Cheese in New York

The Cheese Regions

The Mohawk Valley and Central New York were once the heart of American cheesemaking. From 1864 to 1870 Little Falls, on the Erie Canal, was the largest cheese market in the world. The region's cheese stops now are grouped on the Central New York Cheese Trail, run by Oneida County Tourism, with farm stores, a viewing window at Stoltzfus Dairy and Jewett's Cheese House, which has sold cheese in Earlville since 1970.

The North Country is dairy land. Lowville, in Lewis County, has its cream cheese festival, and up near the Canadian border Meier's Artisan Cheese in Fort Covington is known for fresh curds. In the Adirondacks, Nettle Meadow makes goat and sheep cheeses and lets you watch the work at its Hitching Post shop in Lake Luzerne.

The Finger Lakes mix cheese with wine country. Muranda Cheese Company near Waterloo has a tasting room open daily, and Lively Run Goat Dairy in Interlaken, making cheese since 1982, runs guided Saturday tastings in summer and fall. Sunset View Creamery in Odessa offers cow cuddling and group tours of its dairy.

Further west, Eden Valley Creamery in South Dayton has a large viewing window where you can watch cheese curds being made every Monday and Tuesday. On Long Island, Mecox Bay Dairy, the only dairy on the South Fork, keeps its farm store in Bridgehampton open daily.

New York City has no cheese farms, but it has the classes. Murray's, on Bleecker Street in the West Village, runs tastings, pairings and mozzarella and burrata making in its classrooms.

When to Go

Most farm stores keep summer hours from May to October; Lively Run, for example, opens its farm Tuesday to Saturday from May to October only. September and early October are the peak: Lowville's festival falls on the third Saturday of September and Little Falls on the first Saturday of October, so one long weekend can take in both if the calendar lines up. Fly Creek Cider Mill, a Cheese Trail stop near Cooperstown, is open daily until 20 December. In winter, stick to the shops and the Murray's classes.

A Three-Day Route

Day one, the Mohawk Valley. Start in Little Falls, then head to the Cheese Trail stops: Jones Family Farm in Herkimer, Stoltzfus Dairy in Vernon Center (window, Monday to Saturday) and Kriemhild Dairy's self-serve shop in Hamilton. Day two, Cooperstown. Fly Creek Cider Mill is 3.6 miles from Main Street, with cider making to watch and local cheese in the Mill Store. Day three, the Finger Lakes: drive west to Muranda near Waterloo for a tasting, then south to Lively Run in Interlaken if it is a summer Saturday.

Getting Around

Upstate, you need a car. Amtrak's Empire Service and Lake Shore Limited stop at Utica on the way from New York City, which is a good base for the Cheese Trail, and Lowville's festival runs a $1 shuttle from the Lewis County Fairgrounds. In Manhattan, Murray's is in the West Village, a short walk from several subway lines.

Other Creameries and Cheese Shops to Visit

Other Cheese Trail stops include Adirondack Cheese in Barneveld, Collins Farm and Creamery in Rome, Cooperstown Cheese Company in Milford, Jones Family Farm in Herkimer and the Artisanal Cheese caves in Utica. Ring ahead, as several are small farms.