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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
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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

Keep Your Eyes on These Five

July 18, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com

The American Cheese Society’s 40th conference is underway this week in Des Moines, with nonstop tastings and educational sessions and—always a highlight—the awards ceremony for the competition winners. I’ll report next week on the victors, but I’m betting on five newish creameries, in particular, to bring home some ribbons. Four of the five have been making cheese for less than 10 years and the fifth is only a year older. With their consistently top-notch output, these newcomers give me hope for the future of American artisan cheesemaking.

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Tags Face Rock Creamery, Stepladder Creamery, Pennyroyal Farm, Mystic Cheese, Goat Rodeo Farm, American cheese, American Cheese Society
4 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

Cheesemaker on a Mission

February 14, 2023 janet@janetfletcher.com
Mystic Cheese - Finback

It’s probably a good thing that the artisan cheese world doesn’t have cult creameries and cheesemakers—at least, nothing like the wine world, where the fandom can be insidious. That said, I’m starting to think Connecticut cheesemaker Brian Civitello deserves a fervent following. He is so capable and so thoughtful about his cheesemaking, and I love what he does.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags Brian Civitello, Mystic Cheese, Cheddar, Finback, Salers, Cantal
4 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

Crazy Good

July 21, 2020 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 33 _DSC1560.jpg

The cheeses I crave most in summer are light, fresh, moist and milky. They have no rind or just the merest one. Their flavor is bright, lactic, buttermilky. They go with rosé, crisp white wines, wheat beers and kölsch, which pretty much describes my beverage menu right now. Mozzarella makes the list, of course. Burrata. Feta. And now, moving straight to the top, is this new-to-me charmer, Melinda Mae. I’m crazy for it and you will be, too.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags Melinda Mae, Mystic Cheese, American cheese, summer cheese
2 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,
Victoria Pearson, Sara Remington and Meg Smith
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