When my family and I bought a farm in southern Missouri in 1980, we had a wonderful Holstein milk cow. Her name was Morning Glory. Each morning one of my three sisters and I would milk her and two of my three brothers would milk her in the evening. It didn’t take long before we realized that, even with a large family, we’d better learn to make cheese.

There followed a few months of study and experimentation that produced prodigious quantities of soft cheeses, and absolutely no hard cheese that was worthy of the name. The wheels of cheese we produced were edible only to those of us who participated in the production.

It didn’t take us too long to realize that not everyone can make good cheese, and we began a search for organic raw milk cheese that not only was raised to our standards, but that tasted good. At about the same time, the folks at Morningland Dairy in Mountain View, MO. were getting their cheese operation off the ground. Fortuitously, we made connection with them, and began to buy their delicious, all-natural raw milk cheddar.

Many years later, that connection has come full circle, as I became an owner of Sappington Market and was able to suggest to our excellent cheese department that they carry the many varieties of cheese now provided by Morningland, who have grown to sales of around $200,000.00 per year. Their hot pepper cheese and garlic Colby are so good that almost everyone who samples them takes a package home. The fact that my friends at Morningland manage their pastures completely organically makes the cheese even more attractive to the conscientious consumer.

Another excellent Missouri cheese company which is featured at Sappington Market is Heartland Dairy. Their attractively packaged chevres, in a variety of flavors, are irresistible. In fact, their Fines Herbs Chevre won an American Cheese Society award this year. In addition, some hard cheeses are available: Methusalah, a hard grating cheese; Brimstone, a very hot pepper cheese; Legacy, a smooth-textured cheese and Duet, a stronger cheese that is excellent with a Missouri red wine like a Norton.

It’s hard to visit Sappington Market and not put several affordable and unique cheeses in your grocery cart. Over 200 varieties of cheese are attractively arranged and conveniently close to the Missouri wine section, too. Several flavors of hard-to-find cheddar curds are also available.

Sappington Market is located at 8400 Watson Road, between Elm and Laclede.
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