The Best California Cheese

Though one doesn't need a reason to celebrate the western world's favorite dairy product, today is in fact National Cheese Day. A day to eat all the cheese!

Cheese is something of an unusual product: the fermented milk of cows (and buffalo, goats and sheep) that's curdled and just brimming with bacteria. Delicious, nutritious bacteria!

Weird though it may technically be, cheese is an absolute delight, in all its many forms. Dairies are something of a mini-growth industry at the moment, and California has become home to some excellent varieties and brands of local cheese. Here are some of our favorites. Let us know about yours in the comments!

Beet and burrata crostini made with burrata from Gioia Cheese Inc. Image by Gastronomy Blog.

Goat cheese from Drake Family Farms. Image from Flickr user Yelp.

A baby goat from Drake Family Farms.

Burrata alla panna from Di Stefano. Image from A Beach Home Companion.

Mozzarella from Angelo & Franco. Image from LA Weekly.

Gouda from Winchester Cheese.

Acapella goat cheese from Andante Dairy. Image from the Daily Morsel

Goat gouda from Central Coast Creamery. Image by Cannundrums.

Goat cheese from Laura Chenel's Chevre. Image by Herbivoracious.

California Crottin & Terra from Redwood Hill Farm.