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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
  • About
    • About Janet
    • Media
    • Client List
    • Contact
  • Planet Cheese
    • Planet Cheese Blog
    • Planet Cheese Signup
    • Cheese Library
  • Store
    • All Items
    • World Cheese Tour
    • Books
  • Classes
    • World Cheese Tour Classes
    • Other Classes & Events
    • Custom Class/Event Request
    • Cheese O'Clock Video Archive
  • Recipes
    • Spring
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    • Autumn
    • Winter
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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 Cheeses You Loved

December 23, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com

By now the critics have spoken. We know the year’s best movies, books, albums and restaurants. But who will speak for the cheese? I shared my own favorite tastes from the past 12 months in last week’s post. This week, some of the nation’s top mongers weigh in. These front-line folks are going to tell us what their customers flipped over. I also asked them what cheeses in their shop deserve more love than they got. Sometimes even a fabulous cheese fails to find an audience.

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Tags Stony Pond Farm, Swallow Tail Tomme, Culpeper Cheese Company, Paste & Rind, Withersbrook Blue, Jasper Hill Farm, Tomme aux Fleurs, Beecher’s Flagship, Moser Screamer, Bufarolo, Cheese Parlor, Venissimo, Lady & Larder
4 Comments

New Blue for the Holidaze

November 12, 2024 janet@janetfletcher.com

A debut from Jasper Hill Farm is always newsworthy on Planet Cheese, but this recently launched blue could be a supernova. The Whole Foods monger who alerted me to it called it “lovely to say the least” and cradled the package in her arms like a baby. Even my husband enjoyed it, which, when it comes to blue cheese, is not a bet I ever make. It’s fruity, winey and moist, with an offbeat shape and novel packaging. Everything about this Vermont newcomer screams “holiday cheese boards.”

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags Withersbrook Blue, raw milk cheese, Eden ice cider, Jasper Hill Farm, blue cheese, American blue cheese, raw milk blue cheese, Vermont cheese
8 Comments

Breakout Stars of 2022

December 13, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese - Queen Anne's Lace

Which cheeses broke away from the pack at retail counters this year? I asked a few of the nation’s influential mongers what generated the most buzz in their store, and to guess—if they could—why those cheeses resonated. Some of their choices are newbies, some are classics, and a few I haven’t yet tried. If you want a cheese “bucket list” for 2023, this could be it. How fun, after the long pandemic standstill, to have some new cheeses to try.

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Tags Lady & Larder, Jasper Hill Farm, Tulip Tree Creamery, Finca Pascualete, Melinda Mae, Mystic Cheese, Wrångebäck, L’Etivaz, Sweet Grass Dairy, Morbier, 4 Alarm Cheddar
8 Comments

This is What Leadership Looks Like

July 26, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com
Jasper Hill's Whitney

For the fourth time in 16 years, a cheese from Vermont’s Jasper Hill Farm took Best of Show at the American Cheese Society’s recent competition. This time it’s Whitney, a new creation, in the winner’s circle. A raclette-style wheel made from raw cow’s milk, it topped 1,400 entries of all types. You can view all the category winners by reading the post.

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In From: U.S. Tags American Cheese Society, ACS Best of Show, Whitney, Jasper Hill Farm Whitney, Mateo Kehler, Jasper Hill Farm, Vermont, Vermont dairy farms, Vermont agriculture, raw milk cheese, rennet, animal rennet, morge
10 Comments

Raclette Your Way

February 7, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com
Raclette with Jasper Hill Highlander

When I asked Swiss cheese importer Caroline Hostettler whether she ate raclette as a child in Switzerland, she had no trouble resurrecting a memory. “Everyone had raclette machines at home but us,” recalled Hostettler, sounding still a bit aggrieved several decades later. Her mother refused to make it (she preferred fondue), so the annual raclette at an aunt’s house was the highlight of the year. Hostettler still remembers being almost overcome with excitement.

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In From: U.S., From: Switzerland, Milk: Cow, Milk: Goat Tags raclette, Swiss cheese, Vermont cheese, Jasper Hill Farm, Highlander, Caroline Hostettler, raclette machine
4 Comments

Hello Gorgeous!

May 11, 2021 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 578 _DSC4104.jpg

Could cheese get any prettier? This new beauty from Jasper Hill Farm gets top marks for appearance (from me, at least) and extra credit for being made with raw milk. Plus, it’s a mixed-milk blue—half cow, half goat—a rare taste experience. Jasper Hill has already proven its blue expertise with the exquisite Bayley Hazen. Has this Vermont creamery nailed yet another one?

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow, Milk: Goat, Milk: Mixed Tags Jasper Hill Farm, American Cheese Month, blue cheese, American cheese, American artisan cheese, Vermont, Vermont cheese, mixed-milk cheese
6 Comments

Double Your Pleasure

February 15, 2021 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 158 _DSC3251.jpg

A cheese debut from Jasper Hill Farm is always a news event, but when the debutante is a crowd-pleaser like this one, I can almost hear the stampede. If you love buttery, silky double- and triple-cream cheeses—and retailers say you do—this Vermont beauty should go on your bucket list. It launched only last November so shops are just getting their first shipment, but you can probably locate some Sherry Gray now, before its fame spreads. Peculiar name for a cheese but, as always with Jasper Hill, there’s a back story.

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In Milk: Cow, From: U.S. Tags Jasper Hill Farm, Sherry Gray, Vermont cheese, triple cream cheese, double cream cheese, ash on cheese, ash rind, cheese and sparkling wine
13 Comments

Cheese for the Win

June 11, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 58 _DSC1401.jpg

Everyone I talk to seems at loose ends right now. What’s the right thing to think, say, feel, do when your country is experiencing an emotional earthquake? Cheese seems trivial, perhaps, but to dairy farmers and cheesemakers it is not. It’s a livelihood. It’s the future for their land, their livestock, their families.

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In From: U.S. Tags Victory Cheese, World Central Kitchen, igourmet, Beehive Cheese, Jasper Hill Farm, FireFly Farm, Tulip Tree Creamery, Haystack Mountain Cheese, Valley Ford Cheese, Spring Brook Farm, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese, Central Coast Creamery, Vella Cheese Company, Shepherd’s Way Farms, LaClare Family Farm, Shooting Star Creamery, Milton Creamery, Goat Lady Dairy, Sweet Grass Dairy, Capriole Goat Cheese, Meadow Creek Dairy, 5 Spoke Creamery, Cascadia Creamery, Marieke Gouda, Grafton Village, Face Rock Creamery, Pennyroyal Farm, Maytag Blue, Nicasio Valley Cheese
15 Comments

Six to Try Now

April 6, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com
PC Top-Dual.jpg

Cheesemakers across the nation want to get their cheeses to you. Many are making it easier with discounts and deals—even waiving shipping fees in some cases. I’ve heard from some readers who saw my list [link here] and were moved to order, and I’ve heard from others who saw the list and couldn’t decide what to order. The cheeses most in need of a home are the fresh and lightly aged ones (think Camembert) that aren’t built to last. While you’re housebound, why not make your happy hours extra joyous with these six lovelies?

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In From: U.S. Tags quarantini hour, virtual happy hour, Alemar Cheese, Nicasio Valley Cheese, Jasper Hill Farm, Pennyroyal Farm, Anderson Valley, California cheese, Jacobs & Brichford, FireFly Farms, Beehive Cheese
7 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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