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BY LORRIE BAUMANN In Washington D.C.'s urban cen- ter, a restaurant-inspired non- profit organization is planting seeds for a new generation of healthy eaters. Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture is bringing fresh, local produce to low-income neighborhoods at regular weekly mobile farmers markets so that the residents of these food deserts can shop for local fresh vegetables, eggs, or- ganic milk and grass-fed and pas- tured beef and pork. At the same time, the organization is paying the farmers from whom it sources the food a fair market price, and BY LORRIE BAUMANN This is part one of a two-part story. Join us in the June issue of Gourmet News for visits to Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese and Widmer's Cheese Cellars. Wisconsin Master Cheese- maker Myron Olson runs the only cheese plant in the United States that's still making Lim- burger cheese. Olson is very nearly that unique himself – he's only one of 60 master cheesemakers in the only state in the U.S. that requires profes- sional cheesemakers to be li- A Guided Tour Through Wisconsin Dairyland Continued on PAGE 16 Continued on PAGE 8 censed, which is just a first step in becoming a certified Master. Requirements also include 10 years of on-the-job experience and a three-year course of study on a specific variety of cheese. There's a 50-hour practical examina- tion between school and certification. That's five-oh – I checked. It's rigor- ous. Periodic recertification is re- quired, and that means periodic inspections to ensure that once the cheesemaker has been certi- fied as a master, he can't become complacent and let the standard drop in any way. Certifying as a Master Cheesemaker for an- other cheese requires another three-year course of study and another examination. Only 10 cheesemakers from across the state are eligible to start the Master Cheesemaker program each year, and there's a waiting list for entry. Among this Old School Wis- consin elite, Olson is one of the Old Schooliest. He's the only Master Cheesemaker in the U.S. who's certified for Limburger cheese. Famous for being the stinki- est of the stinky cheeses, with a natural aroma that's often Specialty Chocolate Getting Better From Bean to Bar Nonprofit Center Takes Fresh Local Food into Washington DC's Food Deserts providing government food relief agencies with data they need to develop new tools to encourage their low-income clients to eat a healthier diet. "Just because somebody has a low income does- n't mean that they don't want to participate in the joyful process of buying food at a farmers market. They get to participate in this beautiful aspect of food, which is to pick what they want and talk with the people about it," said Ar- cadia Center Executive Director Pamela Hess. "If we could get more people spending more SNAP at farmers markets, we would remove a significant por- tion of hunger, because the hunger problem in this country is not about getting enough calories; it's about getting enough nutri- tion. We could have a really pow- erful influence on public health." SNAP is an acronym for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Supplemental Nutrition Assis- tance Program. It's the largest of the federal government's food as- sistance programs. Commonly known as food stamps, SNAP cur- rently provides $75 billion per year in food assistance, according to Rich Lucas, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service's Deputy BY JORGE GONZALEZ-GARCIA Two California dairy farmers are finding a new way to turn the fluid milk they produce from a product they can sell at commod- ity prices into a gourmet product that commands a premium price from con- sumers eager to enhance their experience of food. Noel Rosa and his brother, Rolland, own and operate Rosa Brothers Milk Co., based in Tulare, in the heart of the nation's richest agri- Continued on PAGE 10 Dairy Farmers in Step with Local Food Movement cultural area. Rosa Brothers is very much a family operation, with seven members actively in- volved. The farm employs 35 workers, covers 600 acres, and manages a herd of about 1,000 Holstein dairy cows. The Rosa family connection to this rich farmland goes back seven decades. "The farm was started by my grandfather in 1953, continued by my father, and now by my brother and I," says the 47-year-old Rosa. "That's a span of more than three genera- tions that our family has been here working the farm and pro- ducing dairy products." In the fall of 2012, Noel and his BY GREG GONZALES The father of modern taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus, named the plant from which chocolate is derived Theobroma cacao, Sanskrit for "food of the gods." Hernando Cortez said cocoa could allow a person to go all day without food or exhaustion. Now, science has put cocoa under a microscope to confirm those long-held beliefs, and farming practices and condi- tions have improved globally, along with the market. Cocoa products are also set to boom like coffee and tea, with a dy- namic and blossoming specialty market. From no-sugar-added and mission-based brands to sin- gle-origin bars that showcase the regional flavors of cacao, there's a chocolate bar for everyone from functional foodies to kids. The best part is, we're learning that cocoa can be quite good for us in moderation. Health is the last thought on anyone's mind in the candy aisle, but dark chocolate can be con- sidered a functional kind of treat. VOLUME 81, NUMBER 5 MAY 2016 n $7.00 SUPPLEMENT n Sweets & Treats PAGE 13 RETAILER NEWS n Kroger & Lucky's Team Up PAGE 11 SUPPLIER BUSINESS n Artisanal Cheese Partnership PAGE 12 SMALL ELECTRICS n Blenders PAGE 21 NATURALLY HEALTHY n Plant Protein PAGE 16 News & Notes.................................6 Smorgasbord ................................22 Ad Index .......................................22 www.gourmetnews.com EXPO WEST WRAP-UP: Wilde Bars SEE PAGE 18 SPECIAL FEATURE: Marin French Cheese SEE PAGE 12 G OURMET N EWS T H E B U S I N E S S N E W S P A P E R F O R T H E G O U R M E T I N D U S T R Y ® RETAILER PROFILE: Epicure Anacortes SEE PAGE 11 Continued on PAGE 6

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