Cicilline '83 cuts cheese, officially bringing R.I. artisan cheeses to city
Nandini Jayakrishna
Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: Features
"Say Cheese," read a sign in bold black letters that greeted hordes of smiling visitors as they entered Eno Fine Wines in downtown Providence Monday night. But they weren't going to get their pictures taken. Instead, they were gathering to celebrate the official cutting and release of Rhode Island's first artisan cheeses.
As local farmers, retailers, private cheese-makers and cheese-lovers filed into the crowded shop and helped themselves to cheese and champagne, Providence Mayor David Cicilline '83 and Secretary of State Ralph Mollis cut a flat 10-pound wheel of Divine Providence - a smooth, pale gouda created by Louella Hill '04.
The cheese-makers of Providence's Narragansett Creamery set up colorful platters of fruit, baskets of crackers and mounds of all their handmade cheeses on two high wooden tables in the middle of the shop.
Besides Divine Providence, the creamery displayed a crumbly sea-salt feta called Salty Sea, a versatile farmer's cheese called Queso Blanco, a cream-colored cheese called Atwell's Gold and a glossy white cheese called Renaissance Ricotta.
Cicilline said in his five years as mayor, he had never been invited to a cheese-cutting ceremony before, but was happy to be part of an event important to Providence's food and culinary arts.
Hill, who started cooking professionally when she was 14, said the flavor of an artisan cheese depends on several factors - the grass cows graze on, the smell of the air, and the water and the microbes in the soil where the cheese is made. Hill has been working at the Creamery since it opened in late August.
In a world witnessing the "globalization of our dinner plate," artisan cheeses made in small batches are fresh and unique in flavor, Hill said.
"The idea behind artisan cheese is that no two would ever taste the same," Hill said.
Some artisan cheeses, such as Divine Providence, are made with raw milk obtained within a 50-mile radius of the creamery and aged for 60 days using traditional European methods, said Mark Federico, owner of the Narragansett Creamery.
As local farmers, retailers, private cheese-makers and cheese-lovers filed into the crowded shop and helped themselves to cheese and champagne, Providence Mayor David Cicilline '83 and Secretary of State Ralph Mollis cut a flat 10-pound wheel of Divine Providence - a smooth, pale gouda created by Louella Hill '04.
The cheese-makers of Providence's Narragansett Creamery set up colorful platters of fruit, baskets of crackers and mounds of all their handmade cheeses on two high wooden tables in the middle of the shop.
Besides Divine Providence, the creamery displayed a crumbly sea-salt feta called Salty Sea, a versatile farmer's cheese called Queso Blanco, a cream-colored cheese called Atwell's Gold and a glossy white cheese called Renaissance Ricotta.
Cicilline said in his five years as mayor, he had never been invited to a cheese-cutting ceremony before, but was happy to be part of an event important to Providence's food and culinary arts.
Hill, who started cooking professionally when she was 14, said the flavor of an artisan cheese depends on several factors - the grass cows graze on, the smell of the air, and the water and the microbes in the soil where the cheese is made. Hill has been working at the Creamery since it opened in late August.
In a world witnessing the "globalization of our dinner plate," artisan cheeses made in small batches are fresh and unique in flavor, Hill said.
"The idea behind artisan cheese is that no two would ever taste the same," Hill said.
Some artisan cheeses, such as Divine Providence, are made with raw milk obtained within a 50-mile radius of the creamery and aged for 60 days using traditional European methods, said Mark Federico, owner of the Narragansett Creamery.