Our Cheeses and Yogurts
We produce a range of sheeps' milk dairy products, including yogurt, brebis (a fresh, chevre-type cheese), feta, and a couple aged cheeses that vary by the year (and our inclinations!). Because our sheep all have lambs at the same time in the spring, our dairy products are seasonal, usually first becoming available in May. Our yogurts and fresh cheeses are available through the fall (at which point our ewes finish milking), and our aged cheeses are generally available throughout the year.
How our products are made
Meadowood Farms' dairy products are artisan foods: made on a small scale, with a lot of manual labor, in a small plant. (We are, however, licensed and regularly inspected by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets!)
Our fresh products (yogurt, brebis, feta) are made with cultured, pasteurized, whole sheeps milk. We make a real effort to include local, wholesome ingredients. Our Garlic and Herb Brebis, for example, is made with Cazenovia-grown fresh herbs and garlic. Our sweetened yogurts (vanilla, maple, coffee) are made with pure maple syrup. Our Strawberry Rhubarb yogurt is made with Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce from Our Farm in Cazenovia.
We sell our dairy products at a variety of markets, restaurants, and shops; all are listed on the "How to Buy Our Products" page.
About sheeps' milk
Many people who have sensitivity to cow's milk find that they can digest our sheep's milk products. Sheeps milk is naturally much higher in nutrients than cows milk or even goats milk. See the table below, provided by the British Sheep Dairying Association, for a comparison of typical sheep, goat, and cow whole milks.
Vitamins, mg/litre | Sheep | Cow | Goat |
Riboflavin B2 | 4.3 | 2.2 | 1.4 |
Thiamine | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
Niacin B1 | 5.4 | 1.0 | 2.5 |
Pantothenic acid | 5.3 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
B6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.6 |
Folic acid, µg/litre | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.06 |
B12 | 0.09 | 0.03 | 0.007 |
Biotin | 5.0 | 1.7 | 4.0 |
Minerals, mg/100g | Sheep | Cow | Goat |
Calcium | 162-259 | 110 | 102-203 |
Phosphorus | 82-183 | 90 | 86-118 |
Sodium | 41-132 | 58 | 35-65 |
Magnesium | 14-19 | 11 | 13-19 |
Zinc | 0.5-1.2 | 0.3 | 0.19-0.50 |
Iron | 0.03-0.1 | 0.04 | 0.01-0.1 |
Whole milk components, % | Sheep | Cow | Goat |
Total solids | 18.3 | 12.1 | 11.2 |
Fat | 6.7 | 3.5 | 3.9 |
Protein | 5.6 | 3.4 | 2.9 |
Lactose | 4.8 | 4.5 | 4.1 |
Calorific value/100g | 102 | 73 | 77 |