Scott Stroud sells cheese in Atlanta. The shop he works at, the Buttery, offers cheeses from France, and Switzerland, of course, but its customers also find superb cheeses made just a few hours away, in Georgia, North Carolina, or Tennessee. “Over the years I’ve found that customers are increasingly interested in local products,” says Stroud, a Certified Cheese Professional through the American Cheese Society. “Since the South historically has not had dairy as part of its agriculture, they are surprised at not only how big it’s gotten but also, how good.”
Stroud is relatively new to the shop, but he has worked in artisan cheese in Atlanta for about 15 years, and in that time, he says, consumers have become more aware that there are some great cheeses being made in the land of peaches and palm trees. “Customers are not as surprised as they once were,” he says.
What Defines Artisan Cheesemaking the South?
Jeffrey Roberts credit Lizzari Photographic
Artisan cheesemaking is relatively new anywhere in the U.S., with a dramatically different scope and scale now than what existed just 20 to 30 years ago, but places with a well-developed cheesemaking infrastructure such as Wisconsin, Vermont, and California were ahead of the curve in terms of a critical mass of artisan cheesemakers. And yet, when Jeffrey Roberts compiled his Atlas of American Artisan Cheese in 2007, he had little trouble identifying artisan cheesemakers in every state but Wyoming and Florida. In fact, he found 345 cheesemakers coast-to-coast worthy of a page or two, and a whopping 35 in the state of New York alone! There are 24 cheesemakers included from the Atlas’ section on the Southeast. Some of those are now gone and newer cheese companies have emerged. There are a few of well-established companies that have grown and are old enough to be run by a next-generation, or a new owner. Is there a cheese style like California Dry Jack or Vermont Cheddar that is unique to the South? No. Pimento cheese is really a spread made from cheese, more than cheese on its own. Those involved say there is certainly a community of Southern cheesemakers who are making good cheese and sharing ideas and resources. An organization known as the Southern Cheese Guild has existed in one form or another since before Roberts’ Atlas first went to press.
A veteran member of Slow Foods USA and a founder of the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese, Roberts loves to talk about terroir—the idea that the physicality of a place essentially helps create unique agriculture and food culture.
“In my opinion there is no one terroir of the Southeast,” he says. “Just because some place might be dry doesn’t mean that you can’t have dairy–sheep or goat for instance. Pasture management is essential wherever we are. Keep in mind that those climates create unique challenges and unique opportunities, and much of that for cheese, is in what the animals eat.” But the composition of the soil will have some unique attributes in a particular region, Roberts says, and that is passed to the animals through the plants they eat. And in much of the South, animals raised for cheesemaking are largely pasture-fed.
A Tale of Two Creameries
Two of the most successful cheesemakers in the south are Sweet Grass Dairy in southern Georgia and Meadow Creek in mountainous Galax, Va. Both make cheeses with locally-sourced single-source cow’s milk, from herds of mostly Jersey Cows. Meadow Creek makes all farmstead cheeses, from its own closed herd. The Little family, owners of Sweet Grass, also own and operate the dairy that supplies all the milk to Sweet Grass. At both Meadow Creek and Sweet Grass, cows have year round (or near to it at Meadow Creek) pasture access. In northern climes, cows will be fed hay in winter which presents cheesemakers with more seasonal variation in the milk—another challenge.
Sweet Grass has been making a variety of award-winning cheeses since 2000 and has recently expanded its creamery and its distribution. Meadow Creek makes a smaller number of cheeses and is best known for Grayson, a cheese that was declared the best farmstead cheese in America American Cheese Society judging in 2008 took second place in best of show that year and went to win numerous other awards. Kat Feete grew up with the Meadow Creek farm and creamery started by her parents, Helen and Rick. She now helps run the operation, and helps represent it at cheese conferences and as a member of the Southern Cheese Guild. Meadow Creek has also expanded recently, adding an additional herd, and expanding its aging cellars.
Cheese under Press photo courtesy Meadow Creek
Feete acknowledges that the cheeses made by Meadow Creek and neighboring southern makers are riffs on classic European cheeses—Grayson was inspired by an Irish washed rind named Durrus and by the Italian classic Taleggio. But she is also certain that raw milk, farmstead cheeses are each unique, no matter where they are made. “We have added a couple species to the native grasses—climate and terrain determine what kind of grass you grow,” she notes “Our cellars are unique to us. They are underground and open, with concrete walls and we spray them (to encourage growth of appropriate molds). She adds, “You end up with a unique mix (of microflora) whether you like it or not.”
Rocket’s Robiola photo credit Boxcarr Handmade Cheese
The Newcomers
Cheese professionals and consumers certainly like the cheeses that are coming out of the southern regions. Veterans like Sweet Grass and Meadow Creek continue to grow, and relative newcomers like Boxcarr Handmade Cheese in North Carolina and 20 Paces Creamery in Virginia are getting attention and winning awards. We will tell you more about them in the next part of this series.
Feete says that newcomers and veterans are forming a community, and that folks from Boxcarr, and from Tennessee’s Sequatchie Cove Creamery have visited Meadow Creek to learn more about the craft of cheesemaking, she likes the exchange, and enjoys her neighbors’ cheeses when she can get some.
Meanwhile, that pimento cheese that we mentioned earlier has an entire story of its own but readers would be well-advised to try a homemade, chef-made or store-bought version of the cheese-and-mayo concoction. Two that should not be missed are Sweet Grass Pimento (made from its award-winning Thomasville Tome), and the line from Red Clay Gourmet, in North Carolina.