‘Stockinghall’!!! BEST IN SHOW at the American Cheese Society Convention – 2019!
In 2014, Murray’s Cheese coordinated with Cornell and Old Chatham Creamery on the idea of developing an original cheese recipe. After some trial and error (which all product development entails), we hit it out of the park–using milk from Old Chatham Creamery, the clothbound cheddar we know as ‘Stockinghall’ emerged. This award-winning cheddar, named ACS 2019’s Best in Show, was the first Best in Show win for any NY cheese in the 36 year history of the contest, beating out almost 2,000 entries this year from across the western hemisphere. This work was all done in the Cornell University’s Food Processing & Development Laboratory (FPDL) and up until September of this year, ‘Stockinghall’ has been made at Cornell (in October it transitioned to the new Old Chatham plant in Groton, NY). Other cheeses developed in the FPDL have won both State and National awards, but we cannot disclose the company names because of Non-Disclosure Agreements we have in place.
The FPDL is housed within the Department of Food Science (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) in Stocking Hall on Cornell’s Ithaca, NY, campus. It is a fully licensed dairy plant inspected by NY State Department of Agriculture and Markets. The FPDL serves as a statewide center for food and dairy product development and cutting-edge food processing research. It is a key resource supporting the long-term sustainability of value-added agricultural businesses (and their suppliers) across New York State. As such, our goal is to help promote and grow dairy processing opportunities in New York State and to provide opportunities for agricultural producers to develop and market value-added products. The successful establishment and expansion of local, value added products also encourages the creation and expansion of other local businesses (farmer’s markets, restaurants, agri-tourism, marketing, etc.).
We know that starting a dairy plant costs a lot of money in facilities, equipment, and all that goes along with putting together a proper food processing facility. To facilitate the success of dairy start-up companies and promote growth in the dairy industry, we offer a dairy processing incubator program. To qualify, you must be in NY State and be a small dairy business or be aspiring to start a business in dairy processing in NY. This is not an open ended proposition, as you must sign agreements with Cornell University indicating your desire to start and grow a dairy processing-type business. You must have an approved business plan in place within 3 months of starting, and you must be planning to move out of our facility into your own facility within 12-18 months. You provide the labor (although we do have Food Science students/interns available to assist in production), and for set fees, we provide equipment for you to use. We will help with small product development projects provided you already have the concept. If you want us to do full blown product development, the fees go up commensurate with the work.
We also provide contract manufacturing support to start-up companies as well as support for established manufacturers who aim to develop new and innovative products. Examples of product development and research projects supported by the FPDL include dairy-based puddings, drinkable yogurts, fermented dairy beverages, flavored egg nog and other dairy related products. Our small-scale equipment makes the FPDL excellent for product formulation test runs that mimic real life production. These smaller batches are also conducive for consumer and shelf life testing.
We have the capability of manufacturing most dairy (and some non-dairy) products using a wide variety of operations. We have the only university operated Greek yogurt separator in the country, and also have the ability to pasteurize, ultra-pasteurize, evaporate, spray dry, and ferment (cheeses, yogurts, etc.). If you are interested in any of these programs or would like more information on the facility, please contact Rob Ralyea at rdr10@cornell.edu.
