{"id":2780,"date":"2024-05-05T16:25:39","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T16:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/3-great-local-cheesemakers-to-look-for-in-arizona\/"},"modified":"2024-05-05T16:25:39","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T16:25:39","slug":"3-great-local-cheesemakers-to-look-for-in-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/3-great-local-cheesemakers-to-look-for-in-arizona\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Great Local Cheesemakers to Look for in Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With its arid, desert landscape, Arizona likely isn\u2019t the first place one thinks of as a cheese-making destination. But with an influx of people moving to the state and a burgeoning culinary scene with James Beard Award-winning restaurants and chefs, comes an appreciation for locally made artisan cheese.<\/p>\n

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Hassayampa Vineyard & Farm <\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cOur state hasn’t always been known for farmstead artisan cheeses, but with all the recent efforts of small Arizona dairy farmers, we certainly will be,\u201d says Karen Nicoli, the cheesemaker at Hassayampa Vineyard & Farm<\/a> in Kirkland, Arizona, an hour south of Prescott. The creamery produces a farmstead cheese called Hassiago exclusively from their eight grass-fed and pastured Jersey cows. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an Asiago-type cheese,\u201d explains Nicoli, \u201chand-rubbed for a natural rind and aged for a minimum of four months. The result is a semi-hard yet creamy paste with a buttery and complex flavor profile.\u201d Because the cows are pasture-raised, the profile shifts with the seasons, as they are \u201cdining\u201d on different flora and fauna. \u201cOur farm is located in the high desert of Kirkland, with the Hassayampa River cutting through, so the terroir itself adds a unique and subtle flavor to the milk,\u201d says Nicoli.<\/p>\n

Last fall, the creamery began constructing an underground cheese cave which will no doubt lead to aged cheeses at retail in the future. \u201cWhile we are still considered a small-batch creamery, our number of wheels each week has grown from six to ten. Each wheel averages eleven pounds,\u201d says Nicoli.<\/p>\n

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Crow\u2019s Dairy <\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Crow\u2019s Dairy<\/a> in Buckeye is another example of an Arizona creamery in a growth spurt. Wendell and Rhonda Crow, the fifth generation of their family to be dairy farmers, make ch\u00e8vre, feta, quark, curds and goina (similar to cotija, an aged Mexican-style cheese) from their Nubian goats. Nubian goats are prized for cheese because their milk contains five percent butterfat, on average. <\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t until 2008 that the Crows began making cheese. \u201cMy wife (Rhonda) went to cheese school,\u201d says Wendell. \u201cWe were milking cows at that time and knew we had to do something different.\u201d Their creamery is a farmstead with goats living on site and outside milk is not sourced\u2014just the milk from their own goats is used. Crow\u2019s Dairy cheeses can be found on the menus of many of Arizona\u2019s most well-known restaurants including Pizza Bianca, FnB in Scottsdale and Lon\u2019s at the Hermosa Inn.<\/p>\n

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AZ Cheese box photo credit Wendy O\u2019Neal photo<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arizona Farms Cheese<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2009, the United Dairymen of Arizona Cooperative<\/a> partnered with Wiskerchen Cheese<\/a> out of Wisconsin to form Arizona Farms Cheese<\/a> in Tempe.\u00a0 Master cheese makers from Wisconsin moved out to Arizona to help get the plant up and running and teach local cheese makers the tricks of the trade. After over a decade of making cheese together, UDA became the sole owner of the cheese plant. While there are still a few cheese makers from Wisconsin, most have retired by now.<\/p>\n

Using all locally sourced cow\u2019s milk the cooperative makes and sells cheese curds (Cheddar and jalapeno-Cheddar) and block cheeses (Cheddar, pepper jack, Monterey jack and garlic and pepper Cheddar). Several of Arizona\u2019s family-owned farms sell milk to the cooperative, including the fourth-generation Kerr family and Rovey Family Farms \/ Rovey Dairy. <\/p>\n

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Finding Arizona Cheese <\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Mingle + Graze photo courtesy of Mahfam Moeeni-Alarcon<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Restaurants <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Getting these cheeses onto restaurant menus at resorts in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Arizona has been key to getting the word out. At Cielo, within ADERO Scottsdale<\/a> in Scottsdale, Crow\u2019s Dairy goat cheese is tossed with fennel, orange, candied pecans and cranberry-orange dressing on the Roasted Beet Salad. Similarly, a Caesar salad at Aftermath Bar & Kitchen<\/a> in Phoenix features Hassayampa Vineyard & Farm\u2019s Hassiago cheese along with ciabatta croutons, avocado-parmesan dressing and cured egg yolk over romaine and baby-gem lettuce. <\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not just salads that chefs are creating as signature dishes folding in Arizona cheese. At Valentine<\/a>, a Phoenix farm-to-fork restaurant, chef Donald Hawk created Elote Pasta featuring Hassiago as well as Crow\u2019s Dairy goat cheese. \u201cThe pasta became so popular that he went from ordering one wheel a month to one every week,\u201d says Nicoli.<\/p>\n

Cheese Shops<\/h3>\n

Artisan-cheese and food\/wine shops like Mingle + Graze<\/a> in Chandler, Hidden Track Bottle Shop<\/a> in Phoenix and Far Away Wine and Provisions<\/a> in Phoenix are solid partners (all three carry Hassiago, for instance).<\/p>\n

Farmer\u2019s Markets <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Another marketing mission for these creameries is selling at farmers markets, as Hassayampa Vineyard & Farm does at the Prescott Farmers Market. Crow\u2019s Dairy sells their cheese at several farmers markets including Tempe Farmers Market and Uptown Farmers Market (in Phoenix)\u2014between March and September. <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With its arid, desert landscape, Arizona likely isn\u2019t the first place one thinks of as a cheese-making destination. But with an influx of people moving to the state and a burgeoning culinary scene with James Beard Award-winning restaurants and chefs, comes an appreciation for locally made artisan cheese. \u00a0 Hassayampa Vineyard & Farm \u201cOur state … Okumaya devam et “3 Great Local Cheesemakers to Look for in Arizona”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}