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25 Essential American Cheeses
From Food & Wine — March 2026
A beautifully photographed editorial celebrating artisanal American cheesemaking across the United States. From creamy bloomy-rind cheeses to pungent washed-rind varieties and celebrated blue cheeses, this spread captures the craftsmanship, regional identity, and aesthetic richness of contemporary dairy culture.
The feature highlights small-batch producers, farmstead traditions, and regional flavor profiles spanning Maine, Vermont, Wisconsin, Oregon, Pennsylvania, California, and beyond.
Soft Cheeses
1. Up North Applewood Cold Smoked Ricotta
Crooked Face Creamery — Skowhegan, Maine
Amy Rowbottom cold-smokes small rounds of her milk-sweet ricotta over local applewood, adding a hint of campfire.
2. Duet
Andante Dairy — Petaluma, California
Pamela Sawtelle Sammis is famous among California chefs for her nuanced cow’s milk cheeses.
3. Wabash Cannonball
Capriole Goat Cheese — Greenville, Indiana
Judy Schad dusts her fluffy goat cheese with ash, then ages it so that a thin, moist silver rind forms around it.
4. Merry Goat Round
Spruce Reserve, FireFly Farms — Accident, Maryland
Prepared to be swept off to the woods on a gust of juniper and mushrooms when you taste this pudding-soft goat cheese wrapped in bark.
5. St. Stephen
Four Fat Fowl — Stephentown, New York
This triple crème was created by a family of self-proclaimed “maniacal cheese lovers.”
6. Thistle
Valley Milkhouse — Oley, Pennsylvania
This downy small-batch cow-milk cheese is custardy with notes of steamed cauliflower.
7. Rockweed
Lakin’s Gorges Cheese — Waldoboro, Maine
A seaweed-laced organic cow-milk cheese inspired by the farm’s mossy shoreline.
8. Intergalactic
Perrystead Dairy — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
From a tiny urban creamery, it’s gooey and buttery with an olive note.
Funky Cheeses
These moist, aromatic, washed-rind discs are bathed in brine or booze in the cheese cave.
9. Afterglow
Blakesville Creamery — Port Washington, Wisconsin
Cheesemaking phenom Veronica Pedraza bathes goat cheese tufts in cherry beer creating luxurious cushiony fruity funk.
10. Grayson
Meadow Creek Dairy — Galax, Virginia
This unctuous square is made by a mother-daughter team in Appalachia.
11. Hooligan
Cato Corner Farm — Colchester, Connecticut
A sublime stink bomb made with rich raw milk.
12. Campo
Boxcarr Handmade Cheese — Cedar Grove, North Carolina
This creamy campfire version of Italian Taleggio is lush, funky, and doughy.
13. Rush Creek Reserve
Uplands Cheese — Dodgeville, Wisconsin
Made only in autumn, this silky, fondue-like round from raw cow milk comes belted in spruce bark.
14. Trilby
Cherry Grove Farm — Lawrenceville, New Jersey
This boozy, pâté-like wonder is washed in local whiskey and wrapped in fig leaves.
Cheddar & Cousins
A “cheddaring” process makes these cheeses dense but also crumbly.
15. Cabot Clothbound Cheddar
Jasper Hill Farm — Greensboro, Vermont
Earthy with notes of caramel.
16. 2-Year Cheddar (Extra Sharp)
Shelburne Farms — Shelburne, Vermont
The gold standard for sharp block cheddar.
17. Whaledale
Mystic Cheese — Groton, Connecticut
This American homage to Wensleydale evokes sour cream, wet stone, and buttered popcorn.
18. Red Rock
Roelli Cheese Haus — Shullsburg, Wisconsin
A cheddar-blue hybrid: mellow and buttery, with a hint of blue cheese.
Table Cheeses
Ranging from firm to hard, these hefty hunks are aged to evaporate moisture and develop flavors.
19. Finger Lakes Gold Reserve
Lively Run Goat Dairy — Interlaken, New York
This stunning goat Gouda is sweet, nutty, and grassy.
20. Tallgrass Reserve
Landmark Creamery — Paoli, Wisconsin
An earthy-sweet aged Alpine-style cheese made with milk from pasture-grazed cows.
21. Calderwood
Jasper Hill Farm — Greensboro, Vermont
This dense wheel was created exclusively for Saxelby Cheesemongers in New York City.
22. Cornerstone
Parish Hill Creamery — Westminster West, Vermont
This renowned aged raw-milk cheese is made without commercial starter cultures.
23. Verano
Vermont Shepherd — Westminster West, Vermont
Made on a solar-powered farm and aged in a hillside cave.
Blue Cheeses
To make these bold-tasting cheeses, blue mold is added to the milk, then wheels are pierced and left to oxidize so veins form.
24. Birchrun Blue
Birchrun Hills Farm — Chester Springs, Pennsylvania
A Stilton-style blue made from raw farmstead milk.
25. Rogue River Blue
Rogue Creamery — Central Point, Oregon
Wrapped in Syrah grape leaves that have been soaked in pear spirits, this organic cow-milk blue is fruity, slippery-soft, and complex.
Archival Notes
Published in: Food & Wine — March 2026
RAPID FIRE WITH
Judy Reyes
Beloved for her unforgettable turn as nurse Carla Espinosa on ABC’s fan-favorite Scrubs, Judy Reyes is set to reprise the iconic role in the show’s newly announced reboot. The award-winning actress, who earned multiple ALMA Awards during the series’ 17-time-Emmy-nominated run, continues to shine on screen. She currently stars in ABC’s hit drama High Potential as Selena, the no-nonsense police lieutenant, opposite Kaitlin Olson and Daniel Sunjata.
by Liz Ritter Photography by Ari Michelson
Beauty to me is… a great laugh.
The greatest thing about aging is… not giving a shit.
I feel most beautiful when… I get a good night’s sleep.
The beauty move I can’t master is… getting these curls poppin’.
The beauty treatments I leave to the pros are… facials and a mani/pedi.
The beauty treatments I can’t live without are… facials and mani/pedis.
The beauty treatments I splurge on are… facials and mani/pedis.
The beauty products I always have with me… tinted lip balm and makeup sheets.
The last wellness-related thing I did for the first time was… Pilates.
I am proudest of… my skin.
The hack I’ve learned while getting ready on set is… carrying a fan at all times.
My first big splurge when I started booking roles was… laser hair removal.
The best bathroom run-in I’ve had at an awards show was… not in a bathroom, but Prince at the ALMA Awards tribute to Sheila E.
The last product I used until the end was… Anastasia’s eyebrow pencil.
My favorite way to unwind is… tea and a jigsaw puzzle.
My first beauty memory was… discovering I could wear my hair curly instead of straight all the time.
My must-pack items when I fly are… face wash, sunscreen and moisturizer.
Roma.
Di tutto.
Di più.
Barbara
New buildings in Latium (and my first attempt at terrain shaping). The Tabularium is built on a slope in real life, so I did the same (after a false start). I’m still not 100% happy with the outcome of the Capitoline Hill at the moment, but it’s a start.
My version of Rome now has four buildings (five counting the temple I previously built, which I’m re-imagining as the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus).
A Hypothetical reconstruction of the Tabularium and Roman. Forum. 1865. Constant Moyaux
#tabularium #Rome #love (presso Foro Romano -Roma, Italia)
Eccole lì, dritte come le ridde di una forchetta piantata a terra. Invocano Saturno, Tito e Vespasiano in una orazione maldestra che confonde imperatori e divinità. Una preghiera di marmo impastata della rumorosa immaginazione dei turisti. (presso Tabularium)