The story of Cabot Clothbound Cheddar Cheese is part small American dairy story, part American "terroir." It's part David shakes hands with Goliath, and part fairy tale.
I'm going to start with the happy ending: In 2006, at the American Cheese Society Competition in Portland, Ore., in a blind tasting by technical judges and aesthetic judges, Cabot Clothbound Cheddar won "Best Cheese In North America." This year, 2010, it won "Best of Class" in the World Champion Cheese Contest.
In 2003, a mold-ripened, natural aged cheddar like Clothbound was only an idea circulating among the "new products" people at Cabot. Today, it's made in an "agile collaboration" by the largest cheese maker in Vermont and one of the smallest: Cabot Cooperative Creamery and Jasper Hill Cellars. That's where David shakes hands with Goliath.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Gloucester Times.