Meet the Murray's Affineurs

In the simplest terms, an affineur ages cheese. But there's so much that goes into that process. Affineurs maintain the proper environment of each cave: the temperature, humidity, and airflow. They treat the cheeses inside each cave, from low-intervention tasks like turning the wheels to hands-on work like washing them in brine.

Every wheel in our caves is touched by an affineur at least once a week! Brushing, washing, flipping, bandaging, herbing, coating, smoking... Affinage is an art and a science, and it's physically demanding work. They use all of their senses throughout the aging process to understand how a cheese changes over time and batch to batch. This helps them adjust along the way and determine when a cheese is ready to be sold.

Meet our Director of Affinage, Peter “PJ” Jenkelunas. After years of cheesemaking in the Hudson Valley, PJ moved to New York City and joined the Murray’s team in 2014. He's now responsible for every aspect of our caves program.

Where are you originally from?

Farmington, Connecticut

How did you first get into cheese?

Like most people who pursue a career in cheese, I think it tastes pretty good. In addition to the obvious, I’ve been really interested in fermented foods ever since I started studying food science back in college. Harnessing the power of microbes to create unique flavors is inherently fascinating to me. For these reasons, I decided to work as a cheesemaker in the Hudson Valley immediately after graduation. I’ve been hooked ever since.

How did you start working in the Murray’s Caves?

I’ve known about Murray’s Cheese for quite some time. I knew that Murray’s bought a ton of the cheese that I made up in the Hudson Valley, and I knew they had a great reputation for affinage. When I moved down to NYC, I noticed that they had a job opening in their caves. It seemed like a great opportunity to learn more about affinage. It turned out that I was right, and I’m still learning more years later while heading up the department.

What’s your favorite thing about working in the caves at Murray’s?

Experimenting with new cheese treatments is a lot of fun. We always have something new in the pipeline, and it’s exciting to see how our projects pan out.

What do you love about Murray’s in general?

We have an awesome selection of cheeses. It’s great to work for a company that puts such an emphasis on quality.

Which cave is your favorite? Why?

Our Alpine Cave is a very therapeutic place. A few hours of methodically washing Annelies will put your mind at ease. 

What's your favorite Cave Aged cheese?

I’ll go with Stockinghall. We spent so much time developing this cheese, and I couldn’t be happier with the final result.

A love of beer and a lifelong passion for cheese brought Josh into our caves program from an 18 year career in building automation. After finishing the Murray’s Caves internship, a 12-week program, Josh stayed on and became an integral part of our caves.

Where are you originally from?

Cincinnati, Ohio

How did you first get into cheese?

Long before becoming an affineur, I was a burgeoning cheese aficionado. I would make a weekly trip to the cheese counter at Delaurenti in Seattle—wanting to try what was new and what the mongers were really enjoying. During one conversation, I learned that an Alpine cheese I adored changed flavor as the seasons progressed. It was the first time I ever thought about the seasonality of milk and cheese. I was blown away and became obsessed with learning more about milk, herding, agriculture, cheesemaking, anything that deepened my knowledge of where these beautiful sculptures of preserved milk came from.

How did you start working in the Murray’s Caves?

After 20 years of being a cheese enthusiast, I was presented the opportunity to pursue a new career, but I wasn’t sure in what. I had never considered working in industry that was related to something I loved. So, I made a list of things I liked, and cheese was at the top of that list. I then started searching the internet for jobs in cheese and found that Murray’s offered an internship program in affinage. My imagination began to run wild. After completing the internship, I was fortunate enough to be offered full-time work as an affineur.

What’s your favorite thing about working in the caves at Murray’s?

Don’t judge me on this but the smell. I love the smell of cheese and unique character of each cave. I was not prepared for the intensity of aromas when I first started working here. Eventually the impact subsided. Now I can only smell when things have changed, when there is a subtle (or not so subtle) shift in the caves. Although coming back to work after vacation, it all smells fresh and new again. I love that fresh cave smell. Intoxicating.

What do you love about Murray’s in general?

I love the passion for cheese from everyone who works here. For someone who could have 90% of their conversations be about dairy, this is the place to be.

Which cave is your favorite? Why? 

Really, favorites? I’m horrible at these questions. My answer will always change. I like the tranquility of Alpine, the steady rhythms of Bloomy, the quixotic nature of Washed, and the rinded beauty of Natural. I couldn’t pick just one.

What's your favorite Cave Aged cheese?

