Did you know that restaurants and related food services account for nearly half of all the food that is eaten? Because of this, the closure of restaurants around the world due to COVID-19 has affected farmers and the food community especially hard.
While demand from supermarkets has increased for some products, most artisan foods—cheese in particular—don’t have anywhere to go until restaurants reopen. Jasper Hill, one of the most successful American cheesemakers, had to sell an entire herd of cattle, and makers of the more perishable soft cheeses have no choice but to give their product away—if they can find a distribution channel to do so.
But, with challenge comes innovation, and when the cheeseboard is empty, cheese lovers rally to the cause. The Save British Cheese box was created by Jason Hinds of Neal’s Yard Dairy, an artisanal cheese retailer in Great Britain. The box was sold direct to consumers and included three types of cheese that were most at risk and needed to be sold quickly.
Neal’s Yard Dairy had expected to sell about 2,500 of the boxes in a week, but they sold out in four hours. According to Joe Schneider, the owner of Stichelton Dairy, those boxes saved his business. Even Prince Charles has contributed to the cheese awareness campaign, sharing his favorite recipe for cheesy baked eggs.
But how can we support cheese artisans here at home? Order some cheese to be delivered to your home, that’s how. Better yet, sign up for a cheese club subscription and keep the cheese coming year-round. We’ve listed some of our favorite cheesemakers below and encourage you to support them.
Jasper Hill Farm
Jasper Hill is a working dairy farm with an on-site creamery in Northeast Vermont and is a relative newcomer to the zenith of American artisanal cheesemakers. Their Winnimere is made from their raw cow’s milk and then wrapped in spruce bark strips and washed in beer brewed on the farm.
Shop their online store | Join their cheese of the month club
Cowgirl Creamery
After careers in some of San Francisco’s best restaurants, Sue Conley and Peggy Smith began making cheese using milk from the neighboring Straus Family Creamery. Since then, they have expanded to two creameries and four retail stores. One of their top winners is Red Hawk, an usual washed-rind, triple-crème cheese made from organic cow’s milk with a high 75% butterfat content. It was voted Best Cheese in America in 2003.
Shop their online store | Join their cheese of the month club
Saxelby Cheesemongers
Anne Saxelby opened Saxelby Cheesemongers in 2006 in the historic Essex Street Market on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, selling only regional American farmstead cheeses. Joined by Frenchman Benoit Breal, the company has grown from a tiny stall to a booming business selling cheese from many of the cheesemakers listed here.
Shop their online store | Join their cheese of the month club
Laura Chenel and Northbay Creameries
Laura Chenel, the original Chef’s goat cheese, started a new chapter in American cheese by introducing French farmstead goat cheese making techniques to Sonoma, California in 1979. Northbay Creameries continues her commitment to care, quality, and community by crafting award-winning cheese, supporting family farms, and respecting the environment with its certified sustainable creamery.
Shop their online store
Cypress Grove
Another California goat cheese pioneer, Cypress Grove’s Humboldt Fog soft-ripened cheese won the American Cheese Society Award, First Place, in 2019. The dairy is managed primarily with the health and happiness of its herd in mind, and the American Humane Association endorsed its model dairy as Humane Certified with a 100 percent score three years running.
Shop their online store
Vermont Shepherd
Vermont Shepherd is a 250-acre farm in Westminster, Vermont with 300-700 sheep which are herded by two Border Collies and eight Maremma Sheepdogs—and of course shepherds. In addition to their award winning cheeses, they sell wool and other farm products in their online store.
Shop their online store
The Gourmet Cheese of the Month Club
Founded over 25 years ago, this was one of the first subscription box services. About half of their cheeses come from American farmers, including (this month) Beecher’s Flagship, Sartori Reserve Espresso BellaVitano®, and Redhead Creamery – Little Lucy.
Join their cheese of the month club
Artisanal vs. Farmstead
Just in case you’re interested, there is a difference between “artisanal” and “farmstead.” Artisanal cheese is made in small batches by hand, using traditional tools and manual techniques with little mechanization. If the cheesemaker uses milk produced by his or her own animals, then it is also known as farmstead cheese. So, not all artisanal cheese is farmestead cheese—and vice versa.
