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Sweet Grass Dairy

It is hard to believe Christmas is over and the New Year is here! I apologize for missing a few blog entries, but coming down with the flu right before Christmas was poor timing on my part. 2010 brings many new and exciting things along with some fresh recipe ideas I can’t wait to share. First, I would love to introduce to you one of my favorite local foods and one cool couple….

Over Thanksgiving my husband and I took a quick trip down to Thomasville, Georgia which is just an hour from my parent’s farm. You would never guess that in such a small, south Georgia town there could be an award winning goat cheese farm just off the main highway. Jeremy and Jessica Little were kind enough to take some time of there busy schedule of filling holiday orders, milking goats, and overseeing the production of their amazing cheeses, to show Davis and me around the farm.

At Sweetgrass Dairy the day starts with milking the goats. There are about 150 on the farm, but of course not all are producing milk at the same time. The pure white goat’s milk is stored in large stainless steel vats and used within 48 hours of milking to ensure the freshest cheese. Cow’s milk, which Jeremy and Jessica use to make some of their cheeses, is a creamier yellow color due to the butterfat content and comes straight from Jessica’s parent’s dairy just down the road.

Sweetgrass offers a variety of goat and cow’s milk cheeses and has even won 1st place at the American Cheese Society’s annual competition for their soft-ripened cheese, Green Hill. Constantly experimenting with new flavors, Jeremy offered me and Davis and quick taste of some of their latest creations – which were amazing to say the least!

On our drive back to the farm, Davis and I stopped at the Sweetgrass Dairy Marketplace which is located just a mile or two towards town. There you can taste a variety of the cheeses from Thomasville Tomme, a raw grass-based cow’s milk cheese with buttery characteristics to the Asher Blue Cheese, a combination of cow’s milk and goat’s milk with a rich blue cheese flavor I fell in love with. The store offers many other items we found hard to resists such as the house made sausage and delicious cow’s milk yogurt that Jessica’s brother has begun producing. They also have a great selection of wines for sale and each one has a cheese pairing recommendation.

So if you are in the south Georgia area I would recommend stopping at the Sweetgrass Dairy Market, but if you are not then you can easily purchase their cheeses on the website or swing by your local Whole Foods Market to see what selection of fine Sweetgrass Cheeses they have to offer. The next time you order cheese at a restaurant, even if you are at the famous Per Se in New York, there is a good chance you are probably enjoying a little Sweetgrass Dairy treat.

With New Year’s Eve just around the corner, I highly recommend trying Stuffed dates with Sweetgrass’ Asher Blue Cheese for an easy appetizer. Their fresh goat cheese is also a delicious substitute if you can’t get your hands on the Asher Blue.

Recipes:

• Blue Cheese Stuffed Dates
• Butternut Squash Salad with Honey Goat Cheese Dressing
• Lemon Goat Cheese Pasta

Sweetgrass Dairy Marketplace

For store and restaurant locations click here