The Southeastern states are home to mountains and coastline, major metropolises, and lots of cheesemakers. Generally speaking, cheesemaking happens in the foothills and mountains, where lush, green pastures provide lots of land for animals to graze, unlike the marshy, sandy territory along the coast. Georgia itself has several micro-creameries, mostly around the Atlanta area, but very few have products that make it out of the state. In fact, if you encounter a cheese from Georgia on a menu or in the cheese counter, it’s most likely a Sweet Grass Dairy gem.
This Georgia creamery is committed to three pillars: healthier animal, healthier soil, healthier earth. Balmy weather and the dairy’s location on the Floridian aquifer allows the owners to irrigate and graze their cows year round. Such resources set apart Sweet Grass from others in the industry, as they can continue milking the herd and making cheese throughout each season.
The nuances of the year-round cheese results in single products taking on different flavors throughout the year. The camembert-style Greenhill, for example, is a crowd-pleaser, yet its flavor shifts from subtle and mushroomy in the cooler months to bright and grassy during the summer. You can order it to your door, or visit Sweet Grass Dairy’s brick-and-mortar Cheese Shop in Downtown Thomasville, which offers tastings and experiences for the cheese in a neighborhood wine bar setting.
Greenhill: Named after Sweet Grass Dairy’s first farm, this camembert-style cheese develops different flavor nuances with each season’s production. Try picking up the bright, grassy flavors in a summertime wheel or the woodsy, mushroomy notes in the winter.
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Get our complete travel guide to Southern cheesemakers in the SPRING ISSUE of the Local Palate, on newsstands February 14, 2023.
