If you’re a fan of local cheese, then you know that shopping at local cheese shops and farmers’ markets is a great way to learn about your region. Below you’ll find three state-centric cheese boards from a contest I put together back in July.
I asked cheese lovers from across the United States to send in a picture and description of a local cheese board. They had to create it themselves, and in addition to local cheese they could add local specialties – beer, wine, produce, etc.
The three entries featured today are hyper local! All of the entrants even used locally made cutting boards. Each winner will receive a copy of our new book,
The Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese, which features artisan cheeses from across the U.S. and beyond, along with cheese boards that are fun to put together.
Here’s to feeling inspired to eat local, drink local, and – cheese local!
New York Cheese Board
By Kimberly Fortin
Kimberly writes:
This cheeseboard is all NY and is a great mild cheese board to introduce someone that might be a little skeptical of trying different varieties of cheese. At the top right hand corner is Old Chatham Sheepherding Company's Hudson Valley Camembert. Since it's a blend of sheep and cow milk, it's a little milder than some straight sheep's milk cheese which makes it a great intro to sheep cheese. It's very creamy.
In the middle is 4 Tin Fish Farm's Herb Chevre. They make small batch farmstead goat cheese. It is also a very mild cheese, making it a great "gateway" goat cheese for those that have had bad goat cheese experiences.
And at the bottom right hand side is Sunset View Creamery's Raw Milk Seneca Semi-Hard Cheese, which is a nice cheddar style cheese. Very clean tasting for a positive raw milk experience. The olives are from Wegman's, an upstate New York grocery store, founded in Rochester. The sugar plums are from a local farm stand. The lavender is from Bee-attitude's Honey & Lavender Farm. The wine is Pinot Gris from Thirsty Owl Wine Company. And last but not least, the board is from Bartolotta Furniture.
Texas Cheese Board
By Nicole Buergers, a.k.a Queso Queen
Nicole writes:
Here is a Texas Cheese board!
We have Hoja Santa (on the panhandle) from The Mozzarella Company in Dallas. Just south of that: Ste. Maure from Pure Luck Dairy in Dripping Springs. East of that: Gaujillo Honey from near San Antonio. South of that: Cumino Royale from Eagle Mountain Cheese Company in Granbury. South west of that: Redneck Cheddar from Veldhuizen Family Farm in Dublin. And finally, some figs picked in the backyard of the Houston Dairymaids.
New Hampshire Cheese Board
By Erin Kiley
Erin writes:
I read on your blog about your "United States of Cheese Plates" project, and I figured I'd take this as an opportunity to show off the excellent cheeses and accompaniments made in my home state, New Hampshire!
Baby Swiss from the Boggy Meadow Farm in Walpole
Coulommier from the Sandwich Creamery in Sandwich
Shades of Blue from the Brookford Farm in Canterbury
Landaff from the Landaff Creamery in Landaff
Accompanying it on my dishcloth in the back are:
Seeded Sourdough, made by The Bread Peddler in Sanbornton; Weiss Cracker ale from the Canterbury Aleworks in Canterbury; Dark forest honey from our own hives in Loudon (this is excellent honey, if I do say so myself!); Homemade apple jelly, with apples from my grandfather's trees in Loudon; King oyster "tapenade", homemade with certified organic king oyster mushrooms from my uncle Dennis and the rest of the gang at the New Hampshire Mushroom Company in Tamworth.
I picked up the cheeses from the Concord Co-Op and Butter's Fine Food & Wine (both in Concord) and got the ale, bread and mushrooms from the Capital Farmer's Market in Concord. I brought all of them down to my husband's apartment in Greenwich Village, NYC for a nice evening with some of our friends.
This cheese plate went really well with an heirloom tomato salad and some fresh fruit. (By the way--the slate that the cheese is sitting on is also local--it fell off the roof of one of the old campus buildings during my college days at UNH, and I rescued it from the flowerbed and have been using it in the kitchen ever since . . .)
For more inspired cheese board ideas, see our
first contest recap and please visit
Madame Fromage.
Kimberly writes: This cheeseboard is all NY and is a great mild cheese board to introduce someone that might be a little skeptical of trying different varieties of cheese. At the top right hand corner is Old Chatham Sheepherding Company's Hudson Valley Camembert. Since it's a blend of sheep and cow milk, it's a little milder than some straight sheep's milk cheese which makes it a great intro to sheep cheese. It's very creamy.
In the middle is 4 Tin Fish Farm's Herb Chevre. They make small batch farmstead goat cheese. It is also a very mild cheese, making it a great "gateway" goat cheese for those that have had bad goat cheese experiences.
And at the bottom right hand side is Sunset View Creamery's Raw Milk Seneca Semi-Hard Cheese, which is a nice cheddar style cheese. Very clean tasting for a positive raw milk experience. The olives are from Wegman's, an upstate New York grocery store, founded in Rochester. The sugar plums are from a local farm stand. The lavender is from Bee-attitude's Honey & Lavender Farm. The wine is Pinot Gris from Thirsty Owl Wine Company. And last but not least, the board is from Bartolotta Furniture.
Nicole writes: Here is a Texas Cheese board!
We have Hoja Santa (on the panhandle) from The Mozzarella Company in Dallas. Just south of that: Ste. Maure from Pure Luck Dairy in Dripping Springs. East of that: Gaujillo Honey from near San Antonio. South of that: Cumino Royale from Eagle Mountain Cheese Company in Granbury. South west of that: Redneck Cheddar from Veldhuizen Family Farm in Dublin. And finally, some figs picked in the backyard of the Houston Dairymaids.
Erin writes: I read on your blog about your "United States of Cheese Plates" project, and I figured I'd take this as an opportunity to show off the excellent cheeses and accompaniments made in my home state, New Hampshire!
Baby Swiss from the Boggy Meadow Farm in Walpole
Coulommier from the Sandwich Creamery in Sandwich
Shades of Blue from the Brookford Farm in Canterbury
Landaff from the Landaff Creamery in Landaff
Accompanying it on my dishcloth in the back are:
Seeded Sourdough, made by The Bread Peddler in Sanbornton; Weiss Cracker ale from the Canterbury Aleworks in Canterbury; Dark forest honey from our own hives in Loudon (this is excellent honey, if I do say so myself!); Homemade apple jelly, with apples from my grandfather's trees in Loudon; King oyster "tapenade", homemade with certified organic king oyster mushrooms from my uncle Dennis and the rest of the gang at the New Hampshire Mushroom Company in Tamworth.
I picked up the cheeses from the Concord Co-Op and Butter's Fine Food & Wine (both in Concord) and got the ale, bread and mushrooms from the Capital Farmer's Market in Concord. I brought all of them down to my husband's apartment in Greenwich Village, NYC for a nice evening with some of our friends.
This cheese plate went really well with an heirloom tomato salad and some fresh fruit. (By the way--the slate that the cheese is sitting on is also local--it fell off the roof of one of the old campus buildings during my college days at UNH, and I rescued it from the flowerbed and have been using it in the kitchen ever since . . .)
For more inspired cheese board ideas, see our first contest recap and please visit Madame Fromage.
