Shtayburne Farm

I stopped in at the Shtayburne Farm on my way to a winery in the area on 8÷19÷15.
It’s a quant shop with a lot of homemade items. I liked the fact they have a free tasting set up to sample cheeses.
They also have a couple of cookbooks with recipes I believe from the Amish (writing this review a few weeks later so I can’t remember exactly).
I don’t have much to add other than it is somewhere between an indoor farm stand and local cheese shop.
In a nutshell, it is worth a visit if you happen to be passing by but I don’t know if I would go out of my way for it.

The visit exceeded my expectations. There were at least ten varieties of cheese /​cheese curds available for tasting plus some jams. The varieties were interesting and flavorful. You can watch cheese being made through a window in the store. We were thrilled to buy cheese from the source!
The family member running the store was friendly and told us about the family and the farm’s history. The cows are beautiful Holsteins.
It was worth the forty minute drive from Ithaca for us to visit this dairy only. Hey, we love cows and cheese. Less enthusiastic cow and cheese lovers might want to find some other places in the area to add to their itinerary when visiting this farm.

We took a day trip to Watkins Glen and Seneca Lake and visited Shtayburne Farm. We are so glad we did as this was the highlight of our day! Don’t put much stock in the other negative comment; it appears that the other reviewer was a cheese snob. :-)
Shtayburne has incredible pasteurized hand-​crafted cheeses made from milk from their small dairy farm. All of the cheeses can be sampled in a nice little wood-​paneled country store. No you won’t find French Crottin de Chavignol cheese here, but you will find a family who makes creative, delicious cheeses from natural milk from their cows.
I was also privileged to talk to Lorin Hostetler, the owner of Shtayburne and spent at least 30 minutes chatting and sharing stories. Our family is launching a farm-​to-​table creamery so it was fun talking with a like-​minded individual. Another plus with Shtayburne is the great location; the farm has a great view of the Seneca Lake! The store is located 5 – 10 minutes from Watkins Glen and can be conveniently accessed from Route 14.

Using a Wine and Cheese Trail Map for the Finger Lakes, and noticed Shtayburne Farm on Seneca Lake, where I was staying for the weekend. We were tempted by the «Artisanal Cheese» they put next to their name, so took the drive down from Geneva to check it out. It is quite far from Geneva… Seneca Lake is so long! Unfortunately it was not worth the drive. But at least the view was stellar and it is a nice drive.
We walked inside and the employee put out 4 sample boxes for us. They had creative selections like blueberry jack, but otherwise, the selections weren’t anything more interesting than Cracker Barrel in any grocery store. Cheddar, sharp cheddar, 2 year aged cheddar, jalapeño jack, horseradish cheddar, smoked bacon cheddar, smoked cheddar, garlic cheddar, tomato basil jack, italian herb jack, garlic herb jack, chili pepper cheddar. The sample boxes have tiny little bits inside you can try. Nothing interested me at all.
It was all very average cheese. Definitely not ARTISANAL.
Prices are quite high for average cheese too. $ 5-​$ 9 for about 10 ounces of cheese.
Skip this stop on your wine and cheese trail. Just go to Wegmans and grab some cheese on the way over. They have a much larger and more interesting selection.