Uplands Cheese Company, Wisconsin Age: 61 days (Rush Creek), 12-18 months (Pleasant Ridge) But, you know, then go buy something think of your cheese purchase as not only supporting your desire to sit on the couch and eat cheese for dinner, but also as a way to support small businesses. Chat with your cheesemonger, find out what your nearby dairies are producing, and-best of all-always ask for samples.

While this list is a great starting point, don’t make it an ending point. Beyond just how good these cheeses taste, many of them also serve as models for responsible dairy farming and helping local communities. So I asked seven of the country’s leading cheese experts (see their bios at the end) to share what they think are the most important (and most delicious) cheeses that define American dairy today. We’re living in a dairy renaissance, people! The golden age of American cheese! What a time to be alive!īut the cheese counter can be an intimidating place good cheese does not come cheap. Instead, I’m referring to the incredible range of cheeses handcrafted in America-from young, tangy goat cheeses in Indiana to aged, nutty cow’s-milk cheese in Wisconsin dessert-like blue cheeses from Oregon and complex, caramel-y clothbound cheddars from Vermont. But when I use the phrase American cheese now, that’s not what I’m talking about (save for this great grilled cheese recipe and the occasional hamburger). The phrase American cheese used to mean only one thing: that floppy, pale orange plastic-wrapped slice of processed perfection.

Artisan cheese list