Du Jour: The Ryals family, Ryals Goat Dairy

Ryals Goat Dairy’s feta, chčvre, goat ribs, fresh eggs and more attract a stream of fans to its booths at the Red Stick and Crescent City farmers markets every week. Its popular items are also sold directly to two of New Orleans’ top chefs, John Besh and Donald Link. These carefully produced foods represent a longtime family farm in Tylertown, Miss., reinventing itself in the midst of the farm-to-table movement. Blake Ryals says his foray into cheese production happened when he decided dairy goats could round out a business formerly focused on dairy cows and meat goats. “We were trying to be diversified, and we got to thinking if we had dairy goats it would fit right into our operation,” he recalls. The Ryalses found a market with Chef John Folse, who used their goat milk in his cheese production at Bittersweet Plantation Dairy. Then, they thought they’d try cheesemaking themselves. “With the farmers markets, we figured we’d have a place to sell it,” says Ryals. Click here to read the whole story. (Image courtesy Ryals Goat Dairy)