The Creative Flavors of Spring Hill Jersey Cheese

I made my mission all about cheese this week at the  and I set out to taste the ample variety of flavors of farmstead cheese from Spring Hill Cheese Company.

Their stand is stocked with flavored cheeses like sage cheddar, pesto jack and fresh garlic curd. It’s a colorful spread and the perfect opportunity if you’re a market “grazer” like me. I mean who’s going to turn down free tastes of this and that, especially cheese?

The cheddars, aged at least 2 years, come in white, Colby, yellow, garlic, sage and the jacks include garlic, pesto, smoked jersey, dry and Mike’s Firehouse. Every week on Friday or Saturday Spring Hill Farm’s creamery makes fresh cheeses like jersey curd and a spreadable German-style cream cheese called quark. There are more than 26 different kinds in all.

The man behind all these creations is owner and art director Larry Peters. He’s been doing it for 20 years.

"I just chose the herbs that I liked and started making cheese with them," said Peters. "Every one knew me as the potato guy. My family started me out in farmers markets in '94. I started picking the potatoes and the potato money created a woodshed, which started the cheese. It's a family operation. My brothers work at the creamery."

Peters’ favorite cheese is the two-year-old white cheddar. “A good old white cheddar, you know what you got,” says Peters. “Oh, and the peppercorn Jack.”

I had my eye on the Mike’s Firehouse Jack. It looked spicy, and it is - really spicy. Raul Vasquez, who works the Spring Hill stall at the Mill Valley Farmers Market, said he likes to use it in quesadillas and I thought that sounded like a perfect idea. I made a delicious black bean and firehouse jack quesadilla – see recipe below.

But it turns out that there is a tragic story behind Mike’s Firehouse Jack. The cheese is named for Peters’ nephew Michael Duckhorn, a Mill Valley firefighter who was killed in a car accident in the mid-1990s after a long week of work. “There were 1,800 people at his funeral,” said Peters. “He grew up helping me on the farm and with the cheese plant.”

Duckhorn loved to cook for the firehouse and his specialty was a hot Texas lasagna. And that was the inspiration behind Mike’s Firehouse Jack.

Farmstead cheese means that the cheese is made from milk made entirely from that one farm. They’re not trucking in milk from out of town for it. Spring Hill farm has a herd of 400 pasture raised jersey cows that produce all organic milk. Peters says that while business is going pretty good right now, it's a tough business. He gives a lot of credit to the Chipotle restaurant chain, which sources its cheese from Spring Hill Cheese Company. “They wanted to use products with integrity,” said Peters. “You can thank Chipotle for saving dairies in Sonoma County.”

Mike’s Firehouse Jack Quesadillas

• 10 small round corn tortillas
• 2 cups shredded
• 1 cup black beans rinsed and drained
• Butter or cooking spray
• Salsa, avocado or sour cream to garnish

Heat butter or spray in a nonstick skillet. Place one tortilla in skillet. Sprinkle with shredded cheese, add a few beans, top with another tortilla. Flip and cook until cheese is melted and tortillas are toasty.

Repeat. 

Serves 3-4