Whole Foods Market Introduces Rogue Creamery 50th Anniversary Special Reserve Oregon Blue Cheese

19/11/07 Whole Foods Market, the world's leading natural and organic foods supermarket, is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Rogue Creamery's Oregon Blue Cheese by introducing a hand-selected special reserve edition of the raw milk cheese this month.

Rogue Creamery's skilled cheese makers and apprentices hand make wheels of raw milk Oregon Blue the same way it was done 50 years ago. Wheels of Oregon Blue are quarter-turned daily and aged at least 90 days in Roquefort-modeled aging caves. Starting on the 75th day of its make anniversary, a wheel from each lot of Oregon Blue cheese is tasted, identified and scored by Rogue Creamery cheese makers and their team members twice per week until it is determined to be ready for Whole Foods Market. The Special Reserve Oregon Blue Cheese must meet nearly 30 criteria of rich blue flavor, creaminess, umami, tang, consistency and aesthetics for this 50th Anniversary label.

"Blue cheese is what Rogue Creamery hangs their hat on, and this is the best blue cheese made in America today by one of the world's finest artisan cheese operations," said Cathy Strange, Whole Foods Market's global cheese buyer. "The 50th Anniversary Special Reserve Oregon Blue is a celebration of the long history of Rogue Creamery and we are thrilled to partner with them to offer this spectacular product to our shoppers."

Because of the many seasonal and environmental variables in milk and the make and aging of this special cheese, Oregon Blue is aged to a multi-sensory experience including taste, aroma and aesthetic. Whole Foods Market has partnered with Rogue Creamery to reserve its finest wheels that represent a creamier profile and mouth experience, perfect balance of blue flavor and cream and of course the perfect piquancy for the special reserve label. The cheese's semi-soft texture is smooth and its flavor subtle. Its paste, antique linen in color, is richly hued blue-green veins randomly highlight the wheel.

Originally created a half century ago, Oregon Blue and Rogue Creamery have a long and robust history. The Creamery was founded in the 1930s by Tom Vella; he sought to expand into blue cheese in 1955 by traveling to the source of the world's best blue cheeses: Roquefort, France. He toured farms, cheese factories, and curing caves. He returned to Oregon with plans for his own variety of blue cheese. Production began in 1957 and it became the first blue cheese produced in caves west of the Missouri River. Today, Rogue Creamery owners David Gremmels and Cary Bryant carry on the tradition of Rogue Creamery with Oregon Blue and other award-winning blue varieties including Crater Lake Blue, Oregonzola, Rogue River Blue and Smokey Blue.

Oregon Blue is made of rich, delicious milk from a closed herd of Holstein and Brown Swiss cows that graze along 100 acres of native pasture in the Rogue River Valley in Southern Oregon bordered on one side by the famous Rogue River. The cheese is made in the traditional raw milk style as it has been made for 50 years. Milk is gently heated and the temperature is kept below 100 degrees to preserve its flavor and richness. The original strain of mold, acquired by Vella in 1956, is added to the vat. Wheels are aged in a limestone-lined cave and are quarter-turned daily.

Oregon Blue is the first raw milk cheese ever approved for export to the United Kingdom and France by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture; it will be available in Whole Foods Market's UK stores in December 2007. This will be a historical moment for raw milk cheese made in America and supported by Whole Foods Market.

"It is our commitment to tradition that makes Oregon Blue delicious, approachable, sweet, creamy -- and truly a favorite," said David Gremmels, owner of Rogue Creamery and cheese maker. "Raw milk cheese has persevered through its challenges in the United States. It is through our commitment to quality and our processes that we have developed this tasty and healthful cheese. Whole Foods Market is a terrific partner."

Rogue Creamery one the oldest makers of raw milk cheese in America, is a founding member of the Raw Milk Cheese Makers Association and member of Slow Food USA Presidium for Raw Milk Cheese. Its cheese maker and co-owner Cary Bryant is the President of the Raw Milk Cheese Makers Association founded in August of 2007.

Rogue Creamery is an artisan cheese company, with people dedicated to sustainability and the art and tradition of making the world's finest handmade cheese. The facility and farm are certified sustainable by Food Alliance; the stewardship of the land and compassion toward the herd are very important to the Creamery and the quality of the cheeses produced.

Strange has represented raw milk cheese and makers in her leadership as President of the American Cheese Society and member of the Cheese of Choice Coalition in protecting a long-standing valued tradition in America of preserving safe and healthful raw milk cheese.

"We go to great lengths to understand the stories and the cheese makers behind our cheeses at Whole Foods Market, and Rogue Creamery's 50th Anniversary Special Reserve Oregon Blue pays tribute to the roots of this creamery and reflects the terroir of the region," Strange said. "This is a story of heritage and renewal."

Rogue Creamery's 50th Anniversary Special Reserve Oregon Blue Cheese is now available at Whole Foods Market's stores in the United States. It will be available at UK stores by December 2007.