Skylands Food TrailA stop on the Skylands Food Cheese Trail: farms that make cheese from their own animals’ milk.
Hillcrest Orchard & Dairy is a 67-acre working farm outside Branchville, and Jersey Girl Cheese is made right here with milk from its own grass-fed Jersey cows. The cheesemakers trained in Italy, and it shows: hand-stretched mozzarella, caciocavallo, scamorza, provolone and ricotta salata, with the aged wheels resting in a cave built into the hill.
You can see the cows and chickens up close, and in fall the orchard is open for apple picking, reached by hayride.
What’s here
- Made here
- Fresh hand-stretched mozzarella · Caciocavallo · Scamorza · Toma · Canestrato · Ricotta salata
- Grown or raised here
- Cow (the farm’s own Jerseys)
This season
Pick-your-own apples from early September (10+ varieties, by hayride), plus cider and cider doughnuts at the farm store. Call ahead to check what’s ready to pick.
Details checked against Jersey Girl Cheese at Hillcrest Orchard & Dairy’s own site on ; not yet confirmed by the business. Hours change, so check before you go. Spot a mistake? Tell us.