If you ask a cheese lover what their favorite cheese is the name Manchego will come up more often than you might expect, given that there are hundreds of well-known cheese names in the world today. What makes Manchego a favorite is a combination of its many attributes beyond simple deliciousness. A big reason why it never fails taste-wise is that Manchego can tolerate poor handling and temperature abuse better than most others. This is partly because it is a cheese that comes from a region with harsh temperature extremes, so it has evolved to what it is today – a cheese of unparalleled keeping qualities. The long shelf life ensures that the cheese will retain its unique flavors and aromas, and will keep its delectable butter fats, and its sufficient moisture levels providing the pleasant mouthfeel, all held together in a complex protein structure. These qualities are unrivaled in Manchego’s many imitators and cognates. A cheese like today’s Manchego has been produced in the region for millennia but has only recently evolved to the world-class we know today.

The climatic conditions of La Mancha have always been challenging for an agrarian economy, as great as the soils may be. When irrigation was introduced nearly two centuries ago, the vast region became a prime location for agricultural exploits; it also became the “bread basket” of Spain. The one sheep breed that has always been able to thrive through the temperature extremes and arid conditions is the Manchega. The yield is low but the milk quality is high. It is a marvel to recognize how great a milk can be derived from such limited resources.

Now I ask you: What cheese are you craving?

Do you say Sì or No to Manchego?

Each year’s conference seems to get better than the last; this places pressure on future conference organizers. How they manage to cram all the various highlights into a tight 72-hour agenda must be the greatest challenge. Before the keynote address gets the ball rolling the organizing committee has to set aside a day to administer the Certified Cheese Professional exam. If it took place during the formal conference the candidates would miss important meetings, sessions and other opportunities. This adds a day to the agenda: the afternoon before the start of the conference for the exam itself, and preparing for it the full morning before: allowing time to set up the registration area, giving the proctors their assignments and instructions, and outfitting the exam room with electrical outlets, microphone and monitors, as well as loading the exam software into the rental laptops.

At the rate we are going, it appears we may be adding a second seating during the morning for next year’s exam, so this would require a much earlier start for the setup. As recently as late June we were expecting a total of 260 exam takers this year – maximum capacity for the room. There were some last-minute deferrals which brought the number down to 230, leaving a bit more elbow room. If we continue to see this uptick in enrollments, a second venue on a different date may be required. One option under discussion is to host an exam during the winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. This may make sense for the coming year, when the ACS conference is on the East Coast, offering greater accessibility. We will have to monitor enrollments before we schedule an additional exam at a different location on a different date. On the years when the ACS conference is held on the west coast it would be a little unfair for candidates from the east – which could suggest the Fancy Food Show in New York as a possible exam venue. This is not an immediate concern but again, with the fantastic growth in enrollments since the first exam in 2012, we must be prepared to come up with solutions; there are already over 60 signed up for the 2015 conference exam in Providence.

Adding two more days ahead of the CCP exam is the judging and competition. With over 1,600 entries the logistics of managing the judging are already stretched – a process that cannot be rushed and crammed into one day. To run one day of the judging process during the exam day would strain resources and manpower. Before the judging begins, the cheeses have to be received, checked in, and assigned their codes. This adds another three days on the front end. Few volunteers can justify being away from their regular jobs more than one week and in many cases even two days can be tough. This would prevent them from attending invaluable parts of the conference, including the awards ceremony and the closing Festival. With the amount of physical work involved, many volunteers would be exhausted and besides, suitable conference facilities available for more than a week are either hard to find or overly expensive.

Visits to farms, creameries and other sites have to be scheduled before the conference or after. It makes sense to add these days to your itinerary before the regular conference if you have travelled from farther away. Visitors from other countries and continents are often eager to see the American operations so they can be counted among those taking the tours. It is remarkable that there is such a growing international interest in what is going on here in the United States today. Board member Kate Arding believes our young Certified Cheese Professional program has a lot to do with this focus from outside. They may have their organizations and guilds, and excellent dairy sciences universities, but there is nothing quite like our CCP program. Other countries are watching our little program take off and the wider dairy industry is realizing the benefits. In countries where the industry is a little flat, a certification such as ours might help boost appreciation and sales.

There is so much going on during the ACS conferences it is impossible to get to everything. Yet if the conference were spread out over a longer period there probably would be more meetings and sessions added to fill up the time. It would be kind of like moving into a bigger house: you would tend to fill it up with things you might not actually need. There are the unscheduled meetings that pop up while the concurrent sessions are going on. Add to that the one-on-one networking and socializing; these conferences fly by quickly. No wonder some people feel like they have had enough before they end, well before the closing Festival of Cheeses.

The awards ceremonies are anticipated by everyone, not only by the cheesemakers, even the judges do not know the winners. They may recall a few when the winners are called up to receive their ribbons but putting a cheese to a name has to wait until the Festival on the following evening. This is the first glimpse they have to find out who crafted the cheeses judged to be the best.

The mix of winners was spread out well this year. Some of the newer creameries picked up a number of ribbons, like California’s Bleating Heart Cheese, for their pretty little sheep milk Blue, Ewelicious Blue – highly recommended – and their original cheese, also made from sheep milk, Fat Bottom Girl – equally delicious. Wisconsin’s Hidden Springs owner Brenda Jensen had a great day at the ceremonies, picking up more ribbons than any other producer. She won a Blue Ribbon for her excellent Timber Coulee Reserve and a Red Ribbon for another wash rind sheep cheese, and another for her Meadow Melody, and yet another Red for her younger Timber Coulee. Vermont’s Consider Bardwell won a Blue Ribbon for Rupert, a cheese we have loved since we first tasted it less than five years ago. Connecticut’s Cato Corner has been one of our favorite dairies of the Northeast; its Dairyere was another winner.

