It's Time to Renew Your Membership!
If you haven't yet renewed your membership for the 2017 calendar year, be sure to do so by following the steps below:
1. Log onto
www.cheesesociety.org with your username and password. (Your username is your email address on record).
2. Click on "My Account."
3. Select "View My Transactions."
4. Click on "Pay Open Orders."
5. In your open order, make sure the box next to your name is checked, and click "Next" to proceed to the payment screen.
If you have any questions, please contact the ACS office at 720-328-2788. We look forward to supporting you in 2017!
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Best Wishes to Jeff Yeager, ACS Member Services Specialist
Many of you have been lucky enough to meet Jeff Yeager, ACS Member Services Specialist -- whether at the ACS Conference, or virtually, via phone or email. Next week, Jeff will be moving on to new adventures; our entire team thanks him for his contributions to ACS, and wishes him all the best on the journey ahead!
You may continue to contact us with any membership questions at info@cheesesociety.org.
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Cheesemakers: Have You Taken Our Discounted Testing Program Survey?
We recently sent cheesemaker members our Discounted Testing Program Survey, to help us better understand lab testing needs and identify potential discount testing programs for members. We've already heard from 100 of you -- thank you for sharing your input with us!
If you have not yet taken this survey, there's still time to participate: please follow the link below and take five minutes to respond by this Friday.
Take the survey today!
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#StartWithaSmile and Support ACE Foundation
During this busy shopping season, you can support the American Cheese Education (ACE) Foundation whenever you shop online via Amazon!
Click here, and the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of all of your future eligible purchases on Amazon to the nonprofit ACE Foundation, in support of industry research, education, and scholarships.
When you shop via Amazon Smile, you'll find the same prices, selection, and shopping experience as you've always enjoyed, with the added bonus of supporting a great cause!
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Update: 2017 Call for Presentations
If you submitted a presentation proposal for Cheese with Altitude, the 2017 ACS Conference in Denver, CO, the ACS Education Committee is working hard to finalize the program and respond to your proposal. Everyone who submitted one should hear back from an ACS representative by mid-December. Your ideas and input play a significant role in shaping the Conference program. Thank you for taking part in this important process!
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Apply for the 2017 Official Conference Cheesemonger Team!
Are you passionate about cheese, thrive on a team, and love the idea of working behind the scenes at the Annual ACS Conference? The role of Official Conference Cheesemonger ("OCC") might be for you! Each summer, a team of three OCCs oversees and manages the movement, storage, and preparation of thousands of cheeses and accompaniments that play a starring role in the ACS Conference.
The 2017 Official Conference Cheesemongers will receive airfare to Denver, seven nights' stay at the Conference hotel, personalized chef's jackets, a profile in the printed Conference guide, and registration for our 2018 Conference.
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Certification News
2017 Exam Applications
The next ACS CCP® exam will be held on July 26, 2017 in Denver.
Applications will be accepted January 6 through March 31, 2017. Anyone who did not pass this year's exam, or who deferred and wishes to take the 2017 exam, will not need to reapply: simply
contact Jane Bauer by March 31.
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Meet an ACS CCP®
Cole Mathers
Fromager and Dining Room Captain, Restaurant Gary Danko, San Francisco
I grew up working in the restaurant industry, and by the age of 16 I had decided that I would never work in a restaurant again. Instead, I studied Computer Science in college. But, as most college stories go, I needed some spending cash, so I went back to my roots and waited tables.
After college, I moved to San Francisco to hunt for my dream IT position. To pay the bills in the meantime, I yet again returned to my roots and
applied for a position at Restaurant Gary Danko. My conception of a restaurant professional was quickly flipped upside down. Humbled by
this new world, I became hungry to gather as much knowledge as I could about service, food, wine, and of course, cheese! My first focus was on wine; I was fascinated by the world's great wines and
...
[continue reading]
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Comté Cheese Association Awards ACS CCP® Scholarship
Congratulations to Ryan Clary, who has been awarded the fifth annual Comté Scholarship for ACS Certified Cheese Professionals®! Ryan will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the Comté region to explore the cheese and its culture first-hand. He is a cheesemonger at
Whole Foods Market in Tallahassee, FL.
Shannon Strom, Murray's Cheese master at Greenwood Fred Meyer in Seattle, WA, and T. Britton Welsh, cheesemaker at Beehive Cheese Co., Uintah, UT, tied as runner-ups. They will receive a Comté care package.
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Change...
 We just experienced our first "sticky snow" of the season here in "Minnesnowta." The week prior, we finished up grain harvest in beautiful, sunny "t-shirt" weather. This kind of change is hard to adjust to. Gosh, I hate change...
As a cheesemaker, I've come to accept that it's simply not possible to "keep things the same." We work with products from nature, and nature thrives on change. Whether it be the season of the year, or changes in herd members, milk is never exactly the same from day to day. To maintain consistent excellence, we rely on our experience, craftsmanship, and intuition to anticipate and work with change to create consistently great cheese. That's the environment we must operate within.
Similarly, our business environment is always changing. Trends develop, fads arise and fade away. People on our teams step up to new positions or, in other cases, move on to new challenges as they strive to grow personally. And of course, their growth entails even more change.
As business leaders, it's our responsibility to guide growth through positive change. One of the most valuable resources I've come to appreciate in dealing with this challenge is our American Cheese Society community. At my first ACS Conference in 2002, I connected with many fellow ACS members. Over the years, they've helped me with a number of issues -- sometimes just by listening and nodding sympathetically. To me, that's the crux of what we do: supporting each other (while of course vigorously competing with each other at times!).
As an organization, ACS strives to support a vibrant American cheese community by providing relevant and timely resources. We routinely work to support cheesemakers, retailers, cheesemongers, and other interested parties by providing education and resources on technical issues (
ACS Best Practices Guide for Cheesemakers), sales and marketing (
American Cheese Month,
online webinars) and business issues (business consulting sessions, education geared toward finance and HR). And of course, our best example of this is the grand gathering we call the
ACS Annual Conference & Competition.
Your input is incredibly important to guiding our growth and keeping us aware of your changing needs. We received nearly 750 individual comments from members in our post-conference survey this year. This provided valuable direction for our strategic planning efforts, and ensured that the Board of Directors' vision is built on your vision. The ACS team in Denver can now make that vision a reality in the coming years to ensure ACS supports members through accessible, timely, and relevant benefits and resources.
Gosh, change can be invigorating...
Jeff Jirik
President
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United in Cheese
 This year's election was not merely about economics and policy differences -- it was about distinctly divergent visions for our future. It revealed that the differences in how we view this country are stark, touching upon the very core of who we are and who we want to be. It also heads us into uncharted waters
with potential leadership changes on the regulatory front. How can we possibly prepare for such change and attempt to bridge such disparate world views?
Cheese seems an odd connector to call upon for insight. But, cheese? Cheese brings us all together. Cheese creates a community. Dairy farmers love their land. They love their animals. Cheesemakers lovingly produce wholesome products using farmers' milk. Cheesemongers care for these fine cheeses, and high-end shops and restaurants serve them to customers who care where their food comes from and want to support local food systems. The cycle of cheese from farm to table spans the very divides this election exposed. Cheese is valued, appreciated, and unifying -- creating a connection between people who might not otherwise acknowledge one another. Or one another's passions, struggles, and fears.
Perhaps this shared love of cheese is one small reminder that we can all agree on something, and that we might just share more common ground than we think.
Nora Weiser
Executive Director
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The Power of Beliefs in Business
At this summer's ACS Conference, Ari Weinzweig shared an opening keynote titled "The Power of Beliefs in Business." We've made the video available for viewing by all members, no password or fee required, via the link below. We encourage you to take the time to watch it, and then read our follow-up with Ari below.
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Afterword: The Power of Belief in Cheese
Interview by Sarah Spira, ACS Content Manager
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"What kind of hope do I hope for? I hope that tomorrow can be better than today; that our work will make a difference, that if we work hard and go after greatness, good things will happen. I hope that we can contribute positively to our emotional, intellectual, and financial improvement, and that of others around us."
-The Power of Beliefs in Business
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At "Cheese in the Heartland" in Des Moines this summer, Ari Weinzweig addressed members with a keynote speech inspired by his recent book, "
The Power of Beliefs in Business." The central tenet of the book is that
what we believe is likely to happen will happen, and in turn, will reinforce our beliefs. He turns to the metaphor of an ecosystem to explain his holistic approach: Beliefs are the roots, hope is the sun, and what stems from our beliefs grows towards that sun (towards hope). Through visioning, we can orient ourselves towards the future.
"Visions help us hold course; when there's internal or external pressure to slide back to our old beliefs, re-reading the vision can help us keep moving in our desired direction. Visions can help us enlist support from others and internalize for ourselves the new future state we're going after."
I began to reflect on how, in the cheese industry, we create hope. It's not that great of a stretch to apply Ari's metaphor to cheese. Cheesemaking is a process: it takes time and care to go from lush, diverse pasture to a complex nutrient-dense food. During the aging process, a cheese's progress is monitored patiently, as we await a delicious outcome. With patience and hope in process, and an investment of time and energy, one can make something beautiful, and with that, offer a promise of futurity. "Hope" Ari writes, "helps pull people and ideas up, moving us forward - expansively and effectively - to a better future."
Last week, I called Ari to talk a bit more about his book, and to expand on applying the metaphor of an ecosystem to the cheese industry. I asked Ari to help identify components in our sustainable "ecosystem of beliefs" that will allow us to keep up the work of traditional cheesemaking, and foster the ripening and development of a delicious future for our industry. How do we till the soil, and set the stage for the next generation of cheese professionals to succeed? How would he envision building hope in our industry? How can we harness the power of belief to create a hopeful vision for the next generation of cheese
...
[continue]
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Sheep Milk Cheese - A Rising Breed
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In response to our members' call to add a separate sheep milk category and after evaluation by the working group, the Judging & Competition Committee is excited to announce that sheep milk cheese entries have reached a level at which an exclusive identity and definition is merited for relevant categories in 2017.
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 It's hard to believe that another year has gone by, and we're already planning for
Cheese with Altitude in Denver, CO in 2017. Each year, the Judging & Competition (J&C) Committee is tasked with reviewing entries and monitoring industry trends to ensure our categories accurately reflect the needs of our members.
The Committee has established a small working group of 9 members to review the categories and make adjustments as needed to ensure we are meeting that goal. This group is always mindful about adding new categories by engaging in discussion and studying data before reaching any decisions. The guiding light and purpose is inclusion and fairness for all cheesemakers.
The history of defining milk sources for entries has developed through a need for correct identity and fairness in judging across unique categories. Originally, goat and sheep milks were listed as one subcategory due to the limited number of entries being produced and entered into the Judging & Competition. When goat milk cheese entries increased, the Committee response was to create a separate goat milk cheese subcategory. A subcategory called "made from sheep, mixed, or other milks" then became the option for sheep and other milk cheese producers.
In response to our members' call to add a separate sheep milk...
[continue]
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Happy birthday to
The Cultured Kitchen,
which is celebrating a full year of delicious recipes this month. What better way to celebrate, than with cake?
Gooey Butter Cake
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| Photo: American Cheese Society |
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Winter has finally arrived in Colorado. The mountain caps are white, the streets are slushy, and the holiday season is upon us. This year, winter has a new meaning for me. I am 30 weeks pregnant, and our son will be born in January. It feels almost serendipitous, natural in a strange way that our first-born will likely share a birth month with me.
I have entered the nesting stage of pregnancy, where all I want is to be cozy and warm and comforted. To me, that means filling my house with delicious food and savoring the quiet stillness that the cold weather encourages -- and this recipe does just that. Make this Gooey Butter Cake on the weekend and enjoy it with a cup of coffee for breakfast, or as an after-dinner treat with something bubbly.
Make this recipe, plus find many more from
The Cultured Kitchen,
here!
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Introducing the American Cheese Society Virtual Library!
We're thrilled to share the new
American Cheese Society Virtual Library! Whether you're studying for the ACS Certified Cheese Professional® Exam, building a cheese-focused business, or simply looking for new ideas and inspiration, we hope you'll enjoy exploring the resources featured here. Each listing includes a link that will help you locate a copy of the book/resource near you: via a local library, bookstore, online vendor, or (when available) downloadable e-book.
If you have suggestions, recommendations, or corrections to make to the Virtual Library, we'd love to hear from you, so that we can continue to grow this resource. Please feel free to
contact Sarah Spira, ACS Content Manager, to share them.
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Valentine's Day is for Cheese Lovers:
Introducing Boxed Sets of Valentine's Day Cards!
We believe that Valentine's Day is for cheese lovers, and we're excited to offer a special boxed set of Valentine's Day cards professing just that! These unique cards, designed by the American Cheese Society, are a great way to let friends or loved ones know you care about them...and about cheese, of course.
Each boxed set includes 12 cards (3 each of 4 designs, shown below) with "Happy Valentine's Day" printed on the interior, leaving plenty of room for your own personalized message. Twelve blank envelopes are also included.
Plan early, and order a set to send or share this February!
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