MONROE - Fermo Jaeckle, well-known in the dairy industry as a co-founder of the Monroe-based Roth Käse USA, just bought a cave. Not just any cave - it's the Great Tennessee Pot Cave.
The natural limestone cave made headlines in 2005 after a Drug Enforcement Task Force discovered under a million-dollar vacation home the entrance to an ancient cavern, 150 feet below, housing a marijuana farm, complete with high-tech lighting, climate control systems and over 1,000 hydroponically grown pot plants.
The Drug Task Force arrested the pot farmers, seized the property and put it up for sale in December of last year.
The property, located about 40 miles from Nashville in Dixon Springs, was auctioned to the highest bidder with the unique cave improvements intact.
Jaeckle, his brother Andre, along with their cousins Ulrich and Felix Roth, and long-time business associates Steve McKeon and Nella DiManno bought the cave, a hidden escape tunnel and seven acres Feb. 9. The house burned down in 2006, under what officials called suspicious circumstances.
The new owners of the cave are eager to utilize the amazing improvements made to the cave and are evaluating multiple options for converting the notorious pot cave into an agricultural and agri-business facility.
The owners intend to form a partnership with Roth Käse, but Roth Käse does not own the cave property and will not move any of its production to Tennessee.
Shipping newly-made cheeses to age in the Tennessee cave is "a likely scenario," Jim Natzke, Roth Käse USA general manager said.
On the list of cheeses to be sent are some American originals, "some not even invented yet, and some not (produced) on a large scale," Natzke said.
Caves, with their constant temperature and absence of natural light have long been used in food production, such as aging wine and growing mushrooms. And in the industry closest to Jaeckle's heart, caves have traditionally been used to age cheese. For example, the classic Gruyere cheese made by Roth Käse USA in Wisconsin is aged to perfection in temperature- and humidity-controlled curing cellars.
For centuries the process was often best done in caves.
"All cheeses used to be air-cured," Natzke said.
Cheese needs to be aged in an open space to have an exchange of oxygen, carbon dioxide and humidity, he said.
"You need the beneficial bacteria, yeasts and molds - you need the good guys to grow, but control is difficult. A cave allows more control of temperature and humidity," Natzke said.
In an interview with Michael Y. Park of Epi-Log (Epicurious.com), Jaeckle said the cave has a floor in it and is fully temperature- and humidity-controlled.
"It would make an ideal place for cheese," he said.
The new cave owners are also exploring how they might work with local Tennessee agricultural concerns to distribute products grown or processed at the Tennessee property.
Besides a massive growing room, parts of which are 20 feet high, the cave was also outfitted with offices, a kitchen, bedrooms and restrooms.
Jaeckle said he doesn't know what he will do with the ancillary rooms.
He said he may tear them down. The owners intend to partner up with local producers, cow, goat or sheep producers, and possibly go into a business of curing cheese there in that area.
Jaeckle said he'll probably subdivide the caves into a couple different rooms, maybe curing several different varieties, probably some washing/drying cheeses and bloomy-rind cheeses like brie and Camembert.
Fermo Jaeckle heard about the auction from his attorney, Rowland Lucid. Jaeckle calculated that it would cost about $750,000, plus the cost of land, to replicate the operation. And with a cave, the cost of electricity for refrigeration equipment used in free-standing or insulated buildings could be spared.
Auctioneers said the original owner, jailed Florida entrepreneur Fred Strunk, had spent at least $750,000 constructing the house and underground growing operation.
The sale was held in one of the 300 ft. long "growing rooms," ninety feet underground, beneath the charred ruins of the A-frame house and gated rock entrance. Journalists in Tennessee reported that 170 people, most of them spectators, gathered to watch the court-ordered sale of the unique property.
Bidding for the property started at $100,000 and quickly moved over the $200,000 mark.
Chuck Olsen, representing Jaeckle and his partners, was the last and highest bidder, taking ownership of the property for $285,000.
The natural limestone cave made headlines in 2005 after a Drug Enforcement Task Force discovered under a million-dollar vacation home the entrance to an ancient cavern, 150 feet below, housing a marijuana farm, complete with high-tech lighting, climate control systems and over 1,000 hydroponically grown pot plants.
The Drug Task Force arrested the pot farmers, seized the property and put it up for sale in December of last year.
The property, located about 40 miles from Nashville in Dixon Springs, was auctioned to the highest bidder with the unique cave improvements intact.
Jaeckle, his brother Andre, along with their cousins Ulrich and Felix Roth, and long-time business associates Steve McKeon and Nella DiManno bought the cave, a hidden escape tunnel and seven acres Feb. 9. The house burned down in 2006, under what officials called suspicious circumstances.
The new owners of the cave are eager to utilize the amazing improvements made to the cave and are evaluating multiple options for converting the notorious pot cave into an agricultural and agri-business facility.
The owners intend to form a partnership with Roth Käse, but Roth Käse does not own the cave property and will not move any of its production to Tennessee.
Shipping newly-made cheeses to age in the Tennessee cave is "a likely scenario," Jim Natzke, Roth Käse USA general manager said.
"If we knew we were going to get such great press on this, we would have started by now," he said. "We didn't even know if we'd get it at auction."
On the list of cheeses to be sent are some American originals, "some not even invented yet, and some not (produced) on a large scale," Natzke said.
Caves, with their constant temperature and absence of natural light have long been used in food production, such as aging wine and growing mushrooms. And in the industry closest to Jaeckle's heart, caves have traditionally been used to age cheese. For example, the classic Gruyere cheese made by Roth Käse USA in Wisconsin is aged to perfection in temperature- and humidity-controlled curing cellars.
For centuries the process was often best done in caves.
"All cheeses used to be air-cured," Natzke said.
Cheese needs to be aged in an open space to have an exchange of oxygen, carbon dioxide and humidity, he said.
"You need the beneficial bacteria, yeasts and molds - you need the good guys to grow, but control is difficult. A cave allows more control of temperature and humidity," Natzke said.
In an interview with Michael Y. Park of Epi-Log (Epicurious.com), Jaeckle said the cave has a floor in it and is fully temperature- and humidity-controlled.
"It would make an ideal place for cheese," he said.
The new cave owners are also exploring how they might work with local Tennessee agricultural concerns to distribute products grown or processed at the Tennessee property.
Besides a massive growing room, parts of which are 20 feet high, the cave was also outfitted with offices, a kitchen, bedrooms and restrooms.
Jaeckle said he doesn't know what he will do with the ancillary rooms.
He said he may tear them down. The owners intend to partner up with local producers, cow, goat or sheep producers, and possibly go into a business of curing cheese there in that area.
Jaeckle said he'll probably subdivide the caves into a couple different rooms, maybe curing several different varieties, probably some washing/drying cheeses and bloomy-rind cheeses like brie and Camembert.
Fermo Jaeckle heard about the auction from his attorney, Rowland Lucid. Jaeckle calculated that it would cost about $750,000, plus the cost of land, to replicate the operation. And with a cave, the cost of electricity for refrigeration equipment used in free-standing or insulated buildings could be spared.
Auctioneers said the original owner, jailed Florida entrepreneur Fred Strunk, had spent at least $750,000 constructing the house and underground growing operation.
The sale was held in one of the 300 ft. long "growing rooms," ninety feet underground, beneath the charred ruins of the A-frame house and gated rock entrance. Journalists in Tennessee reported that 170 people, most of them spectators, gathered to watch the court-ordered sale of the unique property.
Bidding for the property started at $100,000 and quickly moved over the $200,000 mark.
Chuck Olsen, representing Jaeckle and his partners, was the last and highest bidder, taking ownership of the property for $285,000.