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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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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

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

White House Worthy?

December 5, 2022 janet@janetfletcher.com
White House State Dinner Cheese Plate

Photo: White House

President Biden held a State Dinner for the president of France last week and made headlines by serving an all-American cheese course. (Imagine the outcry if he hadn’t.) Of course, cheese people were eager to learn what the White House selected, and I personally would love to know if President Macron cleaned his plate.

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In From: U.S. Tags State Dinner, President Macros, White House cheese course, Rogue River Blue, Deer Creek Cheese, Humboldt Fog, Cypress Grove, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, FireFly Farms, Merry Goat Round, Tulip Tree Creamery, Sweet Grass Dairy, Casellula, Laura Werlin, Vella Dry Jack, Wabash Cannonball
17 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

Already a Winner

February 12, 2019 janet@janetfletcher.com
Planet Cheese 166 _DSC7888.jpg

The number of American creameries making raw-milk cheese from their own grass-fed animals is minuscule and not likely to climb. It’s a risky business model given the unpredictability of the FDA and its rule-making around raw-milk cheese. Plus, there aren’t that many places in the U.S. where livestock can be outside, eating grass, all year. So you have to applaud those who still take this traditional path and (the “and” is important) consistently produce distinctive, well-made cheeses. In that light, it’s time for a shout-out to Georgia’s Sweet Grass Dairy and its newest creation, Griffin, a recent Good Food Award winner.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow Tags Sweet Grass Dairy, Griffin, Thomasville Tomme, Southern cheese, Georgia cheese, Good Food Awards, raw-milk cheese
6 Comments

Sleeper Hits of 2017

December 26, 2017 janet@janetfletcher.com
Seasoned greetings: Deer Creek The Blue Jay

Seasoned greetings: Deer Creek The Blue Jay

American cheese merchants know they can sell triple-cream Brie without lifting a finger. But what fun is that? The best merchants take risks, bringing in new creations and unfamiliar cheeses that required some hand selling. And every year, a few of these newcomers click with customers and sprint away from the pack. I asked several top retailers from around the country about the new (or newish) cheeses that over-delivered for them this year.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow, Milk: Goat, Milk: Sheep Tags Deer Creek, Wisconsin cheese, Schnebelhorn, Capriole, Flory’s Truckle, Alp Blossom, Sweet Grass Dairy, Meredith Dairy, Quicke’s
4 Comments

Brave or Foolish?

September 12, 2017 janet@janetfletcher.com
PC-13 _DSC1338.jpg

What does it take to get American cheese into a European cheese shop? And will anybody buy it if you do? Raymond Hook, a New York City-based specialty-food broker, is close to someanswers. Working with partners, Hook is attempting to build a global audience for cheeses from Oregon’s Rogue Creamery, Virginia’s Meadow Creek Dairy and Georgia’s Sweet Grass Dairy, among others. The export learning curve has left a few bruises, but Hook is an optimist. Today: London. Tomorrow: the world.

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In From: U.S., Milk: Cow, Milk: Mixed, Milk: Sheep, Milk: Goat Tags Raymond Hook, Fine Cheese Company, Rogue Creamery, Meadow Creek Dairy, Sweet Grass Dairy, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Humboldt Fog, FDA and cheese
4 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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