August 20, 2019

North Carolina cheeses are getting national recognition

Here are the award-winning producers upping our cheese reputation

Three of the award-winning cheeses (from left to right, available at Orrman’s): Prodigal Farms’ Field of Creams, Meadow Creek Dairy’s (Virginia) Grayson, and Goat Lady Dairy’s Providence. Kristen Wile/UP

The American Cheese Society held its annual awards competition recently, and North Carolina producers had an impressive showing, with 10 cheeses placing in various categories. That number puts our state in the top 10, tied with Pennsylvania and two short of Washington state. North Carolina is quietly growing its cheese clout, and these awards are evidence of that. In the 2018 awards, only five N.C. cheeses placed.

Owner of Orrman’s Cheese Shop Rachel Klebaur was one of the judges, sampling 75 to 80 cheeses per round, though she did not judge any of the Southern cheeses. According to Klebaur, Southern cheeses have been becoming more mainstream since the American Cheese Society held its conference in Raleigh in 2012.

“I think it’s been pretty developed and we’re still making some really great cheeses — and have been for a long time,” she says. “I think we have a little more recognition since then of how good the cheeses are here.”

There were more than 1,700 entries in the competition this year. Here are the N.C. cheeses that placed, and in which categories:

Blue mold cheeses (all milks)
Second place: Prodigal Farm’s Bearded Lady

American originals (goat)
Second place: Goat Lady Dairy’s Providence

Soft-ripened cheeses (cow)
Second place: Chapel Hill Creamery’s Carolina Moon

Flavored cheeses (all milks)
Third place: Prodigal Farm’s Field of Creams

Flavored cheeses (goat)
Second place: Goat Lady Dairy’s Basil and Garlic Chevre
Third place: Goat Lady Dairy’s Fig & Honey Chevre log

Flavored cheeses (cold-pack and club cheeses)
Second place: Red Clay Gourmet’s Hickory Smoked Pimiento Cheese

Smoked cheeses (goat)
First place: Goat Lady Dairy’s Smokey Mountain Round

Goat’s milk cheeses (aged 0 to 30 days)
Third place: Goat Lady Dairy’s Creamy Classic Chevre log

Farmstead cheeses (cow)
Third place: Chapel Hill Creamery’s Hickory Grove

Want to try these local, award-winning cheeses yourself? Swing by Orrman’s at 7th Street Public Market. Klebaur currently has Goat Lady Dairy’s Providence, Fig & Honey, Creamy Classic, and Smokey chevres; and Prodigal Farms’ Bearded Lady and Field of Creams. Chapel Hill Creamery’s offerings are sold out, but should be back in stock soon. —Kristen Wile