Bass Lake Cheese Factory — A Reprise

I wrote a brief story about master cheesemaker Scott Erickson and his Bass Lake Cheese Factory for the Heavy Table, the Upper Midwestern food journal that Becca and I both contribute to.  It’s a different perspective on a remarkable cheesemaker, and will — I suspect — induce anyone within driving distance to stop by and visit.

Also: I did a taped interview today with WI Cheese Chef Ambassador Jasper Mirabile of Kansas City — that show should be available online in about a week or so, on Saturday, June 27. Always fun to talk cheese with a fellow fanatic…

The Cheese Caves of Faribault

Becca and I collaborated on a story about Minnesota’s Faribault Dairy Company over on the Heavy Table. Faribault does some terrific cave-aged blue cheeses — we’re talking real, deep, scary caves, here — and they work with a number of Wisconsin master cheesemakers on special projects, including the Jeff Wideman/Faribault project of cave-aged cheddar called Fini. Jeff Jirik, the company’s lead cheesemaker and owner, even has Wisconsin cheesemaking experience — we felt right at home in the caves.

And on an unrelated note, a fantastic Web comic about the emotional perils of high-end cheese.

Publication Date for Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin

After a few rounds of chatting with our publisher, the University of Wisconsin Press, it appears that we have a publication date:

November 25, 2009.

We’re planning to do a Wisconsin / Minneapolis / Chicago book tour in support of the book starting mid-November, so if you’ve got venue ideas, please drop us a note!

The Great WI Cheese Roadtrip

USA Today has quite sensibly published a story about the joys of driving rural Wisconsin in search of great cheese — great shout outs to Joe Widmer, Chalet Cheese Coop, Carr Valley, Arena Cheese and others.

US Championship Cheese Contest announces champion from Wisconsin

The 2009 US Championship Cheese contest announced their results, and the US Champion is John Griffiths from Sartori Foods in Antigo, WI, for his SarVecchio Parmesan. SarVecchio has long been one of our favorites – we had a great time meeting with Master Cheesemaker Larry Steckbauer at the Antigo plant – and it is wonderful to see this cheese get more recognition.

Wisconsin cheesemakers, and especially the Master Cheesemakers, are well represented on the winners lists from Cheddar to  surface ripened mixed milk cheeses.

Seymore Dairy

The Seymore dairy is making some fabulous blue cheese. Even if you think you don’t like blue cheese, they make some very sweet and mild blues that might change your mind. In general, the European-style blue cheeses they are making are based off of Gorgonzola and German styles, and not the pungent Stiltons or English styles. For a real treat, find the Ader Kase Reserve.

Bleu Mont Dairy and Willi Lehner

Last winter I had the opportunity to drive to southern Wisconsin and photograph Willi Lehner of Bleu Mont Dairy. Willi has constructed a cheese cave on his property where he ages his bandaged Cheddars and a few other things.

First of all, if you ever get a chance to try the Bleu Mont caved aged cheeses, take it. His Cheddars are extremely flavorful without being bitter, and he has been working on a newer washed rind/bandaged cheddar that is phenomenal. Willi is really innovating with cheeses, and he has probably the most interesting cheese cave in the state!

Faribault Dairy Blue Cheese

We recently had the opportunity to go to the unveiling of a cheese produced by Faribault Dairy with Summit Brewing Company. The ideas was to combine blue cheese with beer, and the result was “Winter Blues” which was sold as a limited run at local Lunds and Byerly’s.

The taste was quite similar to Faribault’s Amablu cheese, which is naturally cave aged in their naturally occurring sandstone caves. The cheese had been soaked in the winter ale from Summit, which gave it a little bitter and earthy flavor on the rind.

Wire Sculptures of Cheese

Ever wanted to own a wire sculpture of cheese? More than 200 different unique sculptures, ranging from the expected (Roquefort) to the obscure (Ticklemore?) are available from artist C.W. Roelle via Tiny Showcase. $65 seems like a reasonable price to pay. Hat tip to Karen for the find.

New Publication Date

Word from the UW Press is that we’re looking at a September publication date for The Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin. The good news: This positions us for an October / November publicity spree, with an eye toward putting the book under Christmas trees and menorahs in December of 2009.

Keep your eyes peeled for an update and some fresh photos from our recent Wisconsin cheese tour… We had a chance to tour Seymour Dairy Crest, the caves of Bleu Mont and the homestead operation of Saxon.