As usual, the winners’ circle at the recent American Cheese Society awards included several repeat victors who almost always land ribbons. They’re just that good. A few new creameries won blue ribbons, but the top honors—the Best of Show and four runners-up—went to long-established producers. These five winners, from five states, had at least one common feature. “What struck me, standing on stage, was that it was all independent cheesemakers,” said Andy Hatch of Wisconsin’s Uplands Cheese. In an industry that constantly grapples with the meaning of “artisan cheese,” it is indeed worth noting that the five winning wheels are all made by hand.
Read moreWhite House Worthy?
Photo: White House
President Biden held a State Dinner for the president of France last week and made headlines by serving an all-American cheese course. (Imagine the outcry if he hadn’t.) Of course, cheese people were eager to learn what the White House selected, and I personally would love to know if President Macron cleaned his plate.
Read moreAll Aboard for Cheeselandia
If you want a break from current events, imagine a peaceful nation whose citizens just want to get along, make friends and eat cheese. Such a place exists, if you can believe it, and it’s called Cheeselandia. I just learned about it and I have a passport already. If you like Wisconsin cheese, or at least want to know more about it, the border patrol will let you in.
Read moreBrave or Foolish?
What does it take to get American cheese into a European cheese shop? And will anybody buy it if you do? Raymond Hook, a New York City-based specialty-food broker, is close to someanswers. Working with partners, Hook is attempting to build a global audience for cheeses from Oregon’s Rogue Creamery, Virginia’s Meadow Creek Dairy and Georgia’s Sweet Grass Dairy, among others. The export learning curve has left a few bruises, but Hook is an optimist. Today: London. Tomorrow: the world.
Read moreRaw Milk Manifesto
Always Raw: (clockwise from top) 5 Spoke Tumbleweed; Meadow Creek Grayson; Matos St. George; Grafton Village 2-Year Cheddar
Aged cheeses made with raw milk are dwindling in number, in part because FDA scrutiny makes the future uncertain for cheesemakers who choose to work in this traditional way. Even so, some persist. I’ve asked several leading cheesemakers who work exclusively with raw milk to tell us why they bother.
Read moreRaw Deal
Will you miss them when they’re gone? America’s raw-milk cheeses haven’t been outlawed—yet—but they are definitely under threat. The FDA is currently scrutinizing this tiny sliver of the dairy world and considering heightened regulations. Although an outright ban strikes me as unlikely, the agency may well make compliance so onerous and expensive that many raw-milk cheese producers will toss in the towel.
Read moreRunning the Numbers →
Which cheese will take Best of Show in the American Cheese Society’s annual competition this week? We’ll know soon enough (award ceremony is July 31 in Sacramento), but in the interim, I gathered some stats on prior winners. Could the judges’ past preferences help us predict who might get the gold?
Read more