
