Best of Show - Extra Aged Pleasant Ridge Reserve

We wanted to pass the news along. Following are excerpts from an August 29 article, 2010 by Mary-Liz Shaw of the Journal Sentinel. You can purchase this winning cheese at our store locations or our online store, Buy Extra Aged Pleasant Ridge Reserve or Buy Pleasant Ridge Reserve, aged less than 15 months. The Extra Aged is our cheese of the month for September and is 10% off.

Big cheese at competition is from Dodgeville – again

American Cheese Society Conference honors Pleasant Ridge Reserve
An aged raw cow’s milk farmstead cheese made in Dodgeville has captured the coveted Best of Show award at the annual American Cheese Society Conference, one of the most prestigious cheese competitions in North America.

Uplands Cheese Co.’s Extra Aged Pleasant Ridge Reserve took Best of Show for the third time, the only cheese to have done so in the competition’s history. It also won top honors in 2001 and 2005.

“It was a shock; we weren’t expecting it at all,” said Mike Gingrich, Uplands’ owner. “We were just amazed. No other cheese has even won it twice.”

Wisconsin cheesemakers Saturday took home 98 ribbons – 29 firsts, 36 seconds and 33 thirds – almost a third of all of the awards given and more than any other state. The five-day conference and competition in Seattle had more than 1,400 entries from 34 states, Canada and Mexico.

In addition, Dairy Staters swept 11 categories, including American Originals Brick Cheese, American Originals Colby, blues made of cow’s milk and blues from goat’s milk.

“Wow, that may be the best we’ve ever done,” said John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.

Scheduling prevented Umhoefer from attending the conference this year, but he is very familiar with the Best of Show winner. He described it as having a pleasant nuttiness, similar to a fresh cheese, combined with the tang of a thick-rind cheese. Pleasant Ridge Reserve also has a “nice firm bite,” Umhoefer said. “It’s just a great farmstead cheese.”

Several Dairy State cheesemakers won multiple honors, including Carr Valley Cheese of LaValle, which received 18 ribbons; BelGioioso Cheese of Denmark, which took home seven; and Sartori Foods of Plymouth, with six ribbons.

“Sartori has really come out strong in the last few years,” Umhoefer said. “They created an artisanal wing, and they’ve set their cheesemakers loose. And it’s obviously been successful for them.”

For Heather Porter-Engwall of the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, Saturday’s honors are proof that “in Wisconsin, we really care about the quality.”

“Everybody loves Uplands, so when they won, the crowd just screamed,” Porter-Engwall said.

“It’s a wonderful cheese,” she said. “I’ve heard it called ‘the perfect cheese.’ Beautiful color and full nutty taste. It’s just a really, really great tasting flavor.”

The Pleasant Ridge Reserve has won the most awards in the country. It also took the blue ribbon at the 2003 U.S. Cheese Championships. It is the only cheese ever to have won both national competitions.

“It’s just amazing for one cheese to have done that,” Umhoefer said.

Uplands Cheese produces Pleasant Ridge Reserve only from May through October, when its cows are eating fresh pasture grasses. The farmstead is also rare in that it makes only one sort of cheese of varying maturities – a washed-rind hard cheese in the style of the alpine cheeses produced in France and Switzerland, specifically Beaufort and Gruyere.

Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve, aged less than 15 months, is available year-round. The 2010 winning cheese is an extra aged version, aged 15 to 24 months, and is available only from September until around Christmas.

With the great success of its alpine-style cheese, Uplands is poised to introduce a new cheese to its product line in November, a soft “winter” cheese available through February and made in the manner of France’s Vacherin Mont d’Or, Gingrich said. The new cheese will be called Rush Creek Reserve.

Heritage of Wisconsin Firm/Hard Cheeses

Firm, hard cheeses are thought to have originated in Italy with the production of Parmesan and Romano. This family of cheeses reqires long curing times of months or years. Hard cheeses keep well for long periods. Their full flavors range from buttery and nutty to sharp and piquant.

