Inside Long Island City's Cheese Caves

Photo by Eileen Moon
Photo by Eileen Moon
An oval sign above the glass door hints at the treasures to be found within the cheese caves at Murrays Cheese Distribution Center on Borden Avenue, Long Island City.
Photo by Eileen Moon
Cavemaster Peter Jenkelunas surrounded by cylinders of Stockinghall Cheddar, Murray’s first house-made cheese. Named in honor of Stocking Hall, the location of Cornell University’s Department of Food Science in Ithaca, New York, where it was developed, the cheese is coated in lard and wrapped in cloth before aging for 12 months at Murray’s.
Photo by Eileen Moon
Murray’s was the first cheese retailer in the country to establish its own aging facility.
Photo by Eileen Moon
In the Alpine cave, Assistant Cavemasters Krista Jacobsen (lower left) and Josh Windsor (on ladder) are giving individual wheels of cheese their weekly baths in a brine solution to keep them from drying out. Cheeses age in the Alpine cave for up to a year.
Photo by Eileen Moon
The Stockinghall Cheddar was the first artisanal cheese Murray's created.