by an atomizer. One-half ounce of flavoring is usually sufficient
for a hundred pounds of curd and can be secured from dairy supply
houses.

A modern cheese authority reported on the current (1953) method:

Instead of sage leaves, or tea prepared from them, at present the
cheese is flavored with oil of Dalmatian wild sage because it has
the sharpest flavor. This piny oil, thujone, is diluted with
water, 250 parts to one, and either added to the milk or sprayed
over the curds, one-eighth ounce for 500 quarts of milk.

In scouting around for a possible maker of the real thing today, we
wrote to Vrest Orton of Vermont, and got this reply:

Sage cheese is one of the really indigenous and best native
Vermont products. So far as I know, there is only one factory
making it and that is my friend, George Crowley's. He makes a
limited amount for my Vermont Country Store. It is the fine
old-time full cream cheese, flavored with real sage.

On this hangs a tale. Some years ago I couldn't get enough sage
cheese (we never can) so I asked a Wisconsin cheesemaker if he
would make some. Said he would but couldn't at that time--because
the alfalfa wasn't ripe. I said, "What in hell has alfalfa got to
do with sage cheese?" He said, "Well, we flavor the sage cheese
with a synthetic sage flavor and then throw in some pieces of
chopped-up alfalfa to make it look green."

So I said to hell with that and the next time I saw George