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The American cheese trade is booming. According to Statista, 6.35 million metric tons of cheese were produced in the United States in 2022, making it the highest number since 2013. Unsurprisingly, Wisconsin, dubbed America’s Dairyland, leads the states in terms of total cheese production, closely followed by California.
Many of the nation’s largest grocery chains are also placing greater emphasis on their cheese offerings, with companies like Whole Foods hiring a world cheese expert and Kroger buying the famous New York cheese maker Murray’s Cheese.
That’s why we’ve rounded up six grocery chains with leading cheese departments—so that your weekly charcuterie board is always there.
Wegmans sources artisan cheeses from around the world and even has its own 12,300 square foot cheese aging facility with seven “ripening rooms” to properly nurture selections before they hit store shelves, according to the grocer’s website. The effort is paying off: Wegmans unique washed rind cheese, Sake 2 Me, made with Japanese rice wine, won a bronze medal at the World Cheese Competition in 2019.”Best cheese I’ve ever had,” one Redditor said of the grocer’s selection, describing it as “reasonably priced” and “a great assortment.”
Whole Foods has 300 certified cheese professionals in its stores, not even counting hired cheese makers. According to the grocery store’s website, customers are allowed to taste the cheese, cut the size needed, and order a custom cheese board. The Cheese Professor site ranked Cypress Grove Midnight Moon and Roth Buttermilk Blue among the best offerings in the chain.
Aldi cheeses are a bit of a cult. The discount grocer has developed its own store brand Happy Farms, which provides cultured dairy products without added hormones, according to the National Dairy Federation’s Real Seal website. Reddit users are big fans of the chain’s grated gouda, vintage Irish cheddar and cranberry white cheddar. Aldi has dozens of selections, and you can pick up plenty of specialty items on Instacart.
If you’re a regular Trader Joe’s customer, you probably know all about the specialty grocer’s delicious cheese section. A famous cheese expert has praised the grocery chain for its wide selection of sheep’s milk cheeses, according to Business Intern. Trader Joe’s offers innovative products ranging from pizza cheese to triple cream brie cheese with green peppercorns in addition to classics including burrata, blue cheese, cheddar, and more. America’s Test Kitchen also rated the store’s top cheeses, with a customer favorite being the unexpected cheddar.
Anyone who lives in New England knows Stew Leonard’s. The regional supermarket chain creates its own line of dairy products, such as milk, yogurt and most important of all, specialty cheeses. Stew Leonard’s makes fresh, homemade mozzarella every day at its Norwalk, Connecticut facility, which is named “World’s Largest Dairy Store” by Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Kroger partnered with New York’s famed Murray’s Cheese store for years before fully acquiring the business in 2017. The grocery chain now operates more than 1,000 in-store cheese shops under the Murray’s banner, each offering more of 150 styles of cheese. “I went to a new grocery store and found heaven I think,” exclaimed a Redditor after coming across one of Kroger-Murray’s cheese counters and posting a photo, adding, “This isn’t even 1/3 of the whole selection.”
Olivia Bria
Olivia holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and political science from the University of Connecticut. She is a foodie, traveler, journalist and celebrity interviewer. Learn more about Olivia
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