Stainless Steel vs. Stalagmites

[TheFuzzy]

Mr. Jenkins,

I recently visited a tiny cheesery in Southern Oregon (the Rogue Valley Creamery) that had taken steel-tank, injection-started blue cheeses to an international contest in Britian, and took home the prize, beating out many French cave-aged blue cheeses.

It seems like American cheesemakers are following the same trend as American winemakers; proving that superior technology, properly applied, can yield a project actually better than centuries-old methods. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but the cheese sure is good.

Do you see things the same way? Are cheesemakers getting modernized in Europe as a response to all of the prizes going over the Atlantic? Or am I totally off-base here?

(and if you haven't visited the Rogue Valley Creamery, you might want to)

[master cheesemonger/grocer]

I have visited the Rogue Valley Creamery; it is owned by a good friend. The technology you refer to is undeniably advantageous to even artisanal cheesemakers, but I refer to those artisanal cheesemakers who make a lot of cheese. A small-production artisan, though, has no need for technology; she needs naught but fine milk, the old tools, time, patience and a sensitive nose and elbow.

European cheesemakers pay about as much attention to us as we pay to Lithuania.