Market & Garden Report: Idaho Cheeses

[HOST INTRO] America is in the midst of a cheese making renaissance.  Small-scale, artisans have set up shop in virtually every state.  The Northwest is particularly well represented.  Oregon has over 20 professional cheese making businesses — Washington twice that.   Idaho has less than six so far.  But, as correspondent Guy Hand finds out in this installment of the Market & Garden Report, Idaho cheeses are well worth seeking out. Stacie Ballard: We’re Ballard Family Dairy and Cheese.  We milk our own cows and make our own cheese. Hand: That’s Stacie Ballard here at the Capital City Public Market in Boise.  She and her husband Steve are two of Idaho’s most successful cheese makers. Hand: And I just heard that you guys are the best cheese makers in the state.  Is that correct?  (laughing)  Steve: Yea.  Stacie: That’s what we think.  Steve: We’re the only farmstead cheese manufacturer in the state and our cheese has lots of flavor and good taste and we think we are the best. Hand: The term farmstead means they raise the cows and make the cheese on the farm.  It’s a lot like estate bottled wine. Hand: And you’ve won a few awards over […]