Mississippi State cheese shop goes a little nuts

One indication that Mississippi State is taking peanuts seriously as a crop: it has added peanut products to the gourmet food items marketed through its cheese store.

While you might not normally associate Mississippi with cheese, the university’s dairy program has a long history of producing a variety of cheeses and cheese products. It started producing Edam cheese in 1938. It also now offers cheddar and vallagret. The university’s cheeses have become sort of a holiday tradition, even amongst Mississippians who didn’t go to college in Starkville.

This week, the university announced that it has added roasted peanuts and peanut butter to its cheese shop selection.

Shown here with the new product line are Bully, the MSU mascot (the one on the left), and Vance Watson, VP for the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine.

The addition of peanuts to the store's offerings is in recognition of Mississippi's movement into the crop. In a year when the majority of the nation’s peanut producers scaled back on plantings, Mississippi’s peanut producers increased acreage in 2006 by about 10% to just under 16,000 acres.

Lest anyone thinks this is a shameless case of a State alumnus plugging his alma mater, let me point out that I attended one of Mississippi's lesser-known institutions, Delta State. Our mascot is the Fighting Okra but, to the best of my knowledge, no okra are sold on campus, except maybe in the cafeteria.