TRACY, Calif. — June is Dairy Month and marks the kickoff of summer celebration season. The two go hand-in-hand as families honor everyone from dads and grads to newlyweds with real food and family fun. Real California Milk is bringing the party home with ideas from top celebrity chef Melissa King and tips for pairing cheese, wine and flowers to make every event a California-style occasion.
California native, King, is helping to celebrate California’s vibrant dairy community with two creative takes on summer favorites – Grilled Cheese and Street Corn.
The Grilled Double Real California Cheddar Cheese Sandwich takes something as simple as grilled cheese and perfects it with fresh ingredients. Chef King starts by spreading Real California butter on another California original – sliced sourdough bread – and layers on traditional and white California cheddar cheeses, topped off with heirloom tomatoes and garden-fresh pesto. Pro chef tip: Don’t be afraid to press down on the sandwich with a spatula as it cooks, so the cheese oozes out and slowly crisps into caramelized, crunchy bits around the edges.
Chef King gets her grill on with Japanese-Inspired Street Corn with Togarashi Miso Butter, an Asian twist on summer favorite Mexican street corn. Her Japanese-inspired version tops sweet corn cobs with shiso and sesame seeds and a miso togarashi butter. Sprinkled with a generous amount of California cotija cheese, it’s festival worthy food!
The warm-weather merriment continues with a selection of curated cheese, wine and cut flower pairings developed in partnership with the California Wine Institute, California Cut Flower Commission and California Grown.
“While cheese and wine make a good party great, California cut flowers take the occasion to the next level,” said Jennifer Giambroni, Director of Communications for Real California Milk. “We’re pleased to present a guide to the very best pairings to take the guesswork out of occasions from casual to formal. For example, California Garlic Jack, Rosé and gerber daisies come together beautifully for a summer gathering or you can easily get a jump on the 4th of July with a pungent California Blue, Port and irises. Whatever the summer occasion, we have a winning California combination.”
More than 1,200 family dairy farms produce the California milk found in award-winning cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream and other dairy products, identified by the Real California Milk seal. It’s easy to support local farm families by looking for the Real California Milk seal at local retailers or by using the product locator tool at RealCaliforniaMilk.com.
About Real California Milk/California Milk Advisory Board
The California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB), an instrumentality of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, is funded by the state’s dairy farm families and is one of the largest agricultural marketing boards in the United States. With a mission to increase demand for products made with Real California Milk, the CMAB is celebrating 50 years in 2019 promoting California’s sustainable dairy products in the state, across the U.S. and around the world through advertising, public relations, research, and retail and foodservice promotional programs. For more information and to connect with the CMAB, visit RealCaliforniaMilk.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
