I love cheese. I grew up in Wisconsin. But apparently, my knowledge of Wisconsin cheese could fill just one hole in a 200-pound wheel of emmentaler. That was one of the many things I learned during a three-day, all-cheese-all-the-time tour of southern Wisconsin, courtesy of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, with a group of food and cheese journalists, authors and mongers. The tour coincided with the third annual Wisconsin Cheese Originals festival in Madison, where we had access to 40-plus Wisconsin cheesemakers eager to share their expertise -- and samples, of course. I present my top three takeaways from the trip (excluding the wedges I smuggled across the border, of course).
1. Cheese mites are real
In Blue Mounds we visited Willi Lehner, whose Bleu Mont Dairy turns out an amazing bandaged Cheddar. He showed a sample of the muslin bandage he uses and mentioned that his is heavier than what other cheesemakers use. Why? To keep out cheese mites.
Apparently, mites are everywhere, including the rind of many cheeses. Lehner smears his bandages with lard, which keeps them from drying out too fast -- key when the cheese will age for two to three years in a 1,600-square-foot cave with a 12-foot ceiling. We sampled some 2 1/2-year-old Cheddar, and its crystallized, caramelly, mite-free bite demonstrated that it's worth the extra effort.
2. Cheese prime time is right now
You might think that spring, when cows give birth, would be the best season for milk yields, but look to the opposite side of the year for cows to produce the best milk for cheesemaking, according to Jeff Wideman, who heads Maple Leaf Cheese Cooperative in Monroe. In the warm spring and summer months, cows drink more and eat less, which results in fewer solids (fats and proteins) in their milk. But in October and November, the cooler weather gives the cows a better appetite, and it shows in their milk.
3. Pigs eat better cheese than most people do
At Uplands Cheese Company near Dodgeville, where wunderkind cheesemaker Andy Hatch turns out his award-winning Alpine-style Pleasant Ridge Reserve, we got the season's first taste of Rush Creek Reserve. Modeled after Vacherin d'Or, the cheese develops such a luxurious, liquidy paste that it must be eaten with a spoon. As we rushed to sample a dollop, Hatch took a taste and deemed it a work in progress: "This batch will be for the pigs."