Today, Wisconsin hard cheeses are some of the most flavorful you’ll find. Most are variations on cheesemaking traditions that originated in Italy, resulting in varieties such as Asiago, Aged Parmesan, and Roman. To check out a wide selection of Wisconsin hard cheeses online, go to Wisconsin Cheese Online.

After Purchasing Firm/Hard Cheeses

Keep firm/hard cheeses in their original wrapper and refrigerate until ready to use. Once the original wrapper has been removed, package the cheese in waxed paper or parchment paper and return to refrigerator. Firm/hard cheeses have a very long shelf life and can last up to nine months when stored properly.

Unlike most cheeses, firm/hard cheeses are easiest to cut after they have been brought to room temperature. If the cheese has a wax coating, score it before cutting with a chef’s knife. Try lining your cutting board with plastic wrap to prevent the wax from sticking.

Firm/hard cheeses are often granular, making them great for shredding and shaving. Box graters, rotary graters and cheese shavers work best.

Asiago

Named after a small town in northern Italy. Asiago has a mild flavor and semi-hard texture. In Wisconsin, cheesemakers age Asiago to develop sharper flavors that resemble a cross between Aged Cheddar and Parmesan. Traditionally, the color of wax on Asiago indicates flavor: clear or white suggests mild, brown suggests medium, and black wax suggests aged. Pair with pasta, figs, grapes, apples, pears, dried fruits, balsamic vinegar, Late Harvest Gewurztraminer, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir or Beaujolais red wines.

Parmesan

Parmesan is the King of Italian cheeses. Parmesan tastes sweet, buttery and nutty compared to the sharper and more piquant flavor of Romano. Wisconsin Parmesan is aged from 10 to 22 months. Pair with pasta, rice, other grain-based dishes, vegetable soups, cream and tomato sauces, grapes, figs, plums, walnuts, balsamic vinegar, red wine such as Barolo, and dessert wine, such as Vin Santo.

Romano Cheese

Wisconsin cheesemakers make Romano with cow’s milk and produce a cheese that, like its Italian counterpart, has slightly more fat and a sharper, more assertive taste than Parmesan. When Italian cheesemakers use sheep’s milk, they call it Pecorino Romano. Pair with apples, pears, tomatoes, olives, pepperoncini, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel or Chianti, and beer.

When only the best Wisconsin Brats will do…

Hi, my name is Nick Vorpagel, and I was invited to write a guest blog for West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe. I’m here to tell you about the sausage from Lake Geneva Country Meats that can now be found at both West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe locations.

Now, as you all know, when you only have a short summer, you head outside and enjoy it! Summertime in Southeastern Wisconsin is packed full of outside activities, and whether you’re at a baseball game tailgating, or at a family picnic barbequing, odds are you’re cooking! A Wisconsin tailgate must include the staples of the Wisconsin cuisine: beer, cheese, and, of course, bratwurst! And in Wisconsin, not just any bratwurst will do, only the best may be served. The best brats to be had in Southeastern Wisconsin can be found at Lake Geneva Country Meats (and now West Allis Cheese & Sausage), where for 45 years we’ve been making meat products for our customers.

Owned by the Leahy family, Lake Geneva Country Meats is truly a family owned and operated store. On any given day, you can find three generations of family members working at the store, including this guest blogger! The store has been located at the same place, just three miles east of Lake Geneva on Highway 50, since 1967. At this one location, we custom process meats from local farmers, make our handmade sausage, and have a large “one stop” retail store that features the very best meats you could desire, along with everything else you could want for dinner.

While we’re proud of everything we sell, we’re particularly proud of our sausage line. This is an area we have grown and developed over time into what we feel is the strength of our company. Our head sausage maker has been with us since 1983 and when you combine his expertise with high quality ingredients, great things happen. Don’t just take our word, we win awards in the Wisconsin Cured Meat Championships every year, and the judges are academic experts and quality control experts from competitors! It’s nice when your peers say you’re doing a good job.

