Guest Columns

A new era in cheesemaking

Stan G. Andre is CEO of the California Milk Advisory Board. He contributes this column exclusively for Cheese Market News®.

The national media recently has paid considerable attention to California’s growing cheese industry because of the news that the state likely will pass Wisconsin to move into the No. 1 spot in cheese production in the near future. While it makes for lively reading and, on occasion, colorful comments, this emphasis on production means that important parts of the story are being left out, both in terms of California’s and the nation’s cheese industry.

The real story is about quantity and quality, and this is especially true when it comes to California. The two are not mutually exclusive, and there is a good case to be made that strong commodity and specialty industries strengthen each other when they work in tandem within a region. Certainly, the smaller cheesemakers benefit from the dairy and cheese production infrastructures that support a healthy commodity industry.

When discussing quality, it’s essential to look at the entire picture. Quality is not the exclusive province of just one sector of the cheese industry. For consumers, quality means great flavor, whether they purchase the cheese in the dairy case or the specialty cheese case. We have entered a new era in cheesemaking today because consumers have come to appreciate quality at all levels. In response to this new cheese consumer, great cheeses now are being produced throughout the country. This is why no state or region today can claim to be the center of cheesemaking in the United States. This is not a statement that could have been made 20 years ago, but it shows how far the nation’s cheese industry has come in less than a generation.

California is a good example of what is happening in the U.S. cheese industry today. While California enjoys a rich cheesemaking history dating back more than 200 years, our cheese industry has truly blossomed in the past 20 years. The main difference between California and most other regions is that we choose to develop a world class commodity cheese industry alongside of a dynamic specialty cheese industry. Today, 11 percent of California’s cheese production is in specialty products, and our specialty cheeses are showing they can handle the national and international spotlight.

Since 2001, nearly two dozen California cheesemakers have won more than 170 awards for their cow’s milk cheeses at the American Cheese Society’s annual judging. While this is a significant achievement, it becomes even more impressive when you point out that a third of these winning cheesemakers began operation within just the past decade. They are part of the great renaissance in fine cheesemaking going on in this country today.

Significantly, American cheeses are showing that they can compete with the best in the world. American cheesemakers won 42 medals at the recent World Cheese Awards in London, which is considered one of the most prestigious international competitions. Especially notable, however, is that American cheesemakers — many of them from California — are winning international awards in traditional categories formerly beyond the reach of non-Europeans.

In 2005, Marin French Cheese became the first non-European cheesemaker to take a gold award in a Brie category. It repeated gold again this year for its triple crème Brie. Also this year, Fiscalini Cheese took two gold awards in Cheddar categories, including the Wyke Farms Trophy for the Best Extra Mature Traditional Cheddar. It was the first time in the award’s 20-year history that this trophy was awarded to a cheesemaker outside of Great Britain. And to round things off, Mozzarella Fresca took two gold medals in Fresh Mozzarella categories.

It is interesting to point out that Marin French, which was established in 1865 outside of San Francisco, is one of America’s oldest continuously operating cheese factories while Fiscalini, located in our great Central Valley, is one of the newest, having started operation in 2000. In a real sense, they represent the U.S. cheese industry in microcosm. Our country’s cheesemaking tradition is growing and thriving, deriving vitality both from our heritage producers and our newest ones. You can find similar stories in many other regions.

The ultimate winner in all this is the consumer. The growing number of excellent specialty cheeses available in this country is causing consumers to become increasingly excited about cheese. Last year, the California Milk Advisory Board conducted national consumer research on the specialty cheese market that illustrates just how passionate American consumers are about our cheese and, most importantly, that they are willing to pay premium prices for cheeses they like.

Among the nearly 500 consumers we surveyed, 65 percent rated U.S. cheeses as good as or better than European cheeses, and 47 percent reported purchasing more specialty cheese from U.S. producers than before.

Consumers cite flavor as the biggest influence on their purchases, with 67 percent reporting they are eating more flavorful cheese than previously, and 66 percent noting they will pay for more flavor. How much more? Almost half reported paying more than $9 per pound for specialty cheese in the past year, while a quarter reported paying at least $12 per pound, with 9 percent of these saying they have paid at least $15 per pound. While California consumers are more likely to pay higher prices for specialty cheese than those elsewhere, all consumers we talked with across the country say they are spending more for specialty cheese.

In the end, it’s important to remember that what the consumer cares about is access to great tasting cheese. California has been successful at getting consumers excited about cheese in all price ranges, specialty as well as commodity. Our Happy Cows certainly have helped, but they could not do it without the California cheesemakers who are delivering great cheeses to market. And it is this, and not the fact that California will soon become the leading cheese producer, that is driving sales of Real California Cheese across the country.

CMN

The views expressed by CMN’s guest columnists are their own opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of Cheese Market News®.

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