For most of its history, cheese has been a local affair. Farmers would bring their milk to a village creamery that could convert that milk into cheese and other dairy products. Cheese has always been the long term storage solution for extra milk—especially before the era of refrigerators. The creameries would produce the same type of cheese and offer it at different ages like fresh, young, aged, extra aged—that sort of thing—but most of their sales came from the fresh varieties. Cottage cheese, cream cheese, hand-ladled rounds and bright white logs were all typical and popular fare.

Folks might come into town once or twice a week to grab what they needed and stop by the local creamery, bakery, brewery, and general store for weekly supplies. A slower time to be sure, but the world wasn’t in such a hurry then, either.

Things changed, of course.

Small, local producers were mostly overtaken by the convenience and variety of grocery stores and shopping centers. Seasonality disappeared. Better living and eating through science and all that jazz. You know: TV Dinners and toaster pastries and plastic wrapped blocks of orange cheese. The neighborhood creamery disappeared from the culinary landscape.

Then, slowly the trend reversed. Folks were over the microwave—they wanted well made products that tasted great. The “who” and the “how” were important again and our Zingerman’s community of businesses evolved in the same fashion: local baking, coffee roasting, cheese making. Zingerman’s Creamery hit the scene in 2001 and made an instant splash with natural cream cheese. In a couple short years they were making a variety of fresh, hand-ladled cheeses from local cow and goat’s milk—just like the old days.

Zingerman’s Creamery receives fresh milk daily from local farms within about an hour’s drive.

The volume of milk changes depending on the time of year, so they’ve become adept at changing their own production schedule to match the influx—or dearth—of milk. The cheesemakers at Zingerman’s Creamery use the same time-tested techniques that gave old village cheese its signature, light texture and subtle flavors. There’s a bright, fresh, tangy character you can only find in young, handmade cheeses. Like milk, butter and the other dairy regulars in your fridge, fresh, local, hand-ladled cheeses can once again be a staple.

Reserve the heavier, richer, more intensely flavored cheeses for a special occasion. Make fresh cheese the daily experience it used to be.