Indiana’s Capriole won Blue Ribbons for the lovely Sofia and for the outstanding O’Banon. Legendary cheesemaker Paula Lambert won Blue for Deep Ellum Blue and one of Wisconsin’s greatest recent success stories, Holland ‘s Family Cheese, won Blues for Marieke Gouda Jalapeño and Marieke Gouda Smoked Cumin, unrivaled flavored Gouda styles.

Vermont had a good day, as is often the case. Two years in a row that it has won Best-in-Show, this year with Farms for City Kids Foundation’s Tarentaise Reserve, and with several Blue Ribbons to follow: the same producer’s Tarentaise, the Cellars at Jasper Hill’s divine Harbison, Boston Post Dairy’s Très Bonne, Vermont Creamery’s Bijou and Feta, Grafton’s Queen of Quality Clothbound Cheddar and Shepsog, and Cabot’s Monterey Jack.

It has been an eventful seven days in Sacramento. Seeing old friends, making new connections, and tasting amazing cheeses. It is fascinating how this seemingly simple dairy product brings together such an extraordinary group of individuals from all over the country and from all over the world. I cannot wait to see everybody again at the 2015 ACS Conference in Providence!

Max

The candidates did not appear to be particularly nervous going into the exam. Most of them seemed to be cool, calm and collected, fully prepared. This suggested that this group had been studying the many facets of cheese for many months; their eligibility to sit for the exam was thoroughly vetted.

Exiting the exam was a little more harried. Not that the candidates felt that they had fared poorly but that the process of uploading their scores was impeded. Our first thought was that there was a bandwidth shortage – with 228 exams entering into the software simultaneously – might this be the problem? Candidates began to wonder whether or not their exam scores would be saved; attempts to upload scores on hard wires were also blocked. It became apparent that there was a larger problem than bandwidth. Understandably, the temperature in the exam room began to rise and the commotions surely impacted the concentration of those still taking the exam.

But no worries: We have assurances that all will be well, that the scores will be secured.

Once this is verified the exam review process will begin, perhaps delayed a few days due to the software glitch. Regardless, it will be a few weeks before the candidates will know whether or not they passed. It’s worth the wait. Each question on the exam undergoes statistical analysis. Anomalies among the answers must be checked; the integrity of the exam and of the entire certification must be upheld, for the sake of the CCPs and for the entire cheese industry.

Many thanks to all the proctors, the CCP committee, the ACS office, and to the patience of the exam-takers. We anticipate there will be nearly 200 more CCP’s to join the 253 who have already passed. Good for cheese!

Max McCalman

If all the ACS CCP candidates can ace Tuesday’s exam it will make it a lot easier for the exam review committee. All perfect scores? It seems that everyone has been studying extra hard so maybe it could happen. There are around 230 scheduled to take the exam, about 50% more than last year! We are already looking at next year’s exam, thinking we may have to offer the exam twice to meet the forecasted demand.

Where the CCP project is headed is hard to say but we believe it has already contributed mightily to the cheese industry. The knowledge base has grown and cheese is being cared for better than ever. Quite simply, cheese is better understood and many cheese myths have been debunked. Producers may be more confident their cheeses are better represented and customers should feel more inclined to buy more cheese. The people behind the counters and cheese trolleys seem to know more than they use to; and there is a little more pride showing. The American Cheese Society’s Certified Cheese Professional program has taken the cheese wave and given it guidance and support, with positive ripple effects far beyond what is witnessed among the CCP’s themselves. Everybody’s doing it: getting to know cheeses.

-Max

There are no foods with a greater capacity to inspire passionate discourse, with a myriad of facets to consider: from animal welfare and sustainability, to nutrition and safety. This is part of the beauty of cheese study; it invites contemplation and it stimulates discussions around the globe and around the clock.

A former student emails me questions from her shop in Hong Kong; which triggers the memory of last summer’s young Provençale chèvres au lait cru – illegal for import here due to outdated and misinformed rationale; which reminds me of the upcoming FDA visit to the 31st American Cheese Society conference in Sacramento – a conference now being staged by the organization’s Denver-based administrators and a team of volunteer planning and judging committees’ members from around the country; while cheesemaker Mary Quicke readies for her full day traveling from Devon, England to be there too; while in the meantime: a cheese trolley is being set up for the evening service at a restaurant in Melbourne, who’s chef was inspired by a cheese talk given by Russell Smith – cheese expert of Down Under – also headed that way; as candidates for the Certified Cheese Professional exam are up all night cramming for the 29th of July; shepherds are releasing their flocks from their milking parlors in Portugal’s sunny Beira Baixa; while many millions of pounds of fermented milk cure on cool and damp wooden boards right here in the U.S. of A.; and young and old tummies alike are sated everywhere, including those of the crew of an international space station orbiting our planet.

It is good. Cheese is a food that is as greatly revered as it is reviled. Yet it is a food that has sustained our race for millennia and one that has been offered as a peace offering between warring parties.

Cheese is headed your way, starting now!

Max