Tangy Potato and Beet Salad
This easy salad uses two previously prepared condiments (homemade or store-bought). Prepared horseradish brings a kick to the dish and is frequently part of spring holiday menus. Mixed with potatoes a...
New York State Dairy
A Top Commodity Evolves with the Times
New York State has been one of the top producers of dairy products in the nation for at least 150 years. A delightful book by Dr. Milton Sernett titled Say Cheese! The Story of the Era when New York State Cheese was King, recounts the state’s colorful history of cheesemaking. Sernett leads off long before most commercial enterprise began, but in 1951 the first cheese factory in the country was created in Rome, NY. The idea spread quicker than freshly churned butter. Looking at a New York map from 1899 you can see that in less than 50 years, 1,611 cheese or butter factories had sprung up. Two areas dominated: one crescent-shaped cluster in the east along Lake Ontario and the Erie Canal corridor, and another in the southwestern part of the state.
The Big Cheese
Cheese (mainly cheddar) was one of New York’s most important exports during the late 19th century. Produced in rural counties, it made its way to urban centers on the East Coast and even abroad to cities such as London. The Erie Canal played a key role in building export markets for New York cheese as well as other agricultural products.
To regulate the buying and selling of cheese, a market exchange was eventually created in New York State near the first factory. It set the benchmark price of cheddar cheese worldwide. In the early 1900s, the exchange and the “cheese center of the world” moved to Cuba, NY, where cheese buyers and sellers met each week at the Hotel Kinney to set the cheddar cheese prices. You can learn more about Cuba’s role in cheese history at the Cuba Cheese Museum through their artifacts and exhibits.
Westward Ho
As the population expanded westward, so did cheddar cheesemaking. In fact, many New York cheesemakers made their way to Wisconsin. Bringing their skills and traditions with them, they helped to create the Midwestern state’s enduring reputation for cheesemaking.
New York lost a share of the cheddar cheese business, but the cows stayed put. With the invention of ice-cooled refrigerated rail cars and expanded rail lines, fresh milk could be transported farther than ever. The demand for New York’s dairy products in various forms, including butter, ice cream and other cheeses, continued to grow.
A Different Dairy
Yogurt was introduced to the U.S. in the early 1900s, but America didn’t begin its love affair with this fermented food until the ’60s and ’70s, when it was lauded as a health food. The real boost in U.S. yogurt sales happened at the beginning of this century. According to Empire State Development, between 2005 and 2015 yogurt consumption per capita increased by over 41 percent, with New York consistently one of the top producers. Today, yogurt has moved beyond the health food or dairy aisles and can be found scattered throughout the grocery store—popping up in drinks, touted as dessert, featured in snacks, and even provided in shelf-stable versions.
Who’s Got Milk?
New York sure does. According to the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets, the state has some impressive milk stats. With more than 3,500 dairy farms, the dairy industry is the largest agricultural sector in New York and almost half the agricultural income is attributed to dairy products. Over a billion pounds of cheese and more than 700 million pounds of yogurt are produced here each year. The state is the fifth largest milk producer in the nation and first in yogurt and cottage cheese production. New York is pretty proud of its milk products. In 2014, a bill was passed that named yogurt as the “state snack!”
Related Stories & Recipes