What Are the Top Five Cheeses Produced in the United States?

There are over 2000 types of cheeses produced in the world and the United States is the largest producer in the world. This is directly tied to milk production and the US is one of the largest milk producers in the world also. In the year 2008 the US produced over 30 percent of the world’s cheeses. They are followed by Germany, France and Italy.

Within the United States there are five states who are the largest producers of cheeses. The top producer is the state of Wisconsin closely followed by California. Then depending on which statistics you are looking at there follows the state of Idaho, New York State, and Minnesota followed by smaller production in a few others. These states produce 72 percent of all cheese produced in the US. That is a lot of the stuff.

The largest product produced is Cheddar and Mozzarella and this is about 60 percent of the US production. This is followed by cream cheese which accounts for approximately eight percent and then Italian style which is approximately nine percent of the product.

There are several types of the product produced. Some places produce regional varieties that don’t travel well. Then there is the artisan or artisanal producers who make small batches by hand generally in a more traditional method. There is a specialty category which generally is a product that has something added to it such as herbs, spices or nuts. For it to be defined as specialty it can only be made in a limited production. The last category is called farmstead which are products that are actually produced on the farm using the farms own milk and other products. The milk whether it be goat, sheep or cow cannot come in from another source.

Much of the product produced in the US are the wax covered blocks that may be Cheddar, Jack, American or Swiss. Different areas of the US produce different types of them including a Blue from Iowa which is made with milk from local area dairy farms instead of the traditional European type made from sheep’s milk. It too is aged in caves after being injected with Penicillum.

There are many different quite small artisan producers from the Pacific to the Atlantic. They will produce traditional product by hand in often very small batches. Some of the artisan products are so popular they sell out year after year.