When we make our sausage, the entire process is controlled by USDA regulations, and is monitored by USDA personnel. We go to great lengths to ensure that the food we make is safe for you and your family, after all we eat the food ourselves!

To make our sausage, we grind a combination of high quality lean pork and beef, add our spice blend, and then throw in any special ingredients that a particular recipe might need. For the Portabella Mushroom & Swiss Cheese Brat, for instance, we use Portabella Mushrooms that are grown about a mile down the road. We believe in buying local! Once we have all the ingredients put together, we stuff the meat into a natural pork casing for that extra crunch, and push it into our German smokehouses to cook them. Once they’re packaged up they’re all ready for you to eat! All you have to do with our precooked sausages is heat and eat!

We invite you to get adventurous and next time you’re grilling, serve a variety pack of brats! Try some Vidalia Onion, Cheddar & Green Pepper or Portabella Mushroom Swiss Brats along with your Traditional brats, all available at West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe. Your friends and family will love having different varieties to try and will be glad that you’re serving the best brats (in my slightly biased opinion) you can find in Wisconsin! If you have any questions about our brats drop me a line at nick@lakegenevacountrymeats.com!

Cheers!

What are Wisconsin Cheese Curds?

If you’re from Wisconsin, you no doubt tasted or at least heard of cheese curds. They are a regional favorite. Wisconsin cheese curds are most commonly white or yellow Cheddars. At West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe, we offer both white and yellow cheddar Wisconsin cheese curds, plain or flavored with cajon, dill, or jalapeno; as well as, brick cheese curds. They are about the size and shape of shell peanuts with a mild, milky, salty flavor. They have the same firmness as mild Cheddar cheese, but with a more springy texture.

Cheese curds are packaged within hours of manufacture and are the original form of cheese before being packed into wheel or loaf shaped forms.

How can you tell if Cheese Curds are fresh?

Fresh cheese curds squeak against your teeth when bitten into. Since cheese curds will typically loose their squeak within a matter of days as the cheese curds age, heat them in your microwave for 5 -10 seconds to bring back the squeak.

How to handle Wisconsin Cheese Curds.

Refrigerate cheese curds in the original wrapping until ready to use. If the original wrap is removed, rewrap cheese tightly in a plastic bag with an interlocking seal to prevent air pockets and absorption of other food flavors.

For serving, it is best to serve cheese curds at room temperature to bring out the flavor. Remove one to two hours before serving, but leave wrapped so they don’t dry out.

What do I do with Wisconsin Cheese Curds?

Because they are salty, Wisconsin cheese curds are excellent with pale ales and lagers or with popular snacking favorites such as pretzels or nuts. Cheese curds can also be used on salads or alternated with fresh fruit for fun kabobs. Top hearty fries with cheese curds and a light chicken gravy to make your own Canadian favorite, Poutine. Of course, let’s not forget, deep fried cheese curds are always a great appetizer.

For recipes, history, and entertaining information about Wisconsin cheese curds, visit Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board’s EatCurds.com. It’s a very entertaining site. If you have a craving, stop by one of our stores or order on-line.

Unless you’re an expert cheese monger or avid cheese connoisseur, shopping for cheese can be a confusing ordeal. There are many cheese varieties and Wisconsin cheese is no different. There are basically eight classifications for Wisconsin cheese as used by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, which we will summarize here. In future cheese blog postings, we will get into more details on each variety and offer pairing suggestions and recipes.

Soft Fresh Cheese – A category of cheeses with high moisture content that are typically direct set (What?? Direct set = A cheese in which lactic acid culture instead of rennet is used to “direct set” or coagulate the milk). Cheeses in this category include Cottage cheese, Cream cheese and Neufchatel, Feta, Mascarpone, Ricotta, and Queso Blanco.

