Tar Heei
By Carolyn Schwartz
Getting Their Goats
'Fhe Pfanns of Siler City and their troupe of celebrity goats
are pioneering the making of goat cheese in North Carolina.
It's 7:30 a.m. and 12 restless ladies line
up. vying for position on die platform.
At a signal from director Fleming
Pfann, die group begins its performance.
It's an act the)' do twice a day. seven days
a week. 52 weeks a year.
Pfann and her troupe of illustrious
goats — among them Tina Louise.
Madonna. Bo Derek and Cher — arc the
stars of Celebrity Dairy'. North Carolina's
only licensed goat cheese dairy. Located
eight miles northeast of Siler City, the
dairy produces specialty cheeses that arc-
fast becoming favorites in the Orange.
Durham and Chatham county markets
and restaurants.
Licensed by die North Carolina Depart¬
ment of Agriculture in 1990. Pfann s
Celebrity Dairy, like most family run busi¬
nesses, has evolved from a combination of
necessity, long-range dreams and lengthy
workdays. For Pfann and her husband.
Brit, the business of tending goats also
involves a lot of personal enjoyment and
positive feedback from happy customers.
"I wouldn't be working this hard if 1
weren't enjoying myself." die 55-year-old
Pfann says when asked about her nine- to
10-hour workdays.
Pfann says she thinks of her dairy farm
as a “work in progress." Her enthusiasm
for the seven-year-old enterprise is conta¬
gious. Her hazel eyes sparkle as she tells
the story of how she and Brit (a designer
of communications software in Research
Triangle Park) first bought a few goats as
“ecological grass-mowers" for their
Chatham County farm. "1 loved those ani¬
mals right from the beginning." she re¬
calls.
Finding herself with more milk than
she knew what to do with. Pfann, a native
of Granville County, began to experiment
with cheese-making. Soon friends urged
her to sell the product, called by its
French name "chcvrc," at a local farmers'
market. “I couldn't believe the response
1 got." Pfann says incredulously.
Pfann still loves handling the 60 goats
that now make up her herd. On a below-
freezing day in January, she moves quick¬
ly among them, gently encouraging the
herd into designated areas like a kinder¬
garten teacher organizing children in a
classroom. Singing as she works and call¬
ing them by name, Pfann never stops
between functions: feeding, milking,
pouring, straining, refrigerating, sweep¬
ing and washing.
Maintaining a meticulous milking par¬
lor and cheese room is a top priority for
Pfann. “Not only is it necessary for the
quality of our product, but for getting
those
А
we've had from the Agri¬
culture Department ever since we've lx-cn
in business." Pfann says. Not surprisingly,
she finds it difficult to find employees who
want to devote as much attention to detail
as she does.
Today. Pfann’s milking chores take
longer than usual. Some of the goats are
new mothers, so she milks them by hand
in order to save the antibodv-rich
colostrum she'll later feed to die new off¬
spring. Others need trimming, medicat¬
ing or additives in Uieir diet. Already be¬
hind schedule. Pfann stops to check on
the nursery. Nuzzling a newborn kid in
her arms, the gray-haired surrogate moth¬
er regrets that she can't spend the rest of
the morning "socializing."
At 10:30. Pfann scrubs up, puts on a
clean apron and heads to the cheese
room. There she pours the fresh milk into
a large stainless steel pasteurizer where it
is heated, then cooled to a temperature
between 60 and SO degrees. Adding a cul¬
ture and liquid rennet to help set the tex¬
ture of the cheese. Pfann lets the milk sit
2-1 to 36 hours until curds and whey sep¬
arate. Later, she will recycle the liquid
whey back to the goats, then hand-mold
the remaining curds
into one of the several
varieties of fresh goat
cheese that have recent¬
ly won honors in Amer¬
ican Cheese Society
competitions.
Pfann says there are
several important vari¬
ables in the cheese-mak¬
ing process. Manipulat¬
ing the culture changes
the taste of the cheeses,
which can range from
mellow to robust. Mold¬
ing the fresh curds by
hand allows the cheese-
maker to alter the tex¬
ture. Depending on
age. the consistency of
the cheese can vary
from creamy to rock-
hard. Pfann is quick to point out that
other factors — quality of the milk, tem¬
perature and humidity — always play
their part. too.
From milk to market. Pfann's cheese¬
making process takes three to four davs.
She sells some of the 200 to 300 pounds
of cheese she produces weekly at local
farmers’ markets. That's the fun part."
she says, “meeting people and exchang¬
ing ideas and recipes. I've learned an
awful lot from my customers."
Most of the cheese is pre-sold to restau¬
rants and markets whose clients appreci¬
ate the subtle flavors and textures of such
specialties as fresh chevre. which comes
cither plain, marinated, studded with
herbs or pepper-corns or laced with
liqueurs and fresh fruit preserves.
Operating a goat farm and making
cheese feels perfectly natural to Pfann.
Hetning Pfann giivs a morning greeting to one of her goats.
Pt»»» by Cuoty n 5<h*jiti
The State/Apnl 1995
33