Northwestern Wisconsin: Stanley and Jim Falls
May 5, 2008 by jrnorton23
We got our first big multigenerational cheesemaking photo at LaGrander’s Hillside Dairy, courtesy of master cheesemaker Randy LaGrander. The shot depicts Randy (center), his father Dan (who’s still active around the factory), and his sons Joe and Ryan.
We also got a chance to try (and buy) some of LaGrander’s aged cheddar, which we quite enjoyed. A chunk of it ended up shredded into the delicious, bubbly, golden brown potato quiche that we made for dinner last night.
On this same trip, we met Richard “Whitie” Wold, who presides over the sprawling Jim Falls cheesemaking operation run by Associated Milk Producers, Inc. Wold was as generous a host as we could have hoped for, and he gave us the straight dope on the challenges and rewards of making a quality cheese at a huge (260,000 pounds of cheese a day) volume.
We’ve got a block of AMPI’s jalapeno jack in our fridge that I’m looking forward to trying. Also, a gallon of AMPI chocolate pudding. It was only four bucks!
