 One of the many new things to look forward to at the 2010 North Carolina State Fair is the NC Dairy Artisan booth showcasing the state’s dairymen. Portia McKnight, co-owner of Chapel Hill Creamery:
“We’re really excited about having our products at the State Fair, because we’re at Farmers’ Markets throughout the Triangle, so we’ve met our customers in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, through direct contact at the farmers’ markets. but, we haven’t met our customers in Asheville, and in Charlotte, and in Wilmington, and we know people from those areas of the state come to the State Fair, and so we’re excited about being able to represent our products directly to those customers, have those customers, having those customers come to our booth, taste our cheese, and hear about our cows.”
McKnight says this is the first time Chapel Hill Creamery and other diary and cheese operations have had the opportunity to display their products at the State Fair:
“This opportunity has not been at the State Fair, yet. And we’re looking forward to having this booth this year and expanded possibilities for future years.”
McKnight explains who will be in the NC Dairy Artisans booth:
“There will be three cheese makers at the booth, that certainly doesn’t represent all the cheese makers in the state, and then we’ll have some dairy folks as well, talking about the diary industry in North Carolina. so, there’ll be three cheese makers and several dairymen as well.”
McKnight says that one of the things she’s most looking forward to at the state fair is the opportunity to educate the public about cheese, and cheese making:
“Cheese is really just milk. People think that you add one thing and you get Swiss, you add something else you get Mozzarella, you add something totally different and you get cheddar. That’s not true. Cheese is just the milk, it’s the process you use, there are some variations in cultures, but primarily it’s the process that makes each cheese it’s own individual variety.”
Find the NC Dairy Artisan booth between the Expo Center and the Jim Graham Building.
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