Depends on the day, or the hour, or the last one I just tried. I love them all for different reasons. The Loire goat cheeses (Valençay, Sainte-Maure, and Selles-sur-Cher) are certainly the most temperamental, and I love them for that. It doesn’t hurt that their rinds have a certain cosmic beauty. Lately I have really been enjoying Carpenter’s Wheel. It has a texture that I can’t seem to put into words. I love the idea of cheese that transcends language. It is also just a satisfying savory snacker.

Krista Jacobsen is the resident doctor of our caves team, with a background in animal and dairy science—in fact, she chose dairy goats for her doctoral research. This experience allows her to dig into the various microbes, treatments, and variations inherent in affinage, with extra attention spent on milk quality and type. Krista proves that working in the caves is just as much a science as it is an art.

Where are you originally from?

Short Hills, New Jersey

How did you first get into cheese?

I've been eating cheese my whole life. I grew up in a very cheese-friendly home, where anything from the oft-maligned Cheez Whiz to the imported brie or Gruyère was celebrated (there's a time and place for everything!). When I was nine, we lived in France for nearly two years, during which our love for cheese was particularly nurtured. Following graduate school, I was an animal scientist for a long time, specifically focusing on ruminant nutrition and management. After 11 years working in zoos, I hit my professional ceiling and decided I wanted to apply my dairy science background to specialty American cheese.

How did you start working in the Murray's Caves?

I started as a caves intern in April 2015. That July, at the conclusion of the internship, I was hired as assistant caves manager. The caves department also includes quality assurance for the Borden [warehouse] facility. For a few years I helped PJ with QA duties, but in 2019, the role itself grew into its own position. My current role oversees the implementation and maintenance of our food safety and supplier compliance programs. So, I'm regularly in and out of the caves, usually collecting lab samples and documents. But I still step in for affinage every now and again and contribute to R&D. My role ensures that the items we receive, process, and distribute from Borden comply with our food safety standards and regulations and that we're fully prepared for our annual independent third-party food safety facility audit. This typically requires both looking ahead several steps to consider potential factors, as well as looking back to identify trends and root causes. I wallow in documents and data.

What's your favorite thing about working in the caves at Murray's?

Our team is very small, which enables flexible collaboration using our diverse skillsets. There has been virtually no turnover in Caves/QA staff over the past six years or so, so we're like a tight family.

What do you love about Murray's in general?

Access to such a wide variety of cheeses, and the flexibility to create our original recipes for the caves.

Which cave is your favorite? Why?

It's a tie between the Washed Rind Cave and Alpine Cave. Affinage in the Washed Rind Cave is the most varied in terms of potential treatments. Although the environment and microbes in the cave itself are critical to young cheese maturation, the washes enable us to directly manipulate the conditions on the developing rinds. Alpine, however, is the most relaxing and contemplative cave; you can easily go into autopilot mode. I'll also add our small in-house laboratory, which is kind of like a satellite "QA cave" of sorts used to collect pH, water activity, and moisture measurements of the green (i.e., unaged, baby) cheeses. I've always found lab work therapeutic, and these measurements check that the baby cheeses arrive to us within specification. Affinage is never a perfect science, and these measurements help to identify quality trends in our cave cheeses.

What's your favorite Cave Aged cheese?

It's impossible to choose a single favorite, but you can never go wrong with a perfectly ripened Greensward. Other current faves are Treeline and Carpenter's Wheel.

Where are you originally from?

The DMV. Mainly Arlington, Virginia.

How did you first get into cheese?

I was the kid who put a pile of parmesan on my pasta and famously used cottage cheese as a topping. My palate became funkier thanks to the influence of my stepdad, who is French. He taught me to see cheese as a product of land and tradition but also an expression of soul.

How did you start working in the Murray’s Caves?

I first came to Murray’s for a mozzarella making class that had been gifted to me. I was fresh out of the Peace Corps so the notion that it would be a fancy date night event completely escaped me—I showed up in stained overalls. I looked into the caves internship immediately after and finally found myself behind the Murray’s counter a few years later, patiently waiting for the internship to reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic.

What’s your favorite thing about working in the caves at Murray’s?

The dream-come-true feeling makes everything fun... I like the possibility of coming up with new cheeses and wondering how we can make them a reality. I’ve compared affinage to taking care of plants because I think it captures the quasi-maternal feeling it gives me to see their rinds change color and texture over time.

What do you love about Murray’s in general?

Its impressive collection of cheese and cheese experts.

Which cave is your favorite? Why?

There’s no way I can choose when each is so unique. When I first started, I liked Natural the most because the rinds were the most mesmerizing.

What’s your favorite Cave Aged cheese?

Right now, Carpenter’s Wheel.