Wisconsin Cheese Tour Part 1: Chalet Cheese
June 3rd, 2012 | Author: Alysha
Photo courtesy of Joe Laedtke, EatingMilwaukee.com
On Friday morning, I departed with 20 Milwaukee area food bloggers to Madison on a cheese touring excursion, which was sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. We visited three different cheese making plants, The Madison Club, The Dane County Farmers’ Market and Graze restaurant. It was by far the best field trip I’ve ever been on – and the tastiest! Since we packed so much into two days, I’ll be splitting our adventures into a few posts throughout the week.
First, here are some cheese facts courtesy of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board:
- Wisconsin is the nation’s No. 1 producer of cheese and makes 26% of America’s cheese
- Wisconsin cheesemakers produce more than 600 kids of cheese
- Wisconsin is the only producer on Limburger in the US (otherwise known as the “stinky cheese”)
- It takes 10 lbs. of milk to make 1 lb. of cheese
- Wisconsin leads the nation in specialty cheeses like Gorgonzola, Gruyere, Asiago, Provolone, Aged Cheddar, Gouda and Blue
First, we visited Chalet Cheese Co-op in Monroe, Wisconsin. They are the only Limburger cheesemaker in the country. They are also known for their award-winning Swiss, Baby Swiss and German Brick cheeses.
Myron Olson is the master cheesemaker who gave us a tour. He has been making cheese since 1970, and you could see how passionate he was about his work. According to Myron, Chalet Cheese made 500,000 lbs. of cheese last year. Their cheeses have been featured on Modern Marvels, Larry the Cable Guy and Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern.
I have never seen cheese being made before. I couldn’t believe how big their machines were.
Our group of bloggers were more like the paparazzi. I’m sure this made Myron’s day that we were so interested in his craft.
Introducing the stinkiest place in America – the Limburger cheese room. I had to breathe out of my mouth because the smell was so strong. Thankfully it tastes a lot better than it smells!
This is the Limburger wrapping machine. In each plant, we had to wear hairnets. Not the most attractive thing, but no one wants a stray hair in their cheese.
Here, Myron took a sample of Swiss from their huge blocks.
Afterward, Chalet put out samples for us to try of all their cheeses. Personally, I couldn’t get enough of their Swiss and Baby Swiss. Absolutely fantastic.
So happy to be out of that hairnet!
Here is the stinky Limburger cheese – quite delicious with strawberry jam.
As part of the trip, the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board gave us coolers to bring stuff home in and this fabulous cheese serving board (there are even serving tools that are hidden inside). Today, Brenton and I went to our local Pick N’ Save and saw Chalet’s Limburger cheese. We had to buy some and test out our new serving platter. (That white cheese on the end is a light Blue wedge from the Laughing Cow.) Since our dog Oliver loves cheese, I thought I’d give him a piece of Limburger to see if he’d eat it. He gobbled it right up!
Stay tuned for more cheese tour posts!
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Love that you’ve already used the cheese serving board! Also cool that you were able to find Chalet cheese at Pick n’ Save. My husband wanted to try ours out right away too, but I’m kind of cheesed-out which I didn’t think was possible.
Karis recently posted..Farmers’ Market Dinner: Pasta Primavera & Rhubarb Buckle
Even though I thought I was cheesed out on Saturday, we, too, used our cheese board on Sunday, sampling the 10-year old cheddar, curds and a green onion and garlic white cheddar, all from Hook’s, that we picked up at the market on Saturday. It works great! I’ll have to look for the Limburger soon.
Nicole recently posted..Spinach Recipe No. 2: Enchiladas
You bought a ton! I only bought some aged cheddar from Hook’s – my cooler was filled to the brim with stuff from the farmers’ market. If you see any of their stuff in the area, let me know – I’d love to pick up more!
Alysha recently posted..Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Cookies (and a birthday!)
This looks awesome! I love cheese, so I would be in heaven!
Erica @ For the Sake of Cake recently posted..Meal Planning
So interesting!! I can’t wait to hear more. That cheese serving board looks awesome! I’ve never tried Limburger cheese before, nor smelled it. I’d be interested to smell and taste it soon, so I’m going to be on the lookout now!
Carol @ Lucky Zucca recently posted..Veggie Overload!
Glad to hear you were able to find the Limburger locally. I had regretted not picking some up there–much better than its reputation. Perhaps there is even a Limburger recipe in my (blogging) future!
I Wilkerson recently posted..Cheese and Fine Dining