May is National Cheese Month!

May is National Cheese Month. On Friday, May 9, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. the Potsdam Food Co-op is celebrating the occasion by featuring free samples of more than a dozen delicious New York cheeses with many crafted by Northern New York cheesemakers.

Cheese enthusiasts may not know that people who love cheese are called “turophiles” which combines the Greek word for cheese, “tyros”, and the English ending “-phile”, for lover, or that it takes 10 gallons of milk to make just 1 pound of cheese, or that cheese curd is simply fresh cheddar cheese before it’s been pressed into a block to age to become an aged cheddar.

Community members are invited to visit the Co-op at 24 Elm Street in the Village of Potsdam to acquaint their taste buds with locally-made cheeses and learn more about our local cheesemakers and their finely crafted artisan cheeses.

The Co-op will be sampling cheeses crafted by:

1000 Islands River Rat Cheese of Clayton, NY
Meier’s Artisan Cheese of Fort Covington, NY
Cedar Hedge Farm of Lowville, NY
Lively Run Goat Dairy of Interlaken, NY

A delicious variety of complementary foods will be served along with the free cheese samples. The event cheese board will include crackers and pretzels, raw honey from Squeak Creek Apiaries of Brasher Falls NY, as well as various chocolates from the bulk department, Ithaca hummus, and fruits, etc. in a true charcuterie style sampling.

In addition to the cheeses sampled, Co-op shoppers will discover a variety of other cheeses from northern NY cheesemakers available for sale at 10% off through the end of May. Also, on May 9 there will be a one-day sale of beautiful cheeseboards and cheese knives by Talisman Designs.

The Potsdam Food Co-op is open to the community, membership is not required to shop at the store. The Potsdam Food Co-op accepts SNAP and participates in the Double Up Food Bucks NY program, which increases access to fresh produce for SNAP recipients. To learn about the program, weekly offerings and upcoming events, visit: www.facebook.com/PotsdamCoop

The Potsdam Food CO+OP is located at 24 Elm St., Potsdam, NY 13676 across from the IGA.