FAQ

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Check out some of our commonly asked questions, and save some time on your search for the answer. Don’t see your question below, then reach out.

GENERAL

While Vermont Creamery does not sell or ship products directly to consumers, some of our products are available for purchase online through Murray’s Cheese.

We are unable to offer tours to the general public at this time. Please also note that we do not have cows or goats onsite. 

Vermont Creamery became a certified B Corp in 2014. B Corps use business as a force for good. Read more on Our Mission page.

Our products are sold at retailers across the U.S. To find stores near you, check out the Find in Stores section our website or give us a call Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. EST, at 1-833-882-7679. 

INGREDIENTS & SOURCING

The following products are certified as kosher by the KOF-K Kosher Supervision:

Vermont Creamery Crème Fraîche

Vermont Creamery Crème Fraîche with Madagascar Vanilla  

Vermont Creamery Mascarpone

ALL Cultured Butters

The kosher symbol, “K Dairy” on these Vermont Creamery products, is found on the tub, carton, packet or foil to the left of the nutritional panel

Vermont Creamery does not produce organic butter or cheese products. 

Thanks for asking about the presence of allergens in our products. In accordance with FDA requirements, Vermont Creamery identifies “the big nine” (peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, milk, wheat, soy, fish, shell fish, sesame) allergenic ingredients and ingredient constituents on the labels of our packages. Always check our product labels for the most up-to-date information. All Vermont Creamery retail products are Certified Gluten Free by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization. And, should an allergen might be present, be assured that our plants use good manufacturing practices to segregate ingredients and avoid cross-contamination with allergens.

All Vermont Creamery retail products are Certified Gluten Free by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization.  This certification organization has done extensive evaluation of ingredients and manufacturing processes to ensure compliance with the FDA threshold of < 20 ppm of gluten.

All milk products contain a small amount of naturally occurring trans fatty acids, most times less than 0.5g per serving which per FDA regulations, rounds to 0g on the label.

Yes, all the milk we use to make Vermont Creamery products is pasteurized.

Our cheeses packaged in a cup (spreadable goat cheese, crème fraîche, Quark, Mascarpone, Fromage Blanc) should be served cold, straight from the refrigerator. For our fresh and aged goat cheeses, we recommend leaving them at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.

We only purchase cows' milk and cream that is rBST-free. Supplying farms provide us with an affidavit stating that they do not use growth hormones to boost milk production in their cows. There is no rBST equivalent for goats.

Yes. Cheese is made from milk with an added bacterial culture. This culture will consume almost all of the lactose in the milk producing a distinct flavor. When cheese is produced the culture converts the lactose, or milk sugar, into lactic acid. This is the fermentation process that makes cheese. This is why cheese may be a good source of dairy for people who have difficulty digesting lactose, but recommend discussing this with your health professional.

Yes. The FDA requires that all milk be tested for antibiotics prior to receiving it at the creamery. Any milk that shows traces of antibiotics is rejected. 

We do not add vitamin D to our products.

Cultures are an integral part of creating the delicious dairy products we make. We use carefully selected strains of lactic cultures that aid in the development of the flavor of the cheese. 

We purchase the cows’ milk and cream from the Dairy Farmers of America, a national cooperative. The milk used to make our products comes from members who are independent owners and operators of dairy farms throughout the state of Vermont. The cows eat varied diets including grass, grains and hay, depending on the season and location.

The farms that we buy milk from feed their goats a diet consisting mostly of dry hay, grain and pasture, depending on the season and location.

We use Microbial (vegetarian) rennet.

We purchase our cows' milk and cream from Dairy Farmers of America, a national milk cooperative. Our fresh goats' milk comes from a network of farms in Vermont and Canada. For our fresh goat cheese logs, we supplement our North American supply of goats' milk with imported curd. In this way, we can meet our customers demand for our high-quality goat cheese.

COOKING

You can use salted and unsalted butter interchangeably in a recipe. Unsalted butter has all the benefits of salted butter without the added salt, giving you control of the overall salt addition in a recipe. 

It's best to soften butter at room temperature for 30 minutes; also, cutting butter into smaller pieces will speed up the softening. We don't recommend softening butter before using it for baking (it often gets too soft and affect the recipe's success) if you do choose to use the microwave, use the defrost setting (30% power). Check butter every 5 seconds so that it does not over-soften or melt.

