Massachusetts has a long tradition of cheesemaking; nearly four hundred years of it, so they should have it down by now. The first Massachusetts cheese I recall tasting was Hubbardston Farm’s Classic Blue, an external blue mold goat cheese, invented by Lettie Kilmoyer. The next Massachusetts cheese I remember tasting was Great Hill Blue. That was about it, both of them excellent, but whatever else was being crafted there had to compete with another state to make its way into New York City. Cheese has been produced in Massachusetts for all this time but it is often overlooked because of what has been happening in Vermont.

My good friend and former colleague, Sarah Jennings, returned to Massachusetts after working with us in New York, and now she is on the advisory board of the Massachusetts Cheese Guild. When I was asked to present cheese at this weekend’s Tanglewood Wine & Food Classic I went to Sarah for some direction. Sure, I could find many other old and new favorites, from neighboring states or farther away, but I thought this would be a great opportunity to try some of the “local” cheeses, ones I may not have had before.

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