Cheese Trends To Watch For 2024

After doing some digging, we found some fun and interesting cheese trends to share with you as we jump into 2024. In most of the explored resources, there were some key themes that seemed to contribute to what is expected to blow up or go viral in the coming 12 months. 

Here is a brief summary of what we learned and what to watch for this year!

An emphasis on comfort.
Translating into comfort style eating like fondue dinners where friends or family can gather and enjoy small bites around a pot of hot artisan cheese. As one of my favorite meal choices, I was especially excited to see this as a trend this year.
This also translated into comfort dishes like the classic "grilled cheese' sandwich, although it wouldn't be surprising to see a lot of variations and recipes begin to emerge through social media channels.
 
An emphasis on experience.
Since people seem to be placing more value on experience over belongings these days, it's not a surprise that "cheese experiences" would be coming into play as a trend. Opportunities like cheese tours, where explorers would have a chance to tour creameries are becoming popular alongside cheesemaking in a workshop and hosting cheese tasting parties (see future blog post for tips on this ;)

An emphasis on process.
It's a wonderful thing to see the level of importance rising around farm healthy sourced products. The interest level and understanding for regenerative farming & sustainable practices continues to rise along with the priority for locally sourced ingredients.
This also plays into the increasing interest in artisan producers and learning about their culture and process. As the popularity grows this year, more of our small batch local creameries will have opportunities to showcase their cheesemaking process along with their focus around responsible ingredient sources and brand history. This sense of romance around the cheesemaker story tends to make the cheese tasting experience that much sweeter.

An emphasis on bolder ingredients and combinations.
Emerging trends with cheese condiments like hot honey and cheese pairing syrups are expected to continue gaining popularity. We are also supposed to see an uptick in influencers adding gut healthy condiments like kimchi and pickled/fermented foods to their cheeseboards.
The "Caesar salad" is supposed to become a social media food sensation this year (or variations of it) which will no doubt increase the desirability with the classic/authentic aged Italian Cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano (for a cheese to be classified as Parmigiano-Reggiano, it must come from particular regions of Italy and contain only certain approved ingredients. Parmigiano-Reggiano is also aged at least one year and up to three years. Parmesan, on the other hand, is not regulated, and may be aged as little as 10 months).

I wouldn't expect the butter boards, baked brie or whipped feta trends to go completely away.  I mean, let's be real they aren't going to be any less delicious in 2024. 

I'll keep sharing tips, tricks, new product information and recipes periodically and I would love to hear your feedback or resources if you want to share! 

Happy New Year to all of our Food Adventurer Community! 

I can't wait to explore with you in 2024! 

Cheers,

~Crystal @ Grazing Goddess Charcuterie