June is National Dairy Month, a time to pay tribute to our local dairy farmers and dairy producers. At Local Roots Market and Cafe, there is a great selection of locally-produced dairy items that are worth celebrating.

At this time, you can find a wide variety of cheeses in the cooler:

--Blue Jacket Dairy, based in Bellefontaine, produces both cow-milk and goat-milk cheeses, from the popular cheddar curds that make great snacks to artisan cheeses.

--Canal Junction Farmstead Cheese, from Defiance, creates raw-milk aged cheeses from the grass-fed cows’ milk that the farm’s herd produces. Perennial favorites include Flat Rock and Wabash Canal (two Gruyere-like cheeses) and award-winning Charloe.

--Mackenzie Creamery provides gourmet chèvre with fruits, herbs, and other delicious treats.

--Ohio Farm Direct offers a familiar variety of both raw and pasteurized milk cheeses, from cheddar to muenster and mozzarella.

--Paint Valley Farms in Holmes County makes many of your favorite classic cheeses – cheddar, Colby, garlic-herb – from goat milk, and they also sell bottles of goat milk at the market.

In addition, Hartzler Family Dairy of Wooster sells its range of milk (skim, 2%, whole, and chocolate) and butter at Local Roots Market. Yes, the market even offers the usual Hartzler bottle return.

So if you’re looking for a great way to celebrate National Dairy Month, come to Local Roots and try one of the many cheeses made by our Ohio cheesemakers -- and taste the flavor of home.

As a year-round market for locally-produced foods and other agricultural products, Local Roots Market and Café is located at 140 S. Walnut St. in Wooster. The market is open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m; and the café is open weekdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Membership is not required to shop. To learn more about events at the market, visit the website at www.localrootswooster.com and sign up for the newsletter.