News Release Distributed 11/21/12

BATON ROUGE, La. – The holidays mean an increase in mail orders for boxed cheese at the LSU AgCenter Dairy Store.

The boxes contain two pounds of cheese that sell for $11.50 a box, plus tax and shipping charges, and are popular for gifts or holiday entertaining, said LSU AgCenter dairy science professor Chuck Boeneke.

The store offers four choices of boxes that include two blocks of cheese – Yellow Tiger box with two blocks of cheddar cheese; Bayou Bengal box with a block of cheddar and a block of Cajun Spice; Cajun Spice box with two blocks of the jalapeno Cajun spice; or a mixed box that allows customers to choose two blocks of cheese, which could include either cheddar, Cajun spice, a smoked cheddar or a chipotle pepper.

With four different boxes of cheese to choose from for the holidays, Boeneke and his staff are ramping up the production.

“We make about 9,000 pounds of cheese a year, and we normally just keep taking orders until we run out,” Boeneke said.

Cheese boxes are available in the store for purchase and online at www.lsuagcenter.com/onlinestore.

“We have people on the list who have been ordering cheese for as long as I can remember,” he said. “I know we’ve been sending it out for the holidays for the past 25 to 30 years,” Boeneke said.

The LSU AgCenter Dairy Store, which is at the corner of South Stadium and Tower Drive on the LSU campus, also has meat items including beef, pork, lamb and goat and eggnog at $2.99 per quart.

Proceeds from sales help support the educational and research programs of the LSU AgCenter.

Johnny Morgan