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.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/654717
C ougar Gold, the famous tinned cheese from Washington State University's student creamery, now has to share the dairy spotlight with a flood of newcomers. The number of licensed creamer- ies in the Evergreen State has more than quadrupled in the past decade, and area merchants say many of the new cheeses have star quality. "There's a real rebirth going on up there," says retailer Steve Jones of Cheese Bar in Portland, Oregon. "It's more exciting than Oregon right now." An Area Ripe for Growth Relatively affordable farmland and easy access to cheese-loving Seattle and Portland have fueled a lot of the recent growth. So has the pervasive locavore sentiment in the Pacific Northwest. "Farmstead cheeses, where people are connected to the milk or the grass, are the ones our customers really respond to," says Matt Snyder, co-owner and cheese buyer for DeLaurenti in Seattle. Last summer, several of the state's creameries launched the Washington State Cheesemakers Association, a nonprofit guild. Founding president Rhonda Gothberg says the guild has about 25 cheesemaker members, out of approximately 70 licensed creameries in the state. Most are clustered along the I-5 corridor in the western part of the state, between Vancouver, Washington, and the Canadian border. Apart from Beecher's Handmade Cheese and Mt. Townsend Creamery—relative veterans after little more than a decade in business—these enterprises tend to be small. Ferndale Farmstead, a new player specializing in Italian-style cheeses produced from a herd of 680 cows, is another notable exception, and is clearly primed for growth. Long known for offering a tasty Cheddar in a tin can, Washington State is now staking a claim to cheese-state greatness. BY JANET FLETCHER WA's Emerging Producers Cheesemakers are relishing the freedom to create and innovate with local ingredients like craft cider and beer. (continued on p. 36) Cascadia Creamery Sleeping Beauty PHOTO: CASCADIA CREAMERY 32 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com cheese focus