Lobster, salmon and blueberries may be among the most popular Maine-made foods to ship to friends and family over the holidays, but when it comes to unique handmade gifts that bring cheer, cheese stands alone. Maine-made cheese, that is. Made from the milk of cows, sheep and goats that graze in the state’s rich grassy pastures, locally made cheese is quickly establishing a reputation as one of the state’s most tasty products and one of its fastest-growing food industries.

Whether aged, soft, hard, raw, bleu, soaked in olive oil or covered with peppercorns, herbs, nuts or dried fruits, cheese is also a favorite treat during the holidays. It pairs well with wine or chocolate, with chunks of bread or slices of pear. It can be an appetizer, the last course of a celebratory meal or a melted topping on an apple pie. Try it at breakfast, lunch or dinner, in an omelet, pizza, salad or soup.

Those are some of the suggestions made by members of the Maine Cheese Guild, which was founded in 2003 to promote local cheeses and educate cheese makers and consumers about the production and enjoyment of cheese. Members enjoy workshops, information sharing, a helpful Web site and very tasty meetings. This time of year, cheese makers, many of whom typically sell their wares at seasonal farmers markets, are busy supplying specialty markets, wholesalers, food boutiques and gourmet stores. Many of them also have mail-order businesses, and a few have broken into the larger retail and out-of-state markets.

With all those outlets for cheese sales, it’s no surprise that the number of Maine’s dairy farmers who supply the milk for the cheeses has nearly tripled in size – from 19 to 55 licensed dairy processors – in the last decade, according to the Maine Department of Agriculture.

“The industry has mushroomed,” said Shelley Doak, the department’s director of the division of animal health and industry. As for the cheese, she credits the guild as “a bright, competent, energetic, enthusiastic group that is really fine-tuning the artisanal cheese industry and putting Maine on the map. It’s very exciting if you think of the quality of the products. They have found a niche market that literally adds flavor to the quality of life in Maine.”

That same dovetailing of product and life quality is what fuels the success of K. Horton Specialty Foods, a cheese market in Portland’s Monument Square. Among the 200 international cheeses, the store also carries products from Hahn’s End in Phippsburg, Sunset Acres in Brooksville, York Hill Farm in New Sharon and Silvery Moon Creamery at Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook.

“I’m very interested in artisan cheeses, handmade ones that stand out in quality with international cheese,” said owner Kris Horton. “People like Maine cheeses because they know they’re supporting the state. And it’s a good quality product. The milk here has a richer fat content. So those California cows that always look so happy, well, we’ve got one up on them. The grass may be more flavorful here because of the shortened season. That’s highly speculative on my part, but I like the idea.”

Horton’s store, which recently moved from the Portland Public Market to the city center, has been a stopping point for cheese lovers throughout the state. Closer to Bangor, natural food stores and co-ops, as well as some of the large retail supermarkets, are the best place to buy Maine cheeses.

“We work really hard to bring our customers the local, handcrafted cheese they want,” said Ruth Sullivan, cheese buyer for Blue Hill Food Co-Op. “We have a huge demand for raw milk, organic, handcrafted, locally made cheeses made from pasture-raised goats, cows and sheep. This is a time of tremendous growth. I expect in five years the Maine Cheese Guild will be five times as big as it is now. It’s an explosion, especially in our area, because we have a mix of year-round and summer residents.”

Sullivan and others said that demand for the best artisanal cheeses exceeds supply. While the larger companies, such as State of Maine Cheese in Rockport, sell retail, wholesale and on the Internet, some of the smaller cheese makers sell mostly to small stores. And they would like to produce more, sell more and promote Maine as one of New England’s strongest cheese producers.

Allison Hooper, president of the American Cheese Society and owner of Vermont Butter and Cheese in Websterville, Vt., welcomes Maine as a player in the national cheese game. Like others, she compared the revived taste for cheese, once maligned for its fat content, to the rise in wine devotion in the last decade.

“Maine is probably going down a similar path to the Vermont cheese industry,” said Hooper. “The demand for local and artisanal cheeses is there. As consumers are more focused on the source and safety of their food – not just pathogens but hormones – they spend a lot of time researching what they eat. And the cheese story is a human story about people making things. ”

Cathe Morrill agreed.

“People who love cheese will spend some time buying it – first there’s the smell, then the taste,” added Morrill, owner of State of Maine Cheese, best known for cheddar and Monterey Jack styles. “It’s like sommeliers with wine: They sniff, then taste. If you like the smell, you’ll like the taste, and after the taste, it’s the texture.”

Cheese is a “perennial gift at the holidays,” said Morrill. That’s why year-round cheese makers make sure they’re up to their arms in curds this time of year. Caitlin Hunter, one of the guild’s founders and owner of the award winning Appleton Creamery, usually sells at the Orono Farmers Market, but these days the closest place to buy her bries, chevres, blueberry-soaked Caprino and other cheeses is the Belfast Cooperative – except on the second Saturday of each month, when she sells from her car between 10 and 11 a.m. in the parking lot behind Pat’s Pizza in Orono. (She and other farmers will be there Dec. 9.) She also holds an annual holiday open house – this year on Dec. 2 and 3 – at the creamery in Appleton.

“Maine is known for its quality, handmade things,” said Hunter, who has been making cheese since 1980. “Cheese falls right into that same idea, right along with bread and beer and wine.”

But if cheese somehow doesn’t make your holiday table this month, just wait. Debbie Hahn at Hahn’s End is already aging cheese for next summer. “I try to make it as much like the old-fashioned cheeses as I can,” said Hahn, who is trained as a chemist. “It’s raw, unpasteurized cheese, aged in a cellar underground, with a natural rind, not wax, not plastic. I cut and wrap it at the market. It’s hand-stirred, put into molds by hand, turned by hand and brushed by hand.”

For a list of Maine cheese makers and sellers, as well as information about Maine’s cheese industry, visit www.mainecheeseguild.org.