Though we have visited a number of cheesemakers who cheddar their cheese (notably Bob Wills, Sid Cook, and David Metzig), we have not been around to witness it before this most recent trip to southeastern Wisconsin. Joe Widmer (of Widmer’s Cheese Cellars) was kind enough to let us tromp around his operation for hours as [...]
Archive for March, 2008
Cheddaring Cheese – the process
Posted in General, Photos, tagged cheddaring, Joe Widmer on March 27, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Tasting Notes: Pasture-Grazed Cheddar from Alto Dairy
Posted in Tasting Notes, tagged Alto Dairy, cheddar, pasture-grazed on March 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Alto Dairy is probably best known for having the largest cheese plant this side of the Mississippi (and it is large!), making mostly “commodity”-style American-style cheeses, mozzarella, and provolone, but they have also occasionally made smaller batches of more specialized cheeses. One of these is their pasture-grazed cheddar, aged one year. A number of cheesemakers [...]
Tasting Notes: Peppercorn Cheddar from Henning’s Cheese
Posted in Tasting Notes, tagged cheddar, Henning, peppercorn on March 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
We just got back from a trip to Henning’s Cheese in Kiel. Kerry Henning was a very gracious host and wonderful to talk to. After hearing about the 14-year history of his peppercorn cheddar, we had to buy some! Kerry seems to get most of his new ideas by seeing another cheese and then wondering [...]
Tasting Notes: Aged Cheddar & Aged Faarko from Cedar Grove
Posted in Tasting Notes, tagged Bob Wills, Cedar Grove, Faarko on March 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Though we visited Cedar Grove cheese a few weeks ago, I have only finally been able to post tasting notes about the aged cheeses we got while we were there. Luckily, a few more weeks of aging shouldn’t change their flavor!
The cheddar we got is aged 6 years. This means it is quite strong and [...]
Tasting Notes: Cedar Valley String Cheese
Posted in Photos, Tasting Notes, tagged Cedar Valley, string cheese on March 21, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Becca and I loved the string cheese at Union Star (courtesy of master David Metzig), but it turns out there’s more than one way to make a great version of the snack.
Cedar Valley string cheese is saltier and far stringier than Metzig’s version (which is closer to milk made solid). It’s similarly fresh tasting but [...]
World Championship Cheese Contest 2008
Posted in General, Photos on March 16, 2008 | 2 Comments »
We were lucky enough to be writing this book during the biennial World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison, WI. This is one of the few international cheese competitions, and features 3 days of judging by a host of experts from every corner of the cheesemaking globe. Cheesemakers send in their samples to be judged on [...]
The Map
Posted in General on March 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
For your entertainment: Here’s the map + map-pin system we’re using to keep our travels organized. Blue pins are masters we’ve visited; red are masters we’ve yet to visit. The four “sectors” (plus the sector for Green County) each represent planned sections of the book.
Tasting Notes: Limburger from Chalet
Posted in Tasting Notes, tagged Chalet, Green Country, Limburger, Tasting Notes on March 9, 2008 | 1 Comment »
As noted in an earlier post, limburger cheese can be potent. The odor (or stench, or funk, or however you’d like to describe the experience) has come to define the stuff.
That’s a shame. It turns out that limburger is a far more subtle substance than we might expect, each little block living a productive lifecycle [...]
Return to Green County
Posted in General, Travel Log, tagged Fahrney, Green County, Olson, Stettler, Wagner, Wills on March 2, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Our first stop during our return trip to Green County (our second of three planned) was Chalet Cheese, a longstanding maker that’s home to two masters, Myron Olson and Jamie Fahrney. Olson is famous (notorious?) as the last remaining maker of Limburger cheese.
I won’t get into all the details here (see our tasting notes [...]
