Editor’s note: Other than a story on Sweet Grass Dairy we have not focused very much on cheese or cheesemakers in the American South. Fortunately we have cheesemonger, journalist and Southern born and raised contributor David Phillips shine a light on the region. In his first installment, he shared an overview of the region’s cheese.
Southern cheesemakers have a special place in my heart, mostly because they are outliers. We tend not to think of the South and cheese in the same phrase. Southern hospitality, yes. Southern cooking, sure. Southern cheese? Well….? In addition, although my cheese-industry friends know me as a cheesemonger from Chicago, I was once a bass fisherman from Florida. I have lived in the Midwest for more than half of my life, more than 30 years in fact, but I grew up between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, an area that is not so much the South, but sort of surrounded by the South. And, yes, as a teenager, I loved Lynyrd Skynyrd (and saw them perform) when they were still fronted by a bare-footed Ronnie Van Zant.
The Rise of Southern Cheesemakers
I first learned the landscape of American artisan cheese almost 20 years ago, when I was the chief editor at Dairy Foods magazine. Much of what I learned about the names, the stories and the cheeses that made up that landscape came from Jeffrey Roberts’ Atlas of American Artisan Cheese (2007), and Jeff and I later collaborated on a series of profile pieces for the magazine. One of the things that most struck me about the book was learning that Jeff had found artisan cheesemakers in all but a handful of states. The Atlas is divided into chapters exploring seven regions and made up of one- to two-page profiles of 345 cheesemaking companies. The chapter on the southern region is comprised of 24 cheesemakers from eight states in the Southeast. Fifteen more artisans from Virginia and West Virginia are profiled in the Mid-Atlantic chapter.
Photo courtesy of Meadow Creek
Nearly 15 years later, as I talk with Chicago cheese customers (and others) about the American cheesemaking renaissance, I am reminded of the lessons I learned then. Great cheese does not come only from France and Italy. And in America, not all outstanding cheese comes from Wisconsin or Vermont. Great cheese can be made anywhere near enough to a supply of good fresh milk, so long as there is someone nearby who has learned the skills of cheesemaking. As a journalist I have talked with folks at Belle Chevre Creamery in Alabama, Sweet Grass Cheese in Georgia and Meadow Creek Dairy in Virginia about their award-winning produce. As a cheesemonger, I now sell their cheeses along with others from newer makers in Tennessee and North Carolina.
Beyond Pimento Cheese
When discussing ideas for this series on cheeses and cheesemakers of the South, Cheese Professor Editor Amy Sherman thought many readers might not realize there is more to Southern cheese than pimento cheese. I can now tell you (and will in parts 2 and 3) that there is much more, but there is also some damn good pimento cheese, which we have covered in detail. We will talk with Jeff Roberts about terroir, and about where southern cheese is now, we’ll check in with Kat Feete, who now helps run Meadow Creek, a 20-year old creamery started by her parents. An Atlanta-based cheesemonger will tell us about how his customers are sometimes pleasantly surprised to find great cheeses are being made in the South, but that they have begun to expect it.
Photo courtesy of Meadow Creek
Stay tuned to learn about Meadow Creek’s operation and its history, and the relative upstarts at Boxcarr Handmade Cheese, making award-winning Italian-style cheeses in Cedar Grove, N.C., to get even more of a sense of the region.
I still have some sentimental memories of the South, but more than that, I am genuinely excited about the cheeses that come from the South.