3 Great Local Cheesemakers to Look for in Arizona

With its arid, desert landscape, Arizona likely isn’t the first place one thinks of as a cheese-making destination. But with an influx of people moving to the state and a burgeoning culinary scene with James Beard Award-winning restaurants and chefs, comes an appreciation for locally made artisan cheese.

Hassayampa Vineyard & Farm

“Our state hasn't always been known for farmstead artisan cheeses, but with all the recent efforts of small Arizona dairy farmers, we certainly will be,” says Karen Nicoli, the cheesemaker at Hassayampa Vineyard & Farm in Kirkland, Arizona, an hour south of Prescott. The creamery produces a farmstead cheese called Hassiago exclusively from their eight grass-fed and pastured Jersey cows.

“It is an Asiago-type cheese,” explains Nicoli, “hand-rubbed for a natural rind and aged for a minimum of four months. The result is a semi-hard yet creamy paste with a buttery and complex flavor profile.” Because the cows are pasture-raised, the profile shifts with the seasons, as they are “dining” on different flora and fauna. “Our farm is located in the high desert of Kirkland, with the Hassayampa River cutting through, so the terroir itself adds a unique and subtle flavor to the milk,” says Nicoli.

Last fall, the creamery began constructing an underground cheese cave which will no doubt lead to aged cheeses at retail in the future. “While we are still considered a small-batch creamery, our number of wheels each week has grown from six to ten. Each wheel averages eleven pounds,” says Nicoli.

Crow’s Dairy

Crow’s Dairy in Buckeye is another example of an Arizona creamery in a growth spurt. Wendell and Rhonda Crow, the fifth generation of their family to be dairy farmers, make chèvre, feta, quark, curds and goina (similar to cotija, an aged Mexican-style cheese) from their Nubian goats. Nubian goats are prized for cheese because their milk contains five percent butterfat, on average.

But it wasn’t until 2008 that the Crows began making cheese. “My wife (Rhonda) went to cheese school,” says Wendell. “We were milking cows at that time and knew we had to do something different.” Their creamery is a farmstead with goats living on site and outside milk is not sourced—just the milk from their own goats is used. Crow’s Dairy cheeses can be found on the menus of many of Arizona’s most well-known restaurants including Pizza Bianca, FnB in Scottsdale and Lon’s at the Hermosa Inn.

Arizona Farms Cheese

In 2009, the United Dairymen of Arizona Cooperative partnered with Wiskerchen Cheese out of Wisconsin to form Arizona Farms Cheese in Tempe. Master cheese makers from Wisconsin moved out to Arizona to help get the plant up and running and teach local cheese makers the tricks of the trade. After over a decade of making cheese together, UDA became the sole owner of the cheese plant. While there are still a few cheese makers from Wisconsin, most have retired by now.

Using all locally sourced cow’s milk the cooperative makes and sells cheese curds (Cheddar and jalapeno-Cheddar) and block cheeses (Cheddar, pepper jack, Monterey jack and garlic and pepper Cheddar). Several of Arizona’s family-owned farms sell milk to the cooperative, including the fourth-generation Kerr family and Rovey Family Farms / Rovey Dairy.

Finding Arizona Cheese

Mingle + Graze photo courtesy of Mahfam Moeeni-Alarcon

Restaurants

Getting these cheeses onto restaurant menus at resorts in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Arizona has been key to getting the word out. At Cielo, within ADERO Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Crow’s Dairy goat cheese is tossed with fennel, orange, candied pecans and cranberry-orange dressing on the Roasted Beet Salad. Similarly, a Caesar salad at Aftermath Bar & Kitchen in Phoenix features Hassayampa Vineyard & Farm’s Hassiago cheese along with ciabatta croutons, avocado-parmesan dressing and cured egg yolk over romaine and baby-gem lettuce.

But it’s not just salads that chefs are creating as signature dishes folding in Arizona cheese. At Valentine, a Phoenix farm-to-fork restaurant, chef Donald Hawk created Elote Pasta featuring Hassiago as well as Crow’s Dairy goat cheese. “The pasta became so popular that he went from ordering one wheel a month to one every week,” says Nicoli.

Cheese Shops

Artisan-cheese and food/wine shops like Mingle + Graze in Chandler, Hidden Track Bottle Shop in Phoenix and Far Away Wine and Provisions in Phoenix are solid partners (all three carry Hassiago, for instance).

Farmer’s Markets

Another marketing mission for these creameries is selling at farmers markets, as Hassayampa Vineyard & Farm does at the Prescott Farmers Market. Crow’s Dairy sells their cheese at several farmers markets including Tempe Farmers Market and Uptown Farmers Market (in Phoenix)—between March and September.