This past weekend was the Vermont Maple Open House Weekend. I like to go to a nearby sugarhouse that is participating and buy some local syrup. My sister and I hit the road to visit Turkey Hill Farm in Randolph...
I wanted to visit this particular farm because they were also going to have some products from other farms, like cheese and honey and caramel. I really wanted to try this Mexican-style of caramel made from goat's milk.
Once we left the interstate, then left the main road, then left a side road... we got to a dirt road. I don't really experience the joy of dirt roads during mud season (but I will once we move) so I was appalled, aghast, shocked, horrified and scared at what we were suddenly driving in. It was so unbelievably bad. Way more dangerous than driving in snow.
We finally got to the last turn and saw a parking area had been set up. The last bit of road up to the sugarhouse was so bad that they were shuttling people up.
We made it up to the sugarhouse:
It was nice and steamy inside:
Then we walked across to the giftshop at the farm to buy some local products:
I got some cheese, ground beef, honey, syrup, and a small jar of caramel! I couldn't wait to try it.
My sister got some stuff and ordered a couple of the homemade donuts that they had out. They were doing homemade breakfasts there and had a side room set up with benches and tables. People were ordering waffles, sausages, donuts with syrup. Because I could tell the way she said, "And I'll take two donuts," I knew she wanted two homemade donuts put into a bag so that she could take them home. But they thought she meant for breakfast so they warmed up two donuts, covered them with syrup and handed them to her on plates. She handed me one and I was like, "LOLWTF I don't want that." But what are we going to do? Put the sticky donuts in our pockets? We went into the next room to sit and eat.
We decided to walk back down to the parking area rather than be shuttled. I did want to get some pictures of the crazy-ass muddy ruts:
We scooted down to Randolph for a quick drive through (I don't think I'd ever been to Randolph before) and then headed home. As SOON as I got home, I opened the caramel for a taste. I had really worked up how awesome this goat's milk caramel was going be in my mind.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I
hate goat's milk cheese. I think it tastes like feet and I find it repugnant.
So there's clearly some line of connectivity that I didn't make here. Because this caramel was everything that I hate about goat's milk cheese, but in a sweet form. It was all feet and no love. I'm so glad I bought one of the smaller jars. I cannot image putting this caramel on someone's ice cream unless I wanted to punish them for some reason. Ugh. Such a disappointment.
But if you like goat's milk cheese, I'm sure you will love this caramel. It just wasn't for me. And I don't want to be too Judgy McJudgyPants about it because I love kimchi and I'm pretty sure most people wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole.