Guest Post from Cheese Expert, Max McCalman

As a fan of the Artisanal Cheese Company of New York, I was pleased to be asked to include this guest post in my blog. Here's what Max had to say:

The American Cheese Society will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year in Madison, Wisconsin. Several participants will be headed there early. Even though the festival does not officially start until July 31st many in the ACS executive office have already transplanted themselves from their Denver headquarters to ready everything: for the attendees arriving from across the United States and abroad, as well as the nearly 1,800 cheeses entered into competition. There are nearly that many people attending some part if not all of the conference. I'll be there, definitely.

There was a time not that many years ago when I did not feel the need to attend each year. The same crop of nice cheeses showed up each year; there were fewer "new" cheeses and for the most part, the conference sessions were less inspiring. The cheese industry has grown dramatically and the quality improvements are notable. One of the best things that has happened to ACS is its Certified Cheese Professional endorsement. The second ACS CCP exam will be administered July 31 to nearly 190 applicants, and as Chair of the Certified Cheese Professional committee I will be there helping proctor the exam. We anticipate we will have about 150 new CCP's added to the 121 who passed the first exam last year, all of them helping assure continuing quality advances in this vibrant industry.

Max McCalman

Be sure to visit the Artisanal Cheese Company website at www.artisanalcheese.com.