The Cheese Connection « Back

Dairy farmers have connections, that is, cheese connections. Dairy farmers produce the milk which is the basic ingredient of all that delicious cheese we enjoy eating in slices, strings or melted. One hundred years ago when I was a little girl (or what feels like 100 years ago!), I delighted in visiting the cold storage room that my grandfather managed across from the Kraft cheese plant in Bentonville. This was a huge refrigerated room that held thousands of five pound blocks of cheddar cheese that were being aged. I had no idea the dairy farmer was responsible for all that cheese! Did you know it takes 10 pounds of milk to produce a pound of cheese? Did you know there are more than 300 varieties of cheese produced just in the United States? I have become fully connected now – I am that dairy farmer.

In January, Anglin Dairy hosted the presentation of the Cheese Car to Roger King, a fellow Arkansan. This car was the grand prize for the Put Some Cheese On It! contest sponsored by Midwest Dairy Association. ThePut Some Cheese On It! contest encouraged people to enhance their eating experiences by adding a simple ingredient: American-made cheese. Cheese is a great food to promote because it is nutritious and found in a wide selection of types, forms and flavors. You, too, can be connected – Put Some Cheese On It!