American Originals

3/23/2015 – Updated

During trade negotiations earlier this year, the European Union asked the United States to prohibit American Cheesemakers from using historical European cheese names such as Parmesan, Gouda, Feta and Cheddar.

Over time, these names, at least here in the US, have become “generic” rather than specific in the way Parmigiano Reggiano denotes a Protected Italian Cheese (see my article about Government Designations to Control Food Product Quality). There are several benefits in protecting food quality and the two I teach are 1.) Protecting tradition and 2.) Protecting the small producers from being put out of business by food conglomerates.

In March CBS News interviewed Murray’s Cheese Owner, Rob Kaufelt, to get his thoughts on the controversy. You can watch his interview by clicking here.

Without getting into the “politics” of the issue, I wonder if the EU and some of its cheese producers are jealous of the leaps American Cheesemakers have made in the last thirty years creating what we now call “American Originals”. Cheeses that are unique and don’t need generic labels and don’t fit into generic categories.

I love American Originals and search for them whenever I am on one of my cheese adventures.

Below is a list of a few that Spaulding, The Man and I have enjoyed over the past six years of our cheese journey, a journey not likely to end any time soon, if ever.

Aged Brick (Widmer Cellars)

Ancient Heritage Dairy’s Hannah

Barely Buzzed (Beehive Cheese Company)

Bear Hill (Grafton Village Cheese)

Beecher’s Flatiron

Bellavitano Gold Reserve (Sartori Cheese) and its flavors:

• Balsamic
• Black Pepper
• Cannella
• Chai
• Citrus Ginger (New flavor introduced 2/2015)
• Cognac
• Espresso
• Merlot
• Raspberry Ale

Bellwether Farms’ Carmody

Black Sheep Creamery’s Tin Willow Tomme

Blue Ledge Farm’s Riley’s Coat

Bossa (Green Dirt Farm)

Cape Foulweather (River’s Edge)

Carmody (Bellwether Farms)

Casa Bolo Mellage (Carr Valley)

Cascadia Farms’ Cloud Cap

Cascadia Farms’ Sleeping Beauty 

Cave-Aged Marisa (Carr Valley)

Chubut (LaMariposa’s)

Consider Bardwell Farm’s Pawlet

Consider Bardwell Farm’s Rupert

Cowgirl Creamery Inverness

Cremont (Vermont Butter Creamery)

Cynthian (Fairview Farms)

Fenacho – Tumalo Farms

Flagsheep

Flatiron (Beecher’s Handmade Cheese)

Gothberg Farms The Woman of LaMancha – Goat Milk

Grafton Village Cheese Bear Hill

Green Dirt Farm Farmstead Bossa

Hannah (Ancient Heritage)

Haystack Peak

Hudson Flower (Old Chatham Shepherding Company and Murray’s Cheese)

Hudson Flower (ACS Profile)

Humboldt Fog (Cypress Grove Chevre)

Jackson, Sally Jackson – Raw Sheep’s Milk Cheese

Kickapoo (Ludwig Farmstead)

Lincoln Log from Zingerman’s (ACS Profile)

Pastoral (Sartori Cheese)

Riley’s Coat (Blue Ledge Farm)

River’s Edge Cape Foulweather

River’s Edge Up In Smoke

San Andreas (Bellwether Farms)

San Joaquin Gold – Fiscalini Farms

San Joaquin Gold (ACS Profile)

Sleeping Beauty (Cascadia Creamery)

Sweet Grass Dairy’s Thomasville Tomme

The Woman of LaMancha (Gothberg Farms)

Tin Willow Tomme (Black Sheep Creamery)

TouVelle (Rogue Creamery)

Up In Smoke (River’s Edge)

Vella Dry Jack 

Vermont Creamery Cremont

Wabash Cannonball (Capriole Goat Cheeses)

As mentioned above, this page is a “work-in-progress” and will be expanded as I review profiles and find more “American Originals”. If you see any I have missed, please let me know by commenting below or sending me an email… As always… thanks for reading and enjoying our postings.

My thanks to everyone participating in my 2015 Virtual Q&A with Cheese Professionals. I hope all of you, my loyal readers, are enjoying this as much as I am…

Interviews with All Cheese Professionals: Cheesemakers and Cheese Professionals

Interviews will continue throughout 2015… sometimes, they will be “stand-alone” and sometimes they will be presented as round-table discussions with several Cheese Professionals answering the same question. Those participating includeCheesemakers, ACS CCPs™, Cheesemongers and Cheese Professionals and Experts who contribute to this Wonderful World we call “Cheese”.

List of all Interviews from 2013: Cheesemakers, Cheesemongers.

List of 2015 Cheese Professionals.

List of all Cheese Professionals Bios.

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Taking the 2015 Exam? Please see my page on Tips for Studying for the Exam. Want support? Come join our 2015 Cheese Study Group.

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