When you picture the source of a Best of Show cheese, you’re probably imagining grassy green fields, maybe rolling hills, a creamery in a red barn. And most years, you’d be pretty accurate. This year, however, the cheese just crowned Best in America is a clothbound cheddar fresh from below the streets of Queens, New York. This year’s American Cheese Society conference, judging and competition has just concluded in Richmond, Virginia, and the Queens-aged cheddar is just one of three fascinating dairy stories reflected in the top three Best of Show awardees.
Stockinghall Cheddar by Murray’s Cheese was born after the retailer, who pioneered retail cave-aging in the US, expanded their NYC caves to a new, larger space in Queens. Murray’s had aged other makers’ products but sought to develop their own cheese as well. Cavemaster and head affineur PJ Jenkelunas collaborated with Old Chatham Creamery‘s cheesemaker Brian Schlatter to develop the cheddar, which does begin its life in OCC’s more typical farm setting in upstate NY before being delivered to Murray’s for aging in their caves for about a year. The R&D for the new cheddar was also aided by Cornell University’s Stocking Hall Dairy Incubator, hence its name. (You may have sampled it under its previous name, Ezra, when it first debuted in 2017.) Schlatter described their objective with the recipe as to create a cheddar with a little sweetness, caramel notes but also a little of the sulfur of an English cheddar. I felt the wheel we sampled leaned more to the caramelly side but there was a subtle brothiness as well. Alas for would-be fans, Stockinghall is currently only available at Murray’s NYC retail locations and not in their Kroger’s markets. You can order it online, however, as long as the stock lasts.
In a first, both the first and second Best of Show cheeses are the product of retailer-partnerships — and the same cheesemaker, Brian Schlatter. Second place went to Wegmans Professor’s Brie, a bloomy-rind, luscious cow/sheeps-milk blended triple-cream. Does its square shape look familiar? “That’s the mold we had,” Schlatter explained. Old Chatham Creamery has made Hudson Valley Camembert in those square molds for decades; in fact, it was one of the first cheeses we ever shared here on the blog in 2008. Since then, Old Chatham was sold to new owners and moved further upstate; Wegmans Food Market’s Cathy Gaffney was a past student of the new owner, Dave Galton, at Cornell University. Again, leading to the new cheese’s name: Professor’s Brie.
How does New York-headquartered Wegmans Food Markets fit into this story? In 2013, Wegmans opened their own cheese caves, specifically designed with the intent to age soft-ripened bloomy cheeses. A mission Gaffney had spent five years developing, during which time she had to work with French manufacturers to get necessary equipment approved for import to the US. While the early objective had been to bring bloomy cheeses over from France and finish them at the Wegmans’ caves, they realized that the two, three or even four-week journey from Europe wasn’t getting them these young, soft cheeses in an ideal condition. And so they set out, again their affineur working with cheesemaker Schlatter, to develop a brie-style cheese that could rival the European imports. The winning recipe is a blend of cow and sheeps-milk and added cream, for a truly decadent, delightfully buttery cheese. While most of the country is again out-of-range for this award winner, it will be available in all 99 Wegmans locations from Massachusetts to Virginia — and store 100, opening in North Carolina next month.
It would take an extraordinary cheese to rival the back stories of these two Cornell-educated cheeses; and that’s exactly what the third place Best of Show delivers. No, its cheesemaker, Avery Jones, hasn’t gone to Cornell — yet. But we’re fairly certain she’s the first ACS winner to miss picking up her award because she was traveling with her high school drama club in Scotland. During the conference we sampled a 15-year Wisconsin cheddar the same age as this newcomer, founder of Shooting Star Creamery. She has, however, had the advantage of growing up in the industry and a father, Reggie Jones, who owns the also award-winning Central Coast Creamery in Paso Robles, California. Avery developed the recipe for Aries, an aged sheeps-milk gouda, and made it at Central Coast. Aries also scored 98 points at the US Championship Cheese Contest earlier this year, and Jones has two more cheeses already in the works. Quite the debut! Unfortunately, there are only three more batches of Aries aging on the shelves and the farmer who supplies her sheeps milk stops milking for the season in October, so Aries may be hard to come by for the near future. (It may be available at Sigona’s markets in Redwood City and Palo Alto, Calif., if you’re lucky enough to be local.)
It can be frustrating, even when a Best of Show cheese is more widely available, to track them down in the aftermath of a big win. That this year’s top three are all limited in availability is unfortunate, but what makes the American Cheese Society great are the many unique stories its members offer. You might not get to taste all three of this year’s winners, but why not take a look at the complete list of this year’s honorees and seek out some new and nearer to you? You can view the winners here.
And because we’re here to serve our fellow cheeselovers, here are a few suggestions:
If you can’t get Stockinghall, look for Beecher’s Flagship Reserve.
If you don’t live near a Wegman’s, you can still find Hudson Valley Camembert in many retailers, or look for Woolly Rind (or Winter Woolly) from Green Dirt Farm.
And for your crunchy, sweet aged-sheeps-milk fix, like Aries, try Central Coast Creamery’s Ewereka, which took second place in the category; or Grafton Village Cheese‘s Shepsog.
Have you tried any of the Best of Show winners? Tell us your impressions!
{ Comments on this entry are closed }
