The popularity of artisanal food is growing as consumers are becoming more aware of homemade products.  One such food is cheese, which is being made in an ever-increasing number of places as dairy farmers look to improve their profit margin while hand-crafting an authentic product.  The handmade production techniques result in cheese that differs in composition, texture, and flavor of commercial varieties.  Artisanal producers take advantage of the fact that milk composition differs with feed, stage of lactation, season, and the food the animals eat.  Some make cheese from raw milk, thus preserving indigenous microflora that would be inactivated by pasteurization.  These bacteria cause the cheese to ripen faster and develop stronger flavors.  Artisans use less expensive equipment, often age the cheese on wooden shelves, and keep it until they feel that the flavor has reached a peak.  In contrast, commercial operations produce cheese as quickly as possible and attempt to make it uniform in flavor and texture throughout the year.  The differences between small-scale and mass-produced cheese are large enough for many consumers to pay more for it. <br/>

Differences between artisanal and mass-produced cheese

2019 Spring National Meeting

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