Buying Some More Environmentally Friendly Cheese

Recently the Environmental Working Group released a report revealing that cheese was the third worst offender behind lamb and beef for generating the most greenhouse gasses. Since a vegetarian’s best friend is cheese, and most are vegetarian for environmental or political reasons, this was very bad news for them. In light of this study, just how do you find a greener cheese?

Go Local

This is the most obvious thing to do, but only practical if you have a fromagerie or dairy within driving distance. To find your local cheesemaker, or at least one within 100 miles, do a search for your town or province and cheese, such as “North Bay” + cheese. That will turn up your local cheese companies. If you can find a cheesemaker that uses organic milk and practices to produce their cheese, so much the better.

Investigating your local fromageries can lead to awesome discoveries. I recently picked up a smoked mozzarella from a local dairy that tastes just as good as it sounds. Pop that bad boy on a little crostini and prepare to have a party in your mouth.

Look for an organic manufacturer

For those not so lucky to be surrounded by tons of awesome cheese (I’m looking at you, Quebecers. JELLIS!), organic cheese can be found either in your supermarket or in your local natural health food store. A few manufacturers to look for are:

Organic Valley
You know who these guys are if you live in the US. Organic cream, organic milk, and oui, organic cheese.

Horizon Dairy
This company distributes organic cheese in Canada.

Moonstruck Cheese
For our friends on the west coast of Canada, or anywhere within Canada because you can order their cheese over the internet!

I’ve found that organic cheeses take the extra creaminess of goodness of organic milk and transpose it into a beautiful taste that turns even the most boring cheddar into a new experience.

Do you have any favourite organic or local cheeses? Sound off in the comments section.