Chester County cheesemakers have banded together to promote and sell their artisanal cheeses

Chef Patrick Feury unwrapped the disks of Yellow Springs Farm goat cheese and wiped them down with the gentle touch usually reserved for newborns and puppies. It's all part of his process of aging the product himself, something he learned at cheese school in Vermont last year. When he picks up the goods from the Chester County makers, they are two weeks young. He matures them for two to three more weeks. "Part of serving them is making sure that the characteristics are at their best," says the chef of Nectar, in Berwyn. "I can take them from a dry chèvre all the way to a Brie-like creaminess." A chef putting this much care into a cheese plate is a rarity, especially because Feury runs the kitchen of an Asian-inspired eatery. His interest in cheese was sparked while training in Paris in the late '90s, but since he began to work with local cheese - all made within miles of the restaurant - he's downright smitten. "They are good products. I wouldn't serve them if they weren't."