Bandon Organic Cheese isn't made in Oregon anymore

[depakid]

Back in the mid to late 90's, we discovered a really fine cheese in a black wrapper that tasted so great that we always set our table with it. I wish that I could describe to you all how good it was.

At any rate, circumstances landed me in Southern California for a couple of years, and when I got back home, the Bandon cheese wasn't even the same....

Now I know why:

Somethings Rotten in Tillamook

Some excerpts:

"We love Tillamook," says Sharon Kleine, who brought her visiting grandson to the event. "They're us. They're Oregonians. And they make great products." Like many proud Oregonians, she takes origin into account when making purchases.

What few people know, however, is that some of the company's cheeses come from Wisconsin, despite a label identifying them as "Oregon Coast Cheese."

Here's what's up: Four years ago, Tillamook bought the Bandon Cheese company and moved production of its cheeses to Tillamook. But, as WW has learned, its three organic cheeses, which had been made in Bandon prior to Tillamook's purchasing the plant, were outsourced to a facility in Wisconsin.

<snip>

Jan Margosian, a spokeswoman for the Oregon attorney general's office, says no official complaints have been filed, but she concedes that it is confusing. "This is fuzzy," she says, and now that the name of the company is Oregon Coast Foods, it gets even fuzzier

[nosmokes]

1. the tillamook cheese company has gone nuts.

seriously. i think they actually tried to sue the town of bandon to keep 'em from using the name after they bought the bandon cheese factory. and they sued the tillamook meat smokers for using the name tillamook, and they used to package their products together. a slice of tillamook jerky and a wedge of tillamook cheddar. it was a natural match.

[depakid]

2. It was a natural match

and it of still is, I think-

This is not good publicity for the Tillamook Coop, and it seems to me that they risk a lot, playing these games... eventualy, it will only end up ruining their reputation.

[nosmokes]

3. bringing wisconsin cheese into tillamook county, tho?

first thing we do is round up them tillamook lawyers...

(apologies to will)

[stevedeshazer]

4. Cheese Wars

Some Tillamook cheese is made in Boardman, too. There's a mega-dairy farm there, not far from the bombing range and the chemical weapons depot. Yum.

What a shame, trading off two solid Oregon names and muddling the truth.

[HuckleB]

5. Ugh.

Being a native Wisconsite and an adopted Oregonian, I can attest to the reality that cheese made in Oregon is better. I don't know why. It just is.

[depakid]

6. There was something about it when it was made in Bandon

I think cheeses are like microbrews and single malts- even if you use the same process elsewhere, it's not the same- in this case, not even close.

That cheese had a wondrous, nutty sharp yet creamy flavor. Best farmhouse cheese I've ever tasted... a real artisan cheese, for a fraction of the price.

btw: I read that you like anchovies. :9

People don't realized that there are lots of kinds of anchovies, and they taste very different depending where they're caught and how they're cured and packed. People think anchovies and they think the commercial crap from the Pizza parlor. Gak! That's like comparing real Parmigiano Reggiano with whatever that stuff is in the cans....