The Finger Lakes Cheese Trail is made up of a dozen area working farms that create a large variety of artisan cheeses throughout the year. On October 12-13, 2013 (Columbus Day Weekend), Cheese Trail members invite you to visit during their semi-annual Open House Event from 10am-5pm each day. When you visit, you’ll find samples of cheese, some farm/production tours, and maybe even some great wine pairings from nearby wineries.
As for cheeses to be tasted, you’ll find everything from raw milk cheese; to standards such as
cheddar, Monterey Jack, and Swiss; to specialty cheeses, some based on European flavors, and some completely unique. Both goat’s milk and cow’s milk cheeses are available, depending on which farm/creamery you visit.
Right here in Trumansburg is the Kenton’s Cheese Company, offering their versions of Pauline Cheese (a Swiss Emmentaler), and Bianco (a soft cheese, much like Brie).
Cheese Trail Sites outside of town (with distances) include:
- Lively Run Goat Dairy in Interlaken – 6.5 miles: A family-run dairy since 1982, offering Chevre, Cayuga Blue Cheese, and Feta.
- Vanillen Dairy in Ovid – 14 miles: Cow’s milk cheeses including Morning Glory (a spreadable cheese similar to Chevre), and their Butternut baby Swiss cheese.
- Sunset View Creamery in Odessa – 17 miles: The Hoffman Family offers a variety of Cheese Curds, Semi-hard sharp cheeses, a Monterey Jack-style cheese, and their Heritage cheese (similar to Parmesan).
- Jerry Dell Farm & Store in Freeville – 23.5 miles: Family owned and operated since 1946, Jerry Dell offers a Raw Milk Cheddar made from cow’s milk.
- Shtayburne Farm in Rock Stream – 25 miles: Offering Cheddar Curds, Cheddar Cheese varieties, and Monterey Jack-style varieties.
- Finger Lakes Dexter Creamery in King Ferry – 30 miles: Their Irish Dexter cows produce the base of a raw-milk kefir cheese.
- Keeley’s Cheese Company in King Ferry – 30 miles: McGarr Farms offer cow’s milk cheeses including a semi-soft cave-aged cheese, a semi-soft reserve, and a semi-soft Irish-style cheese.
- Muranda Cheese Company in Waterloo – 30 miles: Visit the Murray’s place to try any of their 15 varieties of Cheddar-based creations!
- Hillcrest Dairy in Moravia – 34 miles: Offering raw-milk Cheddar cheeses.
- Engelbert Farms in Nichols – 51 miles: A family-owned, certified-organic farm founded in 1911 offering Cheddars, Goudas, spreadables, and Feta.
- Dutch Hill Creamery in Chenango Forks – 52 miles: A small creamery near Binghamton which produce hormone-free Cheese Curd.
Visit just the farms/creameries, or work them into your Wine Trail travels. Reserve your room here at the Inn at Gothic Eves, snack your way through Finger Lakes cheese, and enjoy the glorious fall leaves here in Upstate New York!
