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Loving and Thankful for Vermont Cheese

The Cheese Department would like to take the time to express how thankful we are to live here in Vermont where hand-crafted artisan cheese is bountiful, beautiful, and easy to get your hands on.  It is incredible to recognize that it’s “the norm” to have such a diversity of high-end local cheese (seriously: what other state boasts a legitimate and lengthy cheese trail, complete with a map?  If you’ve never seen it, check it out here: http://www.vtcheese.com/cheesetrail.htm  And don’t feel strange about printing it out and posting it proudly in your home: you’re not alone.)  Our local cheeses come from all over this fine state, from Green Mountain Blue Cheese in Highgate Center to Grafton Village Cheese in Brattleboro; from Maplebrook Farm in the southwest to Bonnieview Farm in the NEK; and all points in-between.  This little state of ours has so many delectable cheeses that there is a whole annual festival dedicated to them and their makers.  The selection of local cheeses at our fingertips is so extensive that we can rarely answer “what’s your favorite local cheese?” the same way twice, and when we can answer it, our responses are often qualified with descriptions such as “Well, this is my favorite semi-aged pasteurized goat’s milk cheese.  My favorite aged raw sheep’s milk cheese, though…”  We turophiles have it so good here in Vermont.  So, we thank our cheesemakers for their hard work and dedication, we thank the landscape which inspires them and supports their efforts, we thank their animals who provide the milk to get the whole thing started, and we thank our lucky stars to be living here and enjoying all this cheese!