FRESH CHEESE

We  recommend that our fresh goat and cows’ milk products be consumed within seven days of opening. Depending on handling, mold on cheese may appear approximately seven days after the package is opened. The date on the package is valid only if the package remains sealed so that air does not come in contact with the cheese.

If you do not eat all the cheese at one time, wrap it in plastic wrap to and store it in the refrigerator. Be sure to use it within 5-7 days of opening.

Not necessarily. Goat cheese can run the flavor gamut between delightfully milk to adventurously complex. Flavor really begins at the farm; goats are unique to cows in that they absorb their environment and that environment is oftentimes reflected in the flavor of the milk. 

Yes. In the U.S., by law, all fresh cheeses aged less than 60 days require pasteurized milk. All the milk we use to make Vermont Creamery products is pasteurized. 

CULINARY CHEESE & CREAM

We do not recommend freezing these products as it will negatively affect the texture. 

AGED CHEESE

No, while it may look a bit blue, Bonne Bouche is a geotrichum rinded cheese. Its color is a result of the poplar ash we sprinkle on it before it ages. 

Vermont Creamery’s aged cheeses are soft mold-ripened and have a geotrichum rind. Geotrichum Candidum is the strain of culture we use in our cheesemaking process that allows the growth of the distinctive "brain-like" wrinkles. 

Great question! Vermont Creamery’s aged cheeses are soft mold-ripened. Each cheese is packaged in its own “Micro-Cave,” either a wooden crate wrapped in micro-perforated film or ventilated plastic “clamshell” container that purposely allows the cheese to breathe and continue to ripen as the products move through the marketplace.

CULTURED BUTTER

Yes. We recommend butter can be frozen in the original packaging for up to four months. To help the butter maintain its fresh delicate flavor, we suggest wrapping the carton in aluminum foil or in an airtight re-sealable plastic bag before freezing. Once the butter has been thawed, it should be used within 30 days.

At this time, we only make butter with cows cream.

No. The nice pale yellow comes from the cream and varies with the season depending on the diet of the cows. When cows are grazing on grass in a pasture, the color of the butter my change throughout the year depending on the cows' diet. 

Yes. Cultured butter is made with lactic cultures that consumer almost all of the lactose. 

We recommend following the "Keep Refrigerated" directions printed on the labels of Vermont Creamery Butter and using by the date stamped on the package.  Once opened, store butter in the refrigerator, wrapped or in a covered butter dish. Butter, once exposed to air, may become darker in color and have the flavor affected. For longer storage, Vermont Creamery Butter can be frozen in the original packaging for up to four months. To help the butter maintain its fresh delicate flavor, we suggest wrapping the carton in aluminum foil or in an airtight re-sealable plastic bag before freezing. Once the butter has been thawed, it should be used within 30 days.

European standards for butterfat content differ than those in America; in Europe, butter must have a minimum 82% butterfat. European style butter is therefore typically richer in flavor, due to the increased butterfat. 

Cultured butter is made in the European-style with pasteurized cream in a churn just like regular butter, but with one added step. After pasteurization, the cream is fermented by adding a carefully selected bacterial culture. The cream rests for one day in a vat to allow the culture to produce a complex blend of flavor compounds. This is the source of the flavor difference between cultured butter and sweet cream, or American-style butter. After the fermentation, the cream is churned into butter. 

Time and flavor. Regular "sweet cream" butter is churned from cream right away and has a standard butterfat content of 80%. Cultured butter is made by adding live bacterial cultures that transform the cream over time, typically overnight. After culturing, the cream is churned into a rich, flavorful butter with tangy notes of toasted hazelnuts and butterfat between 82% and 86%. 

Higher butterfat means a lot for the home cook. Our cultured butter has a high smoke point, meaning it can be cooked at a higher temperature before it burns. A higher smoke point creates the perfect brown sear on a steak, and is ideal for sautéing fish, vegetables or poultry. 

In addition, higher butterfat does wonders for baking. Ever wonder how croissants get their cloud-like, fluffy layers? Butterfat. Are you still trying to unlock the secret behind a perfectly flaky pie crust? The answer is butterfat. Our cultured butter also has less moisture than sweet cream butter, which also boasts great results in cooking and baking. 

HOW-TOS & GUIDES FOR THE KITCHEN

CONSCIOUSLY FARMED IN VERMONT