[title subtitle=”WORDS Liesel Schmidt
IMAGES courtesy Sweet Freedom Cheese Shop”][/title]
To say that Jessica Keahey loves cheese would be an understatement. A card-carrying curd nerd, to listen to her speak about cheese, one might even suspect that closer inspection would reveal her to have a rich Mornay sauce running through her veins, as it is constantly on her mind. Literally. She goes to sleep thinking about cheese and wakes up thinking about cheese. And while some of that might be attributed to the fact that she runs an independent cheese shop, it’s more a matter of straight-up fromagefixation, a love of cheese in all of its forms and iterations and uses that dates back to her early childhood. And while she could easily have left it simply as a hobby to collect cheeses and perhaps take a casual class or two on making the very thing that makes her heart go pitter patter, she did what a truly passionate person does: She turned it into a business.
“From the store-bought holiday cheese balls of my childhood to the first cheese making experiments in my kitchen as an adult, I’m certain I’ve always loved cheese,” says Jessica, who opened Sweet Freedom Cheese Shop in October 2018. “After a decade in engineering, I was ready to take on a new adventure and the next chapter of my life, but I was at a complete loss for what kind of career was even possible—much less one that would yield any happiness. One day, pondering the things in life that brought me joy, I realized that there were people who actually made careers in the fascinating and tasty world of cheese. And now, seven years later, I’m one of them!”
The passion she feels for it is evident in her voice as she speaks about cheese, and for someone trying to sell a product, that passion is key in creating success. She’s quite the connoisseur, to be sure, but she’s also extremely knowledgeable in all things cheese, having traveled extensively to study cheese and cheese making, both domestically and abroad. “My first cheese making classes were in Arkansas and then in Belize, and from there, I spent a few summers in Vermont advancing my cheese making knowledge and skills,” thirty-six-year-old Jessica explains.
“When I made the full-time leap into cheese, I bought a cargo van, turned it into our ‘Cheese Mobile,’ and took a six-week tour of cheese makers and cheese shops across the U.S., learning about their facilities, techniques, and products. After that, I shifted focus from cheese making to cheese mongering, collected a hefty library on the subject, and studied extensively on my own as well as attending workshops and conferences,” she goes on. “I learned everything from dairy food safety at Penn State to the logistics of opening a cheese shop at The Cheese School in San Francisco. Prior to opening the shop last year, I put all that training to the test and earned the American Cheese Society distinction as a Certified Cheese Professional.”
That’s some serious dedication, but again, Jessica is a woman dedicated to cheese. To ask which is her favorite, however, the question is met with slight hesitation, as she is hard pressed to narrow it down to a singular form of fromage. Rather, she appreciates many—each for their own distinct characteristics and flavors—though she does have a few that top the list when it comes down to it, and she’s a great one for recommendations. “This time of year, I love to grate a healthy heap of Leyden—a Dutch cumin gouda—into chili or melt truffle gouda into pasta. It’s also a wonderful season to share a bottle of your favorite red and a hearty slice of Ossau-Iraty—a firm, nutty sheep’s milk cheese from France—or enjoy a glass of bubbly with a gooey show-stopper like Harbison, which is a velvety, bark-wrapped cheese from Jasper Hill Farms in Vermont.”
Clearly, the lady knows her stuff, from origins and flavors to uses and perfect pairings with wine, food, and even chocolate. It’s her happy place, biting into the perfect little ball of soft, creamy burrata or sinking her teeth into an ooey-gooey grilled cheese sandwich toasted to golden perfection. “I eat so much cheese, with pretty much every meal,” she laughs. “I’d say my top guilty pleasure has to be putting burrata in a bowl of hot water for about five to ten minutes to soften up—it’s absolutely incredible, because the warmth affects the flavor of the cheese—and then spreading the softened burrata on toast to make kind of an open-face caprese sandwich with black garlic, a little bit of balsamic, and these killer garlic-marinated tomatoes that we sell at the shop. It makes the best open-face sandwich ever.”
The usages she can rattle off for each cheese in her shop are endless, her mind an encyclopedia of everything imaginable, be it the molecular structure of the cheeses, the texture, the smell, or the taste. Ask her a question, and she’ll have an answer ready, almost seemingly without thought; and while she might not actually be the one making the cheese she’s selling, she still sees immense value in knowing the finer points of cheese. “From the coagulation of proteins to the fermentation by microbes, the processes in cheese making are explainable—and controllable—by science,” she says, her engineer-side showing. “Temperature, acidity, milk quality and composition, and a host of other variables directly affect the flavor, aroma, texture, and appearance of a cheese, so it’s immensely important for cheese makers to understand how these critical factors come into play—and can go awry—and how to control them to create a consistent, quality, and safe product.”
The most cheese-crazed member of her family, Jessica’s passionate career choice may not quite be shared by close relatives or her husband of seven years—an engineer whom she met during their time together in college—but she’s certainly been supported as she’s taken this new path in life. It’s taken a lot of sacrifice, to be sure, but that sacrifice seems to be something she considers well worth it.
“I used to have other hobbies besides cheese,” she laughs, though the words are said without a hint of rancor or remorse. Rather, they’re said with something bordering on amusement, a realization of just how much of her world centers around cheese, now that she’s running the shop. “I loved gardening and spending time with my friends, having a bottle of good wine, cooking, watching movies and reading books…but I haven’t had that much time to do it lately, being in our first year of business. Once things settle down, though, I’d really like to get back into gardening.”
And while a large part of her career lies in selling cheeses she sources, she’s also an impassioned educator on the matter and has worked that into her business model, as well, offering classes to those who wish to learn the fine art of making the perfect cheese. “Education has always been a key component of the business, so we hold frequent classes on topics ranging from cheese science and history to hands-on cheese making,” she says. “Our most popular sessions are Cheese 101 and Mozzarella Making, but my personal favorites are unique tasting classes with innovative pairings such as tea, honey, or whisky and collaborations with other local culinary innovators like New Province Brewing, King James Wine, Rockin’ Baker, and Markham & Fitz Chocolatiers.”
Offering educational classes and explaining the flavors of cheeses might be useful in a great many ways; but in the end, it’s all about actual taste, so Sweet Freedom was created as a “try before you buy” model to provide customers with focused, one-on-one service from the shop’s knowledgeable cheese mongers and an opportunity to actually taste any of the cheeses in the case. Cheeses—and the cured meats that pair perfectly with them—are cut to order to ensure that customers get the freshest cut and exactly the quantity they need. And then, of course, is their addictive selection of sumptuous and sinful grilled cheese sandwiches. Understandably, they’re a shop favorite.
As Sweet Freedom looks ahead to its second year, it’s a success that Jessica can take pride in. She’s made her greatest passion her business and proven that, when it comes to having the freedom to pursue a dream, there’s nothing that tastes better.
For more information on Sweet Freedom Cheese, visit sweetfreedomcheese.comor call 479.268-5867.
