Ford said their cheeses are more expensive but worth it. A pound of young cheddar starts at $13.50 a pound, and a year-and-a-half-old Parmesan can fetch $20 a pound. Besides their Uintah location, the cheeses are sold at specialty stores and farmers markets.

Utah is home to other artisan and farmstead cheesemakers who create unusual cheese products.

The Rockhill Creamery in Richmond makes "farmstead" cheese, which means it is produced with milk from a single herd on the farm where the animals are raised.

Rockhill owners Jennifer Hines and Pete Schropp milk their small herd of Brown Swiss cows daily to create their signature cheeses. A one-and a-half-pound sampler of their cheeses is $25.

Hines and Schropp keep a blog about their cows and adventures in cheesemaking. Their fresh, raw milk cheeses are produced in small batches, 40 gallons at a time, and served "European style," meaning it is only aged 60 days to eight months.

"There is a renaissance in cheesemaking all over the country," Hines said. "We are growing rapidly and hope to keep this farm alive in supporting this venture."

West Jordan is home to Drake Family Farms, an all-goat dairy that produces and sells milk, cheeses and soap. The Drake family has owned and farmed the land — now a designated Utah Centennial Farm — since the 1880s.

The farm, which has a herd of 50 Saanem, Nubian and "Snubian" goats (the latter is a mix between the two breeds), began as a 4-H project in 1984 and has grown into a thriving family business.

Shepherd's Dairy in Tooele County is known for its soft goat cheese that exudes a distinct pecan flavor when used in cooking. Owner Vaughn Oborn bought the dairy in 2004 and has since been handcrafting the nationally sold cheeses.

Flavors of roasted garlic, herb and spice, sun-dried tomato and cracked peppercorn can be found in their chevre and feta cheeses, which are sold through Wild Oats and local supermarkets. It costs $3.50 to $4.50 for a 3 1/2-ounce log.

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E-mail: nhale@desnews.com