Specialty Food Magazine

Summer 2020

Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.

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V ermont is indisputably the epicenter of artisan cheesemaking in New England, but new creameries and cheeses are emerging from other states in the region as well. Leading East Coast retailers report that several new creations from New England are gaining traction in their cheese cases. Some of these notable wheels are from established producers, while others are from relative newcomers. If you pride yourself on staying on top of the national artisan cheese scene, you'll want to follow these creameries: Arethusa Farm (Litchfield, Connecticut) had big wins at the biannual World Championship Cheese competition in Madison, Wisconsin, earlier this year. Tapping Reeve, an aged cow's milk wheel, topped the natural-rind cheese category with an impressive 99.7 points. And the creamery nailed both first and second places in the Camembert category, with its oozy Karlie's Gratitude finishing just ahead of its Camembert. Tapping Reeve, a 15- to 17-pound wheel aged at least 16 months, marries alpine flavors with a crumbly cheddar texture. Marc Hernandez, cheese buyer for Formaggio Kitchen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, also commends the creamery's washed-rind disk, Diva, describing it as "luscious" and "Taleggio-like." Cato Corner (Colchester, Connecticut) founder Liz MacAlister and her son, Mark Gillman, have been making farmstead cow's milk cheeses for about 20 years. Retailers praise their dedication and have personal favorites from the Cato Corner repertoire. The extra-aged year-old Bloomsday is "not like anything we carry from Europe," says Hernandez, who describes it as a hybrid, with the caramel crunch of a Gouda but the bite of a Cheddar. New York monger Anne Saxelby is a fan of the creamery's Hooligan. "It's uniquely pungent and still one of the best washed-rind cheeses made in the country," says Saxelby, the influential proprietor of Saxelby Cheesemongers. The big news from this longtime raw-milk cheese producer: the owners are expanding their facility with the aim of developing some soft-ripened cheeses from pasteurized milk. These new entrants are making a name for themselves on the national cheese scene. Cheeses of New England BY JANET FLETCHER 40 SPECIALTY FOOD SPECIALTYFOOD.COM 40 SPECIALTY FOOD SPECIALTYFOOD.COM CHEESE FOCUS Arethusa Farm Tapping Reeve (above) and Karlie's Gratitude PHOTOS: ARETHUSA FARM

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