Cows. Red barns. Silos. Repeat. I have never seen so many farms anywhere. We’ve seen lots of farm country during our travels, but the part of Wisconsin that we saw is the absolute picture of farming. Dairy farming. There’s also a good bit of corn, but we’ve seen plenty of that all through the