Latte Da Dairy in Flower Mound, Texas

She loves her “girls!”

I met Anne Jones of Latte Da Dairy a few weeks ago at the American Cheese Society‘s Annual Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. She purchased a set of our Kosikowski books to add to her collection.

At the award ceremony, I watched her accept 2 ribbons- her Latte Da Caerphilly received a 3rd place award and her Chocolate Goat Cheese Truffles received a 2nd place. To put this in perspective, there were 1,711 total entries in the competition!

I was dying to try one of her truffles at the Festival of Cheese, where all the entries in the competition were available for sampling, but, by the time I got to the table, they were gone – devoured by quicker folks to the table.

I should note that when it comes to chocolate chevre truffles, Anne’s really are officially the best in the country. I say this because she won 1st place last year and this year the first place was a cranberry-orange chevre (the category is Fresh Goat’s Milk Cheeses with Flavor Added).

That means she beat out all the other chocolate chevres. Her truffles must have been amazing because I tasted one of the third place winners and it was absolutely out of this world.

Latte Da Dairy

In 2005, Anne Jones and her husband Johnny had a long range plan to do some farming, so, they bought 5 1/2 acres of land north of Dallas.

At that time, Anne was working for a pharmaceutical company, which seemed like a good fit because she has a veterinary degree and a masters degree in marketing. Johnny was working as a police officer in a nearby town.

But, six months after they bought the land, they bought 2 goats and that was the end of their long range plan- they were hooked. Anne learned to milk and she began making cheese for her friends. They loved it so much that she decided to go into business.

Sunday morning breakfast

Born that morning with a hurricane in the forecast

Winning numerous ribbons at the Fort Worth Stock Show

Johnny at the Fort Worth Farmer’s Market

Now, six years later, they have 1 1/2 full time employees (not counting Johnny who retired from his police job a year ago). Anne says they’ll be hiring another employee soon because the demand for their cheese is so great, they can barely keep up with it.

Twice a year, in the spring and the fall, they have an open house (watch their Facebook page for the dates.) If you’re in the area, it’s a great opportunity to learn more about dairy goats and the artisan cheese making biz.

Spring, 2012 open house

Tour of the milking parlor during the open house

Buker is one of three highly effective guardian dogs (on display at the open house).

An impressive list of the cheeses they make:

One of the cheese racks in the aging room

45 gallons of milk in the pasteurizer

Being filmed for a segment on CBS

Saint Michael’s Farmers Market

If you want to try their cheese, it may be time to take a trip to the Dallas area. Anne believes in buying local and she wants her cheese to be eaten fresh when it’s at it’s peak- not after it’s been transported across the country and has been sitting on shelves for weeks on end.

So, you can find Latte Da Cheese at the White Rock Local Market, Cowtown Farmer’s Market, Coppell Farmer’s Market, Saint Michael’s Farmer’s Market, all Central Market locations, Wine Styles, Scardello Artisan Cheese and at many restaurants in the Dallas area, including Smoke, Ellerbe Fine Foods, Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine, The Oceanaire, Rathbun’s Blue Plate Kitchen and the Cafe Modern in Fort Worth.

However, Anne understands that you might not have local cheese available where you live, so she is trying to accommodate you. On her website, she says you can call these two businesses to arrange shipment of her cheeses: