California is home to a dynamic cheese community. The Guild is supported by a number of other businesses, institutions, and organizations who provide tools, resources, or in-kind support for our organization and for our members.

The California Cheese Trail promotes artisan cheesemakers and family farmers in the Golden State by connecting people to cheesemakers, tours, cheesemaking classes, and cheese events throughout California. Check out CheeseTrail.org, the California Cheese Trail map, and the California Cheese Trail app to plan your next cheese adventure.

2023 marks the 17th anniversary of the California Artisan Cheese Festival, a 3-day event held in Sonoma County each March to educate consumers about California artisan cheese. The Festival features producer tours, educational seminars, a Sunday Marketplace, and other great opportunities to learn about and taste California artisan cheese. Each year the Festival donates 10% of ticket sales to local nonprofit organizations, and the California Artisan Cheese Guild is fortunate to be the primary beneficiary of this donation. We hope to see you at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds on March 24-26, 2023!

The Cheese School of San Francisco lends instrumental support to the Guild by volunteering time, resources, expertise, and graciously hosting various Guild classes and events. The Cheese School presents a quarterly roster of cheese appreciation classes for consumers, periodic professional classes, and twice a year hosts a Three-Day Intensive Cheese Education class for professional students.

The UC Davis Dairy Teaching and Research Facility is located on the main campus at the University of California at Davis and is home to a milking herd of 105 cows. Many formal university classes use the dairy facility and its animals throughout the year to train tomorrow’s dairy farmers. The Guild has been honored to host classes for our cheesemakers taught by UC Davis professors and researchers.

The skilled academics at Cal Poly have long been a resource to cheesemakers in California. Cal Poly helps to fortify the existing California cheesemaker community as well as inspire the next generation of cheesemakers. Cal Poly periodically offers a four-day Introductory Artisan Cheesemaking short course geared toward anyone planning to start a small cheese business or those already in the business wanting to learn more about the technology. Visit the Dairy Innovation Institute website.

The American Cheese Society is a national organization that provides the cheese community with educational resources and networking opportunities, while encouraging the highest standards of cheesemaking focused on safety and sustainability.

The Cheese Science Toolkit is a blog intended to be a science guidebook for those who interact with cheese after it has been made: cheesemongers, cheese buyers, and all-around curd nerds. Each post focuses on a particular cheese science topic with the goal of addressing the severe knowledge gap on the internet when searching for information about cheese science.