{"id":3695,"date":"2024-03-07T03:01:36","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T03:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/cheese-shops-we-love-sweet-freedom-cheese\/"},"modified":"2024-03-07T03:01:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-07T03:01:36","slug":"cheese-shops-we-love-sweet-freedom-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/cheese-shops-we-love-sweet-freedom-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheese Shops We Love: Sweet Freedom Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Location <\/h2>\n

8th St. Market<\/p>\n

801 SE 8th St. Ste. 1, Bentonville, AR<\/p>\n

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Sweet Freedom Cheese counter<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Jessica Keahey, \u201crecovering\u201d engineer turned cheese professional and owner of Arkansas\u2019s Sweet Freedom Cheese<\/a> envisioned bringing artisanal cheese to the northwest corner of her state, she originally assumed she\u2019d have to make the cheese first. \u201cI actually entered the cheese world with the hopes of being an artisan cheese maker, and that \u2014 boy howdy \u2014 is super hard,\u201d she says. \u201cThe business plan that I wrote many years ago\u2026it\u2019s always an evolution, but step one was \u2018make cheese\u2019 and step two was \u2018sell cheese.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

While shadowing a friend on the retail end of cheese, simply to gain some knowledge and experience before she planned to apply her manufacturing skills to cheesemaking, she had the epiphany that with the right guidance, she could skip ahead to the selling of cheese. Keahey founded Sweet Freedom Cheese in Bentonville in 2013, eventually opening a brick-and-mortar location in 2018, the first, independent, cut-to-order cheese shop in Arkansas.<\/p>\n

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Bringing Artisanal Cheese to Arkansas<\/h2>\n
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Jessica Keahey<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Arkansas, there\u2019s not a lot of cheese makers here,\u201d explains Keahey. \u201cWe\u2019re just not a dairying state.\u201d But a love of cooking and fermenting led her to believe that she could provide a needed, epicurean corner in the form of a cut-to-order cheese shop for like-minded Arkansans. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of difficulty,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause we\u2019re creating distribution networks of our own, and we\u2019re educating consumers kind of on our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

It bears mentioning that Bentonville, where Sweet Freedom is located, is far from Arkansas\u2019s largest city. About 9th in size by population, it has only about a quarter of the residents of Little Rock, and its main claim to fame is as the birthplace of Walmart. However, \u201cReally intriguing culinary things have been popping up here,\u201d says Keahey, and the greater metropolitan area population she estimates to be about half a million citizens. \u201cThere\u2019s certainly people who drive two or three hours to come to our shop,\u201d she says, \u201cwhich we\u2019re always just really humbled by.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sweet Freedom Social Impact<\/h2>\n

From its inception, one of Sweet Freedom\u2019s and Keahey\u2019s main tenets was serving the community, not only in its artisanal cheese needs, but by leveraging the business to provide support to various parts of the community in whatever ways it could. Sweet Freedom\u2019s website includes a tab for Social Impact, (boldly entitled \u201cA Force for Gouda\u201d) which outlines this mission. \u201cI wanted to create a really wonderful culture where we\u2019re able to do things in the community and reach the community,\u201d says Keahey, \u201cversus just trying to make a buck.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the pandemic Sweet Freedom offered provisions to health care workers, displaced workers, restaurants that were able to stay open, and underserved members of the community. Additionally, the business provides ongoing donations to local food banks, as well as sponsors in-store events whose proceeds go to local nonprofits. Keahey also partners with the University of Arkansas and the Midwest Dairy Association to offer dairy and cheese science education. \u201cHave cheese show, will travel,\u201d says Keahey. And if that all weren\u2019t enough, Sweet Freedom is also a no-waste facility.<\/p>\n

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The Store<\/h2>\n

One of Bentonville\u2019s aforementioned intriguing culinary offerings is the market itself where Sweet Freedom exists. Bentonville\u2019s 8th St. Market<\/a> is \u201ca fun kind of culinary hub,\u201d says Keahey, with numerous food and beverage businesses including Bike Rack Brewing Company<\/a>, Markham & Fitz Chocolate Makers<\/a>, and Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food<\/a>. Sweet Freedom\u2019s counter is located within the South Market Food Hall, whose other counter-service eateries and food trucks share a centralized seating area.<\/p>\n

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Top Selling Cheese<\/h2>\n
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Artikaas Truffle Gouda<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Artikaas Hay There Truffle Gouda<\/h3>\n

Studded with Italian black summer truffles, Hay There<\/a> is a raw cow\u2019s milk, 60-day aged gouda from The Netherlands. \u201cMy husband jokes that \u2018truffle doesn\u2019t ask for consent,\u2019\u201d says Keahey. \u201cBut almost from day one, this has been our biggest seller.\u201d A young cheese, as far as many goudas go, Hay There \u201cis very bold, extremely buttery, and meltable,\u201d says Keahey. \u201cYou could enjoy it with a glass of strong cabernet, or it would be beautiful melted into things in smaller quantities for that additional boost of flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fromager d\u2019Affinois<\/h3>\n
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Fromager d’Affinois<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A hallmark yet approachable bloomy rind, Fromager d\u2019Affinois<\/a> is a classic, pasteurized cow\u2019s milk, double-cream cheese from France. \u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful soft ripened cheese to get people interested in that style,\u201d says Keahey. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of nice to be able to introduce people to something that is kind of silky, and sexy, and really agreeable,\u201d she says, as opposed to the industrial bries that often have thick, chewy rinds. \u201cIt feels kind of French and fancy,\u201d she says, \u201cand it\u2019s a good jumping off point for people to be able to branch out from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Barbers 1833 Vintage Reserve Cheddar<\/h3>\n
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Barbers 1833 Vintage Reserve Cheddar<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen we first opened, we had just a handful of cheddars,\u201d says Keahey, \u201cand boy, that was a mistake. We could probably have half of our case be gouda and cheddar and we would be fine. When we first started that was really what people were leaning into.\u201d Now, Sweet Freedom sells over 20 varieties of cheddar from around the USA and UK. Their best seller is Barber\u2019s 1833 Vintage Reserve Cheddar<\/a>, a crunchy, savory, British cheddar with 24 months of age crafted by 6th generation cheesemakers.<\/p>\n

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Also Look For<\/h2>\n
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Sweet Freedom cheese platter<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to charcuterie and various gourmet products amenable to cheese pairing, Sweet Freedom also sells a selection of mostly international wine \u2014 with a refreshingly robust selection of South African wines \u2014 and mostly local beers for off-premise consumption. Party cheese and charcuterie platters and tiered wedding cheese \u201ccakes\u201d are also available. Public classes and events including raclette night pop ups may soon be available in the future, but meanwhile Sweet Freedom offers private parties and cheese classes by request.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Location 8th St. Market 801 SE 8th St. Ste. 1, Bentonville, AR Sweet Freedom Cheese counter When Jessica Keahey, \u201crecovering\u201d engineer turned cheese professional and owner of Arkansas\u2019s Sweet Freedom Cheese envisioned bringing artisanal cheese to the northwest corner of her state, she originally assumed she\u2019d have to make the cheese first. \u201cI actually entered … Okumaya devam et “Cheese Shops We Love: Sweet Freedom Cheese”<\/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-3695","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\/3695","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=3695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}