Soft-Ripened Cheese – A classification of cheese based upon body. Brie and Camembert are examples of soft-ripened cheese varieties.

Blue-Veined Cheese – A characteristic of cheese varieties that develop blue or green streaks of harmless, flavor-producing mold throughout the interior. Generally, veining gives cheese an assertive and piquant flavor. Famous varieties include Bleu, Gorgonzola and Stilton.®

Semi-Soft Cheese – A wide variety of cheeses made with whole milk. Cheeses in this category include Monterey Jack, Brick, Muenster, Fontina and Havarti, and melt well when cooked.

Semi-Hard Cheese – A classification of cheese based upon body. Cheddar, Colby, Edam and Gouda are examples of semi-hard cheese varieties.

Pasta Filata – Translated literally from Italian, to spin paste or threads. Pasta Filata refers to a type of cheese where curds are heated and then stretched or kneaded before being molded into the desired shape. The resulting cheese has great elasticity and stretches when cooked or melted. Cheeses in this family include Mozzarella, Provolone and String Cheese.

Hard Cheese – A classification of cheese varieties exhibiting a relatively inelastic and unyielding texture like Cheddar and Swiss. Federal Standards of Identity state that firm cheeses have a maximum moisture content of 34% and a minimum milkfat content of 50%.

Process Cheese – A blend of fresh and aged natural cheeses that have been shredded, mixed, and heated (cooked) with an addition of an emulsifier salt, after which no further ripening occurs. Cold packed cheeses, such as West Allis Cheese & Sausage Cheese Spreads, are a blend made from different batches of cheeses the same variety, or two or more varieties of mild and sharp natural cheese that have been ground. Unlike processed cheese, Cold Pack is not heat-treated nor cooked at the time of packaging.

So, where do Cheese Curds fit in? That’s exactly what we’ll talk about in our next blog posting to help make you savvy on Wisconsin Cheese.

One of our customers shared his memories of Liederkranz Cheese with us and we thought you would enjoy hearing it to. Thank you Tom for sharing it with us.

“Have you ever read the history of this product? It is very interesting. The cheese factory where this was made was just 6 blocks from my childhood home of Van Wert Ohio. (I still live in Van Wert County) The factory (Borden’s) at the time was the largest cheese factory in the world. Liederkranz was just a small portion of their production. It is now completely gone. When the production of this cheese was moved to Van Wert in the 1920s they could not get it to ripen. The master cheese maker figured there must be bacteria in the wooden walls back in New York that was needed for the cheese to ripen, so they tore out the walls in New York and shipped them to Van Wert. Once installed in the curing room the cheese began to ripen properly.
 
In my childhood, I remember the steam power plant at the factory blew a loud whistle every day at noon that could be heard all over town. That was my automatic signal for me to stop playing and get home for lunch.
 
The boxes for this product were hand assembled. They were a 2 piece box with a wood top and bottom with cardboard sides with vent holes. My great grandfather when he retired from the railroad took on the part time job of assembling the boxes in the basement of his home. Bordens supplied the material and he would make enough for a weeks production every Monday. He did this for several years, but died before my birth in 1954.
 
My grandfather was one of the many farmers in the area that sold milk to Bordens for their cheese production. I did get to tour the plant and see how this cheese was made. There was a lot of hand work involved including dipping it in brine as part of the process along with proper placement on the curing racks. There was no automation to speak of on the process. The cheese process was sold to another company but they were never able to get it right as there are untold process secrets only known to the master cheese maker. I personally know the last living master cheese maker. He told me he had been contacted on a few occasions from companies wanting him to help make the cheese in the 25 years it has been out of production, but their offers were never enough to meet his salary requirements. Which begs the question how are there making this cheese? I have not talked to him for several years. I will have to investigate further…
 
Well I have bored you enough. I will be looking forward to my first of what will be many orders to come from your company. Thanks, Tom”

On the contrary, Tom, we were not bored in the least. And for anyone wanting more information… Liederkranz is being made in Monroe Wisconsin at the Chalet Cheese Co-op.  They are the only cheese manufacturer in the United States to produce Limburger and since Leiderkranz is a cousin of Limburger who better to produce it. DCI bought the rights to the Leiderkranz recipe (I don’t know from who) and has licensed Chalet to make.

Wisconsin is known as the Dairy State and the state where every small town has a bar on every corner, so it’s only natural for us to put cheese and beer together! It’s Wisconsin at its best.

Recently, West Allis Cheese & Sausage Shoppe did just that at their Hops and Cheese Event held at the Milwaukee Public Market. They paired Wisconsin cheeses with what else? …Wisconsin brewed beer. It’s no surprise it was a sold out event and all proceeds went to Milwaukee’s Hunger Task Force.

They paired:

• Carr Valley’s Airco, Casa Bolo Mellage, Creama Kasa, Benedictine, and Cranberry Chipotle with Lienenkugel Honey Weiss and Blue Moon Honeymoon Summer Ale
• Sierra Nevada Kellerweis and Summerfest Lager with Roth Kase’s (Sugar Brook Farms) Creamy Havarti, Roth Private Reserve, and Moody Blue
• Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Summer Ale with Red Barn rBGH-Free Heritage Weis Old-World Style Cheddar
• BelGioioso’s Aged Provolone and Peperoncino with Fixed Gear (an American Red Ale) and Local Acre Lager from Lakefront Brewery
• Seymour Dairy’s Ader Kase Reserve and Crocker Hill Organic, two blues, with Supper Club and I think Pale Ale from Capital Brewery.

To be honest, this was my first event of this type and I was enjoying myself so much that I forgot to record the individual beers down, so I am going by memory. Maybe I tasted a few too many.

Anyway, I was surprised to find out my favorite cheese for the night was Roth Kase’s Moody Blue. Whereas all the cheeses were tasty, I was just surprised that I liked a blue so much. I’ve never been much of a blues person, but Moody Blue with it’s delicate smoked flavor impacted my taste buds in a way I didn’t expect. I actually went back for seconds. It’s a good introduction to blue cheese and maybe someday, I will become a die hard blue cheese fan like so many others I know.

If you were at the event or even if you weren’t, which are your favorites? I’d love to hear from you.

Okay, so you probably already heard Wisconsin has great cheese because we have a lot of cows that eat fresh grass in the middle of nowhere. Well, that’s actually correct except the middle of nowhere part. Wisconsin is a beautiful state that offers a wide variety of cultural experiences in which one just happens to include a long, rich history in milking cows and making cheese. In fact, Wisconsin cheeses come from a heritage of over 160 years of quality and craftsmanship. But aside from that, you can be sure the quality of your Wisconsin cheese is exceptional because of the stringent standards Wisconsin cheese manufactures adhere to.

Wisconsin adopted the Federal Standards of Identity from the FDA for cheese products to assure uniform standards in the interstate shipment of cheese. These Standards of Identity describe the major varieties of cheese and identify the procedures by which they are manufactured, the ingredients they may contain, and their moisture and milkfat.

In order to ensure the Wisconsin cheese you buy is the quality you expect and deserve, only cheesemakers licensed by the state may oversee the production of cheese in Wisconsin. Cheesemakers must be knowledgeable in many different areas including the mathematical problems of practical dairying (whoever thought math was related to cows?)

To carry on the quest for excellence, an ambitious and rigorous advanced Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Certification Program was established in 1994, the only Master program outside of Europe. The apprenticeship assures that those receiving the Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker certification embody the skill and passion for cheesemaking that is Wisconsin’s greatest heritage. Once cheesemakers achieve Master status for a cheese variety, they can designate on their labels that the cheese has been made by a Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker. It’s your assurance of the highest quality of cheese you can buy.

As early as 1921, Wisconsin instituted quality grades for the major varieties Wisconsin produced including American types, Monterey Jack, Brick, Muenster, and Swiss and became the only state to mandate cheese grading for these products. Factors that determine cheese grades are flavor, body and texture, color, and finish and appearance. This further ensures the quality and consistency of Wisconsin cheese.

Today’s consumers are demanding quality and safety in the foods they eat. Cheese and dairy products from Wisconsin have a strong reputation for safety, quality, and value, thanks to dedicated efforts of our dairy producers, manufacturers and marketers. But the quest for improved food safety programs continues as the Wisconsin dairy industry works together to enhance and assure safety and quality of our dairy products at every link – from our farms all the way to the consumer’s table.

Product quality is the cornerstone of Wisconsin’s cheesemaking heritage. Wisconsin set the highest standards for cheesemaking in the United States, and they remain unsurpassed today. So when you buy Wisconsin cheese, you know you’re getting the finest cheese available and it’s not just because of the cows.

Congratulations to all of the winners at this year’s World Championship Cheese Contest, the largest international cheese and butter competition in the world (www.worldchampioncheese.org).

Wisconsin won 73 awards; almost one-third of all the awards handed out, 21 of them gold medal Best of Class distinctions! Of the remaining U.S. states with contest entries, New York won six Best of Class, with Idaho earning five and California, four. Wisconsin also surpassed the international competition with Canada and the Netherlands each winning five Best of Class awards, followed by Denmark with four.

It just goes to show Wisconsinites will remain Cheeseheads for years to come!

Following are some of the award winners we carry on our website (www.wacheese-gifts.com) that we know you will enjoy.  Taste them and let us know what you think. Do they deserve the award they received?

If you’d like to purchase any of them marked with a “(C)” from one of our store locations, please call first to verify availability: West Allis location 414-543-4230 and Milwaukee Public Market 414-289-8333. All the “C”s are on order and we should receive them by Tuesday, April 13. If there are any we don’t have at one of our locations, we’ll make sure to bring it in for you upon request.   

Marieke Penterman of Holland's Family Cheese

In 2002, Marieke Penterman moved from the Netherlands to the States with her husband Rolf to start a dairy farm in Thorp, Wisconsin. Both grew up on dairy farms back in The Netherlands and farming can be traced back several generations in their families. Soon enough, Marieke and Rolf started missing the traditional cheese from their home country and after visiting family members complained that they could hardly fit any clothes in their bags because they had to carry so much cheese with them, Marieke decided to start making her own cheese. She got her cheesemaker’s license in Wisconsin and visited several cheese plants in The Netherlands to observe how the traditional gouda is made. From the recipes she learned there, she created her own unique recipe for the Marieke Gouda.

The cheese company, Holland’s Family Cheese, opened its doors end of 2006 and quickly became successful, winning awards at the national and world level. At the 2010 World Cheese Contest Marieke Gouda won two awards! Everything is made at the farm: there is a pipeline straight from the milking room to the cheese vat and whole cow’s milk is turned into cheese within five hours of milking. The freshness of the milk gives the cheese its incredible full flavor. After the cheese has been pressed into its round shape and put into a brine bath for 60 hours, the wheels are carefully aged in a special curing cellar on wooden planks.

Marieke Gouda is a raw milk product and aged for a minimum of 60 days. At that young age, the cheese is very smooth and the flavor becomes more complex and a little sharper as it ages. Plain Marieke Gouda is available up to over two years now and Marieke has added a variety flavored gouda varieties to her assortment like Cumin, Clove, Pesto Basil, Black Pepper Mix, or the popular Foenegreek (a seed called foenegreek gives the cheese a slightly sweet, nutty flavor).

The Holland's Family Cheese Group

You can find more information about Marieke Gouda at www.hollandsfamilycheese.com. If you ever make it up north near Thorp, stop by the farm where you can sample all different gouda varieties and see how the cheese is made. Until then, come enjoy this farmstead artisanal gouda at West Allis Cheese, www.wacheese-gifts.com!