Bloomberg reports cheese may become a fad food before the end of the year, because we have so much of it:
....The U.S. is sitting on more butter and cheese than it knows what to do with, and the Europeans are to blame.
European dairy products are so cheap right now that the U.S. itself has become the new No. 1 customer for some products -- imports of EU butter doubled last year and rose 17 percent for cheese, according to the European Commission. All that excess supply is building up in U.S. refrigerators, especially as American dairy production heads to a record this year.
USDA statistics show cheese inventories at the end of March were the highest for the date since 1984, the year Prince's "Purple Rain" was released. More than half of the supply is American cheese, while Swiss accounts for about 2 percent, and the rest the government classifies as "other."
Cheap milk and dairy prices are good for those of us without lactose intolerance, but it's bad news for dairy farmers not only here but especially in Europe.
Even though sales increased, things are still pretty dire for European dairy farmers, who've warned for months that rock-bottom prices risk putting them out of business. Average raw milk prices in the EU have slumped to the lowest levels since 2010. U.S. prices have also started falling, with cheddar on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange trading this week at a five-year low.
So tell us, Crooks and Liars readers...what's your favorite recipe using cheese? A link to the recipe would be much appreciated. (I love cheese with eggs in a nice frittata.)
