More cheese, please

Just like wine is made in every state, so is cheese, and Sue Mohle wants to have them all.

Mohle, director of wine and specialty cheese at Newton Farms at Freshfields Village, set out this year to have all 50 states represented in the store's cheese case. So far, she's up to 22, offering 55 domestic artisanal products among the total inventory of 300 cheeses.

Attending two educational events this spring, including a "Wisconsin Cheese Tour," further strengthened her resolve. She visited a variety of dairy farms and met "the people behind the cheese," hearing their stories as well as their struggles.

"It's everything that encompasses America," says Mohle. "Artisanal means handmade, using products that are made by families. It's not a bulk process. Each piece is loved. Even the animals have names. It's not only a human family, but a whole community."

But more importantly, she came away with a greater understanding of how cheeses are made and the nuances of the individual flavors.

"When you see what they're (the animals) are eating and then you taste the cheese, you get it," Mohle says. "It's just like terroir with wine."

More customers at Newton Farms are becoming aware and asking questions, says Mohle, which is reflective of the growing U.S. cheese industry.

While the U.S. Department of Agriculture doesn't specifically track the number of artisanal cheesemakers in the United States, there is anecdotal evidence their ranks have expanded significantly, says Dick Groves, publisher of the online Cheese Reporter.

Nora Weiser, executive director of the nonprofit American Cheese Society, says membership in the group doubled to 1,200 in the past eight years, and 400 cheesemakers are among those.

Additionally, the society's annual conference includes one of the nation's largest cheese competitions. The society is expecting 1,400 entries this year, 100 more than in 2009, and Weiser says the number of categories has grown as well. Participation "has been on an upward curve, definitely ... the fact that new categories are being created means that new cheeses are being created."

She's also seeing many more cheese publications in recent years, "like cheese porn," she joked.

The variety is intriguing part. Among the cheeses at Newton Farms are a pimiento, cheddar and goat cheese blend from Belle Chevre in Alabama, the cabernet-soaked Purple Moon and Pleasant Ridge Reserve, a farmstead cheese made from the nonpasteurized milk of a single herd of Wisconsin cows that graze on pasture grasses, clovers, herbs and wildflowers.

One of Mohle's biggest thrills was discovering a local goat cheesemaker 10 miles down the road from Freshfields Village. She heard about Burden Creek Dairy from a random comment, and so Mohle set off to find out more.

"I knocked on the door and asked, 'Are you making cheese? Can I have a taste?' "

Newton Farms soon became one of the dairy's largest customers, and Mohle says the store is buying at least 20 pounds a week. The store developed its own flavoring for the soft cheese, spiced fig, made from roasted figs and pumpkin pie spices.

Mohle's staff includes a full-time cheesemonger, Al Traynor, and the two plan to continue the quest for more American cheeses. "This time next year, I'll have all 50 states," she vows.

Teresa Taylor is the food editor. Reach her at food@postandcourier.com.