The best cheese in the country this year comes from a dairy here in Connecticut.
The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association hosted the United States Championship Cheese Contest this week and the Arethusa Cheese Team at Arethusa Farm Dairy in Bantam is the U.S. champion for its Europa cheese.
The first runner-up was Team DACC from Red Barn Family Farms in Wisconsin and the second runner-up was Dillon Sylla, with Associated Milk Producers Inc. in Wisconsin.
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Arethusa Farm opened in 1868. It started as a dairy farm that delivered milk and dairy products locally. The family that owned it named it for the pink orchid that grew in a swamp on the land, according to the company’s website.
Manolo Blahnik designers George Malkemus and Anthony Yurgaitis purchased the farm in 1999 to save open farmland and in 2001 became interested in establishing their own dairy herd.
In 2020, Arethusa Farm Dairy started partnering with other local Connecticut family farms to help supply milk for the dairy.
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In June 2020, they opened Arethusa Farm Dairy and Cafe in West Hartford.
The video from below is from 2020, after the West Hartford location opened.
