"Cottage cheese is higher in protein and lower in sugar than Greek yogurt... but it's very polarizing: People either like cottage cheese or they don't," said Penny Baker, marketing director for Smith Dairy Products.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Smith Dairy, the century-old Orrville dairy known for its yellow milk jugs, has created a line of creamy, premium Artisa Fine Curd Cottage Cheese that it says will convert people who say they don't like cottage cheese.
"Cottage cheese is higher in protein and lower in sugar than Greek yogurt, it's low-fat and gluten-free, it's a nutrient-dense good snack, but it's very polarizing: People either like cottage cheese or they don't," said Penny Baker, marketing director for Smith Dairy Products.
Smith Dairy's strawberry Artisa Cottage Cheese is available in stores starting this week.Family-owned Smith Dairy spent more than 18 months surveying more than 800 consumers about their tastes in cottage cheese, trying to figure out the optimum texture, creaminess and flavors people like.
Their focus groups and sensory panels both agreed that cottage cheese was healthy, but they wanted something that was tastier, more convenient, and had a more consistent texture than what is currently on the market.
Artisa, named after its artisan, hand-crafted origins, is made from all-natural locally sourced ingredients, including fresh milk from local dairy farms. Eight hours of slow-cooking and careful churning produce a softer, smoother and creamier texture, then hand-cut into fine curds that are 50-percent smaller than standard small-curd cottage cheese.
The cheese is then layered over all-natural fruits in see-through 5.3-ounce cups, so consumers can see exactly what they're buying.
Smith Dairy's new Artisa Cottage Cheese comes in six flavors, including peach.Each Artisa cup has 15 to 18 grams of protein and 8 to 14 grams of sugar. It is all-natural, contains no preservatives or additives, and is free of rBST artificial growth hormones and high-fructose corn syrup.
Artisa is available in six flavors: Apple Cinnamon, Peach, Pineapple, Raspberry Pomegranate, Strawberry, and Wild Berry. Its suggested retail price is $1.49 a cup.
Artisa Fine Curd Cottage Cheese just launched this week in 175 Northeast Ohio-area grocers, including Acme Fresh Market, Buehler's Fresh Foods, Discount Drug Mart, Heinen's Fine Foods, select Walmarts, and several independent grocers such as IGA.
Larger 12-oz. containers of plain cottage cheese and savory flavors such as cottage cheese with salsa will be available this fall.
Smith Dairy, based in Orrville, Wayne County, and founded in 1909, produces retail dairy products ranging from Smith's Milk, eggnog and cream to Ruggles Premium Ice Cream.
Baker, the marketing director, said she used to be on the fence about cottage cheese. "I had to try it at work, and I would eat it occasionally," she said. "But now that it's in this convenient 5-ounce size, it's much easier to stick in my lunch bag."