If you like to sip a latte in the morning, swoon over a cheese cracker or indulge with a cookies-and-cream shake every now and again, you might be supporting the Empire State.
There’s a good chance those treats have ingredients made here. Last year, New York was the fourth-largest dairy-producing state.
The rough numbers: 5,000 farms, 600,000 cows, 14 billion pounds of milk and 800 million pounds of cheese.
The Great New York State Fair, in Syracuse, which started last week and runs through Labor Day, had an entire day dedicated to celebrating the industry.
Dairy Day featured a parade, a cheese auction and contests in cow milking and milkshake mixing.
A chief judge from the Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services helped weigh up the competition, and the winners of the various sections have just been announced.
Yancey’s Fancy, a cheese company in western New York, was crowned the grand champion of the dairy products competition for its Chastinet, a “sharp and snappy Asiago-style cheese.”
And Battenkill Valley Creamery of Salem is home to New York’s top-scoring milk — the only contender in any category to score a perfect 100.
You don’t have to travel upstate to get your hands on the prize winners.
Yancey’s Fancy products are sold at these stores around the city, and Battenkill supplies these restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Source: NYTimes
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/31/nyregion/new-york-today-new-york-dairy-day-state-fair.html?smid=tw-nytmetro&smtyp=cur&_r=0