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Janet Fletcher

180 Stonecrest Dr
Napa, CA, 94558
(707) 265-0404
{ Janet Fletcher / Food Writer }

{ Janet Fletcher / Food Writer }

Janet Fletcher

  • Home
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    • About Janet
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    • Client List
    • Contact
  • Planet Cheese
    • Planet Cheese Blog
    • Planet Cheese Signup
    • Cheese Library
  • Store
    • All Items
    • World Cheese Tour
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    • World Cheese Tour Classes
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    • Cheese O'Clock Video Archive
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America’s Newest Cheese Gems

May 5, 2025 Douglas Fletcher
My favorite for American Cheese Month

(l to r) Withersbrook Blue; Jake and Sylvia Stoltzfus of Jake’s Gouda; Shabby Shoe

American Cheese Month is a time for celebration and optimism. So here’s my toast to several new (or newish) domestic cheeses that make me especially proud of our artisan producers and hopeful for their future. In alpha order:

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In From: U.S. Tags American Cheese Month, tariffs on cheese, American Cheese Society, Mt. Eitan Cheese, Goat Rodeo Farm, Shooting Star Creamery, Firefly Farms, Mystic Cheese, Jake’s Gouda, Blakesville Creamery, Jasper Hill Farm
6 Comments

The Year’s Epic Cheeses

December 17, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com

I try a lot of new cheeses over the course of a year, and it’s not hard to identify the standouts. They’re the ones I can’t wait to serve to guests in my home and introduce to guests in my classes. I want these cheeses to still be here next year, and the year after, and the year after that. All ten of these lovelies were new to me (but not necessarily new) and help convince me that we live in a Golden Age.

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Tags Capriolina, Funky Monk, Mystic Cheese, Blakesville Creamery, Limburger, Red
14 Comments

Breakout Stars of 2023

December 19, 2023 Douglas Fletcher
Two of the best cheeses of the year

If only cheese were as easy to ship as books, I would order every cheese on this list. Having just polled some leading retailers about the cheeses that outperformed for them this year, I’m dying to try all these gems. At least I now have the start of a must-taste list for 2024, which is how I hope you will think of this collection of breakout stars.

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Tags Capella Cheese, Smallgoods, Marcel Petite, Comté, Widmer Cheese, France 44, Alemar Cheese, Finca Pascualete, Blakesville Creamery, Cow Bell cheese, Sam Rollins, Capriole Creamery, Landmark Creamery
Comment

Meet America’s Top Cheeses

July 24, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com
ACS winners

As usual, the winners’ circle at the recent American Cheese Society awards included several repeat victors who almost always land ribbons. They’re just that good. A few new creameries won blue ribbons, but the top honors—the Best of Show and four runners-up—went to long-established producers. These five winners, from five states, had at least one common feature. “What struck me, standing on stage, was that it was all independent cheesemakers,” said Andy Hatch of Wisconsin’s Uplands Cheese. In an industry that constantly grapples with the meaning of “artisan cheese,” it is indeed worth noting that the five winning wheels are all made by hand.

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In From: U.S. Tags American Cheese Society, American Cheese Society competition, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Sequatchie Cove, Green Dirt Farm, Pure Luck Dairy, Farm at Doe Run, Blakesville Creamery
4 Comments

Buzziest Creamery in America

May 9, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com

Top: Linedeline (left) and Shabby Shoe; bottom (l to r): Sunny Ridge, Afterglow and St. Germain

In last week’s post, I polled retailers around the country about their favorite new American cheeses. Laura Downey, who owns the Greenwich Cheese Shop and Fairfield Cheese Shop in Connecticut, replied immediately. “Veronica Pedraza is making some of the best cheese in the U.S. at the moment,” wrote Downey. Wow. I’ve written about Pedraza before but not since her latest career move: to a new goat farm and creamery in Wisconsin, where she has creative freedom and an employer with deep pockets. Time for an update on this rock-star cheesemaker and what seems like the “buzziest” creamery in America.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Goat Tags Blakesville Creamery, Wisconsin cheese, goat cheese, American goat cheese, chèvre, Veronica Pedraza, Lynde Uihlein, Shabby Shoe
18 Comments

Best New American Cheeses? Ask a Monger

May 3, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com

Monger favorite: Alemar Cheese Apricity

After a long pandemic pause, American creameries are launching new cheeses again. Hooray! Optimism is trouncing uncertainty and yielding some exciting newcomers for our cheese boards. American Cheese Month—that would be May—is a great time to celebrate this creativity and encourage our cheesemakers to keep at it. I asked some of the nation’s leading retailers to name a new domestic cheese that they’re loving. Consider this your bucket list for the months ahead.

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Tags new American cheeses, American artisan cheese, American Cheese Month, Meadow Creek Dairy, Alemar Cheese, Mystic Cheese, Stony Pond Farm, Blakesville Creamery, Sartori, Sweet Grass Dairy, Sequatchie Cove, BellaVitano
12 Comments
 

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Welcome to my world: a fragrant, fascinating universe devoted to great cheese. In this and future Planet Cheese posts, you’ll find profiles of the world’s best cheeses plus insights into everything cheese: shops, recipes, interviews, pairing discoveries, classes, videos, travel. If you haven’t already done so, sign up here - it’s complimentary - and join me in learning something new about cheese every week.


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     Photographs: Douglas Fletcher, Ed Anderson, Megan Clouse, Faith Echtermeyer, Eva Kolenko,
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