Inasmuch as America’s history begins in the northeastern colonies, so does its cheese history. As 17th century English cheesemaking technologies and transportation systems evolved, a Westward migration of Cheddar-type cheeses continued across the Atlantic to the American colonies. The settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony came from the dairying regions of East Anglia, which was the original supplier of cheese and butter to London’s growing urban market and with them came a deep knowledge of, and interest in, dairying and cheesemaking. The Puritans kept careful tabs on advancements in English cheesemaking and adopted these for their own recipes. It was not until the mid nineteenth century that other immigrating populations, arriving with cheesemaking traditions of their own, began to influence the production of cheese in America. To this day, more than 3 billion pounds of cheddar is produced in the United States.
So cheese in the U.S. began with firm, aged cows’ milk types that we would now call Cheddar-like, but which also bore similarities to English territorial cheeses like Cheshire. As the colonies expanded northward and eventually westward, cheesemaking followed. In addition to its seat as the originator of American cheddar, the Northeast boasts another critical advancement in cheesemaking: the origins of the first factory operation, founded by Jesse Eilliams in Rome, NY in 1851. Prior to the mid nineteenth century cheesemaking was a personal enterprise; by acquiring milk on a regional scale Williams was able to produce more than 100,000 pounds of cheese in his first year, more than five times the average creamery yield. The Civil War further cemented the necessity of factory cheesemaking as women, left in charge of families, farms, and sustenance found that selling their milk to a local factory lessened their agricultural burdens while providing a consistent revenue stream (and often cheese provisions to boot).
All this is to say that cheddar, and factory-made cheese, are as much an essential and historical facet of Northeastern cheese as innovation and variety have become hallmarks of its future. It’s hard to talk about cheese in the Northeast without beginning and ending the conversation in Vermont. With the highest number of artisan cheesemakers per capita (40!) of any state in the Union, Vermont’s got it going on. It also boasts a remarkable diversity of cheeses: all milk types are represented, as are all styles of cheese, from Brie-like to blue to Alpine.
Branching out from Vermont, however, what impresses me about the Northeast is that it offers cheese produced on all scales, from the nationally distributed to the super-micro, typically sold only at farmers’ markets and perhaps a few local specialty shops. The upshot of this is that there is always something new to discover. To aid and abet your exploration, the Northeast offers several chances to cheese journey: the Vermont Cheesemakers Festival is held every August; the Washington County (NY) Cheese Tour opens doors in September at five farms across that region for tasting and farmy fun.
Because the region has such a rich and layered history it also has examples from what I think of as the 4 major eras of American cheesemaking:
Finally, before I get to The List: There are HUNDREDS of great cheesemakers in the Northeast. I can’t include them all. These are some of my favorites, and the most influential/representative of their various eras.
Also, a shout out to Saxelby Cheesemongers, founded by Anne Saxelby, and the first retail store dedicated exclusively to the cheese of the Northeast. She still has the best selection of the region’s offerings: www.saxelbycheese.com
The Bedrock
The Upstarts
Note: all these folks work with goat or sheep milk. That’s what made them disrupters!
The Second Wave
The Newbies