J2K Capraio starts Indiana’s first underground cheese cave

Since 1999, Joe and his wife, Jody, have operated a 23-acre goat dairy and creamery. At any given time, they have 60 to 70 Nubian, French Alpine and Lamancha goats on six acres of pasture. 

“Some of the best cheeses are made by mixing these types of milks,” says Joe. 

The farm is Certified Animal Welfare Approved by A Greener World. According to agreenerworld.org, this is “the only label that guarantees animals are raised outdoors on pasture or range for their entire lives on an independent farm using truly sustainable, high-welfare farming practices.” 

Every year, the farm grows 10 to 12 acres of alfalfa. According to Joe, growing alfalfa allows them to control the quality of food the goats eat in the winter, and it allows them to maintain a consistent taste of place—terroir. 

“Obviously our animals cannot graze in the winter. Alfalfa has a high calcium content and gives our goats the nutrition they need in the winter months to produce rich milk,” says Joe. “The key to quality cheese is quality milk.” 

Joe and Jody are “pretty much self-taught” from years of practice, trial and error. Every year they invest in professional cheesemaking training— conferences, classes, festivals—and every year they challenge themselves to make one to two styles of cheese that they’ve never made before. 

In 2001, they started selling artisan cheese from all over the world at the South Bend Farmers Market. In 2006, they added the cheese they make on the farm to their lineup of offerings at the market. In 2013, they opened Oh Mamma’s on the Avenue, where they sell cheese, charcuterie, olives, artisan crackers and jams—plus housemade gelato, sandwiches and more. 

Oh Mamma’s on the Avenue and J2K Capraio are among a handful of businesses in the country that own this process from start to finish— from dairying, to cheesemaking, to selling directly to customers. And they just launched a regional wholesale distribution company, Cheese Savors, that sells J2K Capraio and Parish Hill Creamery (Vermont) cheese brands to retail stores and restaurants in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. 

“Having the cheese shop, where we source cheese from all over the country and the world, has allowed us to sample and experience hundreds of diverse cheese flavors,” says Joe. “We noticed a special depth and quality to those cheeses aged under the earth.” 

The flavor complexity and the positive customer response to cave-aged cheeses inspired Joe and Jody to build a cheese cave. After two years of dreaming, they were ready to start the project in December 2016. And this spring, they started aging goat and cow’s milk cheeses in the first underground cheese cave in Indiana on their property in Walkerton. According to Joe, this cheese cave is the first of its kind in Indiana to be under earth and geothermally regulated.