CHEESE OR DAIRY PRODUCT
TIE
CAVES OF FARIBAULT
Jeffs' Select
TEN YEARS AGO AT A WINTER FANCY FOOD SHOW, cheesemakers Jeff Jirkin and
Jeff Wideman struck up a conversation. Jirkin was the lead cheesemaker and affineur
for Natural Cheese for Swiss Valley Farms, the parent company of Caves of Faribault in
Minnesota, and Wideman was the master cheesemaker behind Wisconsin's Maple Leaf
Cheese. "Thus began one of the best friendships I've ever had in my life," Jirkin recalls.
After experimenting with a few products together, they knew they'd found something
special in a Gouda-style cheese that would become Jeffs' Select. "To bring out a caramel flavor is very rare
in this cheese," Jirkin says. "There's a hint of nuttiness to it, and it just dissolves in your mouth. We tried to
see how complicated and complex we could get the flavor, and we absolutely nailed it."
Jeffs' Select was never meant to go public. But, by chance, a few distributors got their hands on it
and declared the product had a wider market. The aged cheese now sells in more than a dozen states.
Wideman and his team make the cheese, which Jerkin then buys and ages for a year in his
warm, humid caves. A finishing annatto spice rub is applied after aging to protect and preserve its
full-bodied flavor. "It's a culmination of many years of friendship," Jerkin says. Suggested retail price:
$18/pound (11-pound wheel). Contact: Lauren Van Speybroeck, Caves of Faribault, 563.468.6641;
lauren.vanspeybroeck@swissvalley.com; cavesoffaribault.com.—S.N.
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S12 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE
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