Encouraging cheese article
KosherToday’s latest issue includes a Category Focus article on cheese (included below for archival purposes) which thoroughly covers the major initiatives in the industry. The piece, by Lauren Kramer, pays particular interest to Anderson International, Atalanta, Ahava, and Cappiello.
What’s especially encouraging is Anderson International’s recognition of the changing tastes of the typical kosher consumer:
“I don?t think people in this country were brought up eating the quality and variety of cheese that people in Europe and Israel are exposed to,” says Anderson?s Mizrahi. ?For example, we?re selling a Danish bleu cheese of excellent quality. The younger generation is ready for a product like this, but the generation brought up on Muenster and mozzarella finds a good cheese too strong for them.”
Certainly, we ba’alei tshuva are doing our part to demand better cheeses from the kosher marketplace.
KOSHERTODAY: June 2004
Cheese
Kosher consumers are no longer limited to lackluster choices in this department
By Lauren Kramer
Wine is not the only kosher product to redefine itself in upscale terms. The cheese category has also been transformed with flavorful, high-quality kosher offerings. Judging by the increasingly varied assortment of kosher specialty cheeses in the marketplace today, the American Jew?s palate is becoming more sophisticated and demanding of finer flavors.
The trend toward more upscale food products is typical of a younger generation of Jews, says Brigitte Mizrahi, a principal at Anderson International Foods in Los Angeles. A private-label distributor and importer of kosher specialty cheese, Anderson has a repertoire of products that include retail and wholesale cheese under the brand names Les Petites Fermieres, Natural & Ko-sher (cholov Yisroel), La Ch趲e (cholov Yisroel) and Monsey Dairy, all OK Kosher certified.
In addition to staples like mozzarella, Muenster, cheddar, Monterey Jack and feta cheese, Anderson sells La Ch趲e Chilean goat cheese in flavors like red pepper, olive and fines herbes.
The newest products this year are a Canadian Brie and Camembert under the Les Petites Fermieres label, a French-made Emmenthaler, an American cheddar cheese under the Monsey Dairy label and Sol Danablu, an imported Danish bleu cheese. The Monsey Dairy line includes Gouda, smoked Gouda, Havarti and pepperjack cheese.
The major players in kosher specialty cheese are Brooklyn-based World Cheese, the market leader, whose lines include the popular Haolam and Miller?s brands; Ahava Foods; and Anderson International. Previously published figures from experts in the industry put 2000 U.S. sales for kosher cheese at just over $50 million, a number that?s still fairly accurate today, says Moshe Vogel, mashgiach at Anderson.
Founded by the Thurm family, Haolam is the trailblazer that introduced kosher consumers to the basic cheeses available in kosher supermarkets, including the best-selling American cheese. Though more companies are entering the kosher cheese market to please the changing palate of younger kosher consumers, Haolam remains the leader in both retail and foodservice sales.
?I don?t think people in this country were brought up eating the quality and variety of cheese that people in Europe and Israel are exposed to,? says Anderson?s Mizrahi. ?For example, we?re selling a Danish bleu cheese of excellent quality. The younger generation is ready for a product like this, but the generation brought up on Muenster and mozzarella finds a good cheese too strong for them.?
In Mizrahi?s experience, the diet of many American Orthodox Jews, the mainstay of the kosher cheese business, revolves around meat. As a result, ?they don?t know how to cook with cheese,? she says. ?We used to sell ricotta cheese in a 2-pound container, perfect for a lasagna, for example. But we found that an Orthodox American consumer didn?t know what to do with a 2-pound container.
?In Europe, by contrast, many meals are based on cheese, and in France, you have cheese as a course at the end of a meal.?
Anderson International uses the facilities of eight cheese plants that are willing to do kosher runs based on its flavor profiles and packaging requirements. The company?s most popular retail cheese is sliced yellow Muenster.
?It?s very creamy, and the slices are really good in sandwiches,? Mizrahi says. Vogel adds that the Danish bleu is the most popular specialty cheese right now.
?It?s been a big new thing, and none of our competition carries this kind of cheese,? he says.
Atalanta Corp., owned by George Gellert, is a multinational importer of cheeses, institutional groceries and specialty foods. The company began importing kosher specialty cheese in summer 2003.
The company is the exclusive distributor of Barkanit, a sheep-and-goat-milk cheese from Israel, and bleu cheese from Denmark (cholov Yisroel).
Other varieties imported by Atalanta are Swiss and Brie cheese from France and mascarpone from Canada.
?The reception has been really good, better than what I thought it would be,? says Carey Franco, who heads up the kosher cheese program at Atalanta. ?People see these cheeses and they want them, because what was once only in the non-kosher area is now kosher.?
Franco is hoping to import Gouda from Holland and more cheese from Israel. ?I think we haven?t even touched the tip of the iceberg with this product,? he says.
Ahava Foods is the only kosher cholov Yisroel company outside of Israel that owns its own plant and farms, according to Ahava spokesperson Rebecca Banayan. Located in Lowville, N.Y., and with a recently purchased plant in Ogdensburg, N,Y,, the company produces milk, cheese and yogurt.
?We purchased these plants because we wanted to be BST [bovine growth hormone]-free,? explains Banayan. ?Our cows don?t get hormone injections to make them deliver more milk. As a result, a lot of people who are health conscious buy our products.?
With a customer base that?s 15 percent non-Jewish, business has ?grown massively,? reports Banayan.
The Ogdensberg plant is a hard-cheese facility producing Monterey jack, Colby cheese, emek cheese, bulk shredded and sliced mozzarella, marble cheese, Parmesan, cheddar, sheep spread and other varieties for retailers and wholesalers.
Another company that produces kosher specialty cheese onsite is F. Cappiello Dairy Products of Schenectady, N.Y. The company?s line of cheeses, under OU supervision, includes ricotta and mozzarella, the latter available in plain, smoked and sundried tomato flavors; and scamorza and smoked scamorza. F. Cappiello supplies cheese to the foodservice and retail markets.
?We started producing a kosher-supervised line 30 years ago for one client and then turned our entire line kosher about 10 years ago,? says Julianne Cappiello-Miranda, co-owner of the company. ?Now we get unsolicited e-mails constantly from people who say they?ve seen the product and can?t believe there?s kosher mozzarella out there that tastes good and is affordable.
?I don?t believe we have much competition,? she adds. ?What distinguishes us from other companies selling kosher cheese is that we don?t have special kosher runs. All our products are made to order, so the product is always the freshest, using quality ingredients.?
The company?s most popular cheese is marinated, braided mozzarella.
Cappiello-Miranda has seen an increased demand for specialty cheese in the last few years, both kosher and non-kosher.
?People are tired of the same old products out there,? she says. ?We?re working on a few ideas for new flavors.?
Anderson?s Vogel agrees that the future for this category looks bright. He describes its growth potential as ?unbelievable.?
?It?s going to take a long time to e
ducate people about what?s available in kosher specialty cheese, but there will be no limit to the growth,? he says.
?It?s going to be a long and steady process, but realistically there?s enough room for everyone to grow.?
Lauren Kramer is a freelance writer in British Columbia