The Nuns of New Skete

Anyone can go to Saratoga and wax rhapsodically about the place. The tradition, the beauty, the gorgeous horses in running flight. The mineral springs, the ballet and the symphony at the Arts Center. The Victorian architecture. The town of Saratoga Springs is so well preserved even the new is made to look like it's been there 100 years. The gas station on Broadway is architecturally trimmed in wrought iron. Yeah, yeah, yeah, all that good stuff.

But how many people go up there and use the off-day of racing to check out where the cheesecake comes from?

It was sometime around 1975, or 1976, The B.C.-era (before children) when we went to the restaurant at the Fair Haven Inn in Fair Haven, Vermont. We were leaf-peeping, as the locals would say, and heard enough about the restaurant to warrant a visit. Plus, it was known for its Greek food. In Vermont. Owner is from Astoria.

Was good then, and has remained a destination restaurant ever since. That first visit though introduced us to the dessert menu, featuring cheesecake from the Nuns at New Skete. Really? Nuns are making cheesecake? Yes.

The cheesecake was good. Good enough to want it just about anytime we went back. Some other desserts were sometimes chosen, but the nuns were always there churning out the cheesecake, whether we took it or not.

The nuns make cheesecake every day and supply it to restaurants, etc. They're nearby, in Cambridge, New York, not in any place called New Skete.  The word Skete refers to a Coptic word meaning monastic communities, of which there are three in Cambridge. The nuns, the monks, who raise and train German Shepherds, and the married monastic companions.  The above photo is of the Transfiguration Temple.

Near the Temple is a bell tower, with an array of 12 bells that are rung daily. The ropes attached to these bells are new and white. There is a door at the base that easily opens to the curious where there is an area about 10 by 10 where the bell-ringers would pull on their assigned ropes. On the ledge is some sheet music, and three noise cancelling headphones are draped over a rail. Even with no one around, the temptation to ring a bell was resisted.

The monks raise German Shepherds and run a dog obedience program. The dogs are sold to all kinds of owners, and include law enforcement and organizations for the blind. While the kennel area was not seen, some dogs were seen in the company of monks while being schooled in commands. The throaty bark of a German Shepard would sometimes be heard. Even if they're not seen, they mean business.

But the objective was cheesecake, not puppies. This was found in a plain double-doored building that allowed an entrance vestibule to serve as an off-hours chance to self-serve (and self-pay) for any items taken from the fully stocked freezer. A lettered sign said the place was under video surveillance, but it was not evident.

Since we arrived with Sister Sharon on duty the self-serve part was not needed. In fact, the cheesecake wasn't even needed on Tuesday, since we weren't leaving till Saturday, and had no place to keep it frozen.

Shipping it back was known about from a story the NYT did on the nuns and their product in a Wednesday Dining Section, March 13, 2013. Online ordering is fully available. But what flavor were we interested in, Sister Sharon wanted to know. Flavor? "Yes, we have 13. I can find out which ones we sell to the Hannaford supermarkets and you can pick one up on your way home." Another something learned. The best of all worlds. A retail outlet for the nuns' cheesecake.

We knew where the Hannaford supermarket was on Route 254, Aviation Road, in Glens Falls, not far from where we stay. And the early Saturday visit lead us to a very well-stocked dairy freezer, with many flavors to choose from. And $31 for a four pound edible anvil seemed quite reasonable, considering it yields 16 hefty slices. Flavor? Coin-toss between key-lime and raspberry resulted in raspberry winning. (Note for the future: deluxe cheesecake is really plain cheesecake; the nuns don't like to consider anything they produce to be called plain.)

So, the annual pilgrimage to Saratoga has a new sequence of events added to the Saturday departure plan. Breakfast at Poopie's, then a short drive on-the-way-home-anyway, to Hannaford, and a decision at the grocer's freezer.

I have to say, knowing about the nuns of New Skete and their cheesecake at least several decades before the NYT did a story on them has only made it taste even better.

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