Artisan cheese
Encyclopedia
Artisan cheese is manufactured by hand using the traditional craftsmanship of skilled cheesemakers. As a result the cheeses are often more complex in taste and variety. Many are aged and ripened to achieve certain aesthetics
. This contrasts with the more mild flavors of mass produced cheeses produced in large scale operations, often shipped and sold right away.
Part of the artisan cheese making process is aging and ripening of the cheeses to develop flavor and textural characteristics. One type of artisan cheese is known as farmstead cheese, made traditionally with milk from the producer's own herds of cows, sheep, and goats.
Examples of artisan cheesemakers include:
Examples of artisan cheeses include Burrata
, Cabrales cheese
, Serra da Estrela cheese
, Coulommiers cheese
, Crucolo
, Époisses de Bourgogne, Fourme de Montbrison
, Scamorza, Fourme d'Ambert
, Humboldt Fog
, Idiazábal cheese
, Lanark Blue
, Oka cheese
, Shropshire Blue cheese
, Dragon's Breath Blue, Picodon
, Maytag Blue cheese
, Vieux-Boulogne
, and Abondance
.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
. This contrasts with the more mild flavors of mass produced cheeses produced in large scale operations, often shipped and sold right away.
Part of the artisan cheese making process is aging and ripening of the cheeses to develop flavor and textural characteristics. One type of artisan cheese is known as farmstead cheese, made traditionally with milk from the producer's own herds of cows, sheep, and goats.
Examples of artisan cheesemakers include:
- Beecher's Handmade CheeseBeecher's Handmade CheeseBeecher's Handmade Cheese is an artisan cheesemaker and retail shop based in the Pike Place Market, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.. The company was founded by Kurt Beecher Dammeier in 2003, and was opened in the Pike Place Market after Dammeier obtained a storefront lease in the Market, which are...
. - Cowgirl CreameryCowgirl CreameryCowgirl Creamery is a company located in Point Reyes Station, California which manufactures artisanal cheeses. Founded in 1994, the company both manufactures its own cheeses and sells other imported and domestic cheese...
- Cypress Grove chevreCypress Grove ChevreCypress Grove Chevre is a cheese manufacturer located in Arcata, California. They specialize in goat cheeses including the award-winning Humboldt Fog.- History :Cypress Grove Chevre was founded in 1983 in McKinleyville, CA by Mary Keehn...
- Grafton Village Cheese CompanyGrafton Village Cheese CompanyGrafton Village Cheese Company is a cheesemaker in the town of Grafton in the U.S. state of Vermont. The company produces hand-crafted aged cheddar cheese and was established in 1892 as the Grafton Cooperative Cheese Company...
- Rolf BeelerRolf BeelerRolf Beeler is a Swiss "affineur" whose products include Blau Geiss, Thurblau, Hoch Ybrig, and Forsterkäse. Rolf Beeler collects cheese from small, artisanal cheesemakers throughout Switzerland and then ages them to create the final product....
- Valley Shepherd CreameryValley Shepherd CreameryValley Shepherd Creamery is an artisan cheese making farm in Long Valley, New Jersey, and the winner of Edible Communities' New Jersey Food Artisan award in 2009.-History:The business was started in 2005 by Eran Wajswol with in Long Valley, New Jersey...
- Winchester Cheese CompanyWinchester Cheese CompanyWinchester Cheese Company is an artisan cheese producer in the town of Winchester, California, in Riverside County, Southern California.The company was started by Jules Wesselink, who was born in the Netherlands and came to the United States when he was in his 20s. He worked at his future in-laws'...
Examples of artisan cheeses include Burrata
Burrata
Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream. The outer shell is solid mozzarella while the inside contains both mozzarella and cream, giving it an unusual, soft texture. It is usually served fresh, at room temperature. The name "burrata" means "buttered" in...
, Cabrales cheese
Cabrales cheese
Cabrales is a cheese made in the artisan tradition by rural dairy farmers in the north of Spain. This cheese can be made from pure, unpasteurised cow’s milk or blended in the traditional manner with goat and/or sheep milk, which lends the cheese a stronger, more spicy flavor.All of the milk used...
, Serra da Estrela cheese
Serra da Estrela cheese
Serra da Estrela is a cheese from the cold and mountainous region of Serra da Estrela in Portugal, which has been granted PDO status in the European Union...
, Coulommiers cheese
Coulommiers cheese
Coulommiers is a cheese from Coulommiers in the Seine-et-Marne department of France, is the lesser-known cousin of Brie, although it has been produced perhaps longer. It is made from cow's milk, usually in the shape of a disc with white, bloomy edible Penicillium candidum rind...
, Crucolo
Crucolo
Crucolo is an artisanal cow's milk cheese made by a single producer at the Rifugio Crucolo, situated at the mouth of the Val Campelle in Trentino, northern Italy....
, Époisses de Bourgogne, Fourme de Montbrison
Fourme de Montbrison
Fourme de Montbrison is a cow's-milk cheese made in the regions of Rhône-Alpes and Auvergne in southern France. It derives its name from the town of Montbrison in the Loire department....
, Scamorza, Fourme d'Ambert
Fourme d'Ambert
Fourme d'Ambert is one of France's oldest cheeses, and dates from as far back as Roman times. It is a usually pasteurized cow's milk blue cheese from the Auvergne region of France, with a distinct, narrow cylindrical shape....
, Humboldt Fog
Humboldt Fog
Humboldt Fog is a goat milk cheese made by Cypress Grove Chevre, of Arcata, California, in Humboldt County. It is named for the local ocean fog which rolls in from Humboldt Bay....
, Idiazábal cheese
Idiazabal cheese
Idiazabal is a pressed cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk, usually from Latxa and Carranzana sheep in the Basque Country and Navarre, Spain. It has a somewhat smokey flavor, but is usually un-smoked....
, Lanark Blue
Lanark Blue
Lanark Blue is a sheep milk cheese produced in Lanarkshire, Scotland.Produced at Ogcastle near to the village of Carnwath by Humphrey Errington since 1985, it is a rich blue-veined artisan cheese...
, Oka cheese
Oka cheese
Oka cheese was originally manufactured by the Trappist monks, who are located in Oka, Quebec, Canada. The cheese is named after the town. It has a distinct flavour and aroma, and is still manufactured in Oka, although now by a commercial company, the rights having been sold in 1996 by Les Peres...
, Shropshire Blue cheese
Shropshire Blue cheese
Shropshire Blue is a cow's milk cheese made in the United Kingdom. The cheese was first made in the 1970s at the Castle Stuart dairy in Inverness, Scotland by Andy Williamson, a cheesemaker who had trained in the making of Stilton cheese in Nottinghamshire...
, Dragon's Breath Blue, Picodon
Picodon
Picodon is a goats-milk cheese made in the region around the Rhône river in southern France. The name means "spicy" in Occitan.The cheese itself comes in a number of varieties, each small, flat and circular in shape varying from speckled white to golden in colour...
, Maytag Blue cheese
Maytag Blue cheese
Maytag is a blue cheese produced on the Maytag Dairy Farms outside of Newton, Iowa, the former home of the Maytag Corporation. In 1938, Iowa State University developed a new process for making blue cheese from homogenized cow's milk instead of the traditional sheep's milk.- History :In 1941,...
, Vieux-Boulogne
Vieux-Boulogne
Vieux-Boulogne is an unpasteurized, unpressed cow's-milk cheese made in the Pas-de-Calais département around the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer in France....
, and Abondance
Abondance (cheese)
Abondance is a semi-hard, fragrant, raw-milk cheese made in the Haute-Savoie department of France. Its name comes from a small commune also called Abondance. A round of Abondance weighs approximately 10 kg and its aroma is similar to that of Beaufort, also from France. Abondance is made...
.
See also
External links
- American Cheese Society
- California's Artisan Cheese Festival
- California Artisan Cheese Guild
- Ancil, Brandon. "Eat the rind, don't sweat the sweat – an artisan cheese primer." CNNCNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
.