The 2023 California Cheese Trail Celebrates Our State's Dreamiest Creameries

DAIRY ITINERARY: Tasty trails around the Golden State? If you were to pull out a map that featured every food and/or beverage byway in California, you would see a nummy network of lines, dots, and arrows. Consider Pasadena, the home of the new Route 66 Boba Trail, and Oxnard's delicious Taco Trail. But if you want to locate a luscious trail that extends through much of the state, you'll only need to look to the California Cheese Trail, the tempting creation Vivien Straus, the co-manager of Straus Home Ranch, a farmstay favorite located on Tomales Bay. The verdant Sonoma County region is famous for its decadent dairy offerings, a flavorful fact that Ms. Straus, along with her partner-in-cheese, brother Michael Straus, wanted to celebrate while also looking farther afield for more Gouda, er, good cheesemakers. The result? A terrific map detailing where around California cheese-seeking road-trippers can go to snack upon, and purchase, some of the most piquant slices, squares, and wedges in existence. And chatting up the wizards who create appetizing works of art from a variety of milks, while also incorporating herbs, nuts, and other intriguing ingredients? That's a definite possibility, too.

THE 2023 CALIFORNIA CHEESE TRAIL... is live, meaning you can peruse the packed-with-places interactive version now. The online guide includes several cheesemakers that aren't open to the public, but well over three dozen spots that welcome visitors are also in the spotlight, should you want to check out their on-site shops and see if there's a tasting counter (fingers crossed). Prefer having an old-school map to consult along the way? You can request a hard copy by filling out this form. Some of the new artisans appearing on the printed map include Shooting Star Creamery in San Luis Obispo County, which makes cheese that incorporates the milk of both sheep and cows, and Claravale Farm, the San Benito County cheesery that offers glass-bottled raw cow's milk. There's more to come from the team behind the trail, too, with special updates ahead for the California Cheese Trail site and other goodies soon to roll, like a lovely wheel of cheddar, in our cheese-obsessed direction.