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The Herald was recently tipped off to a uniquely delicious local product a reader encountered at the Chandler Holiday Bazaar. The sweet treat in question is the traditional Mexican goat-milk caramel sauce, cajeta (pronounced ca-HAY-ta), and its entrance into the central Vermont food scene is courtesy of Brookfield’s Fat Toad Farm. The farm is owned by Steve Reid and Judith Irving. Irving’s daughter, Josey Hastings, who works at the farm part time, is responsible for the cajeta, the creation of which she said has been "a fun way to combine two loves and life experiences." The two life experiences she’s talking about are the five years she spent in Baja, Mexico, after graduating from college, and her pastoral life in Brookfield, to which she recently returned. Cajeta is a traditional Mexican food, and although Hastings enjoyed it when she lived there, it wasn’t until she had goats of her own, back in Vermont, that she ever had occasion to make it. When she returned to Brookfield two years ago, Hastings was inspired to try livestock farming. Initially she planned to go slowly, but with Reid’s encouragement, the family, including Hastings’ cousin Chelsea and on weekends, her sister Callie, have jumped right in. "I had a spark of interest and said, ‘let’s get a chicken,’ and Steve said, ‘that’s great,’ and went out and bought 20 chickens," Hastings said. In a similar fashion, the family took on the challenge of raising sheep and goats, and now tends a small herd of each. Hastings said learning to care for the animals has been "a process," especially the goats which, she found, are "not really pro-fence." At a well-stocked on-farm store the family sells eggs, milk, meat, and a wide variety of specialty cheeses. The cajeta is the most recent addition to the store. Hastings said in Mexico the sauce originated as a convenient, tasty way to preserve extra milk. Now with five milking does and counting, Hastings makes it for the same reason. The process for making the sweet, satiny caramel is simple but time consuming. Essentially the recipe involves cooking sweetened goat milk down to a fraction of its original volume, until it becomes caramelized, viscous and golden. Hastings currently undertakes the process several times a week, and compares it to the process of making maple syrup. "Like maple syrup, there’s that magical moment, when it’s golden but not burned, and thick but not too thick." The caramel has a subtle flavor Hastings described as "rich and almost toasted," and she encouraged people not to be put off by its goaty provenance. "There’s nothing goaty about how it tastes," she said. She’s developed several flavors of cajeta, including vanilla bean, cinnamon, and coffee, and recommended serving it on ice cream and apples, spreading it between cake layers, and using it as a topping for toast. Fat Toad Farm cajeta is available at the Farm Stand in Randolph, the South Royalton co-op, Pinky’s in Montpelier, and directly from Fat Toad Farm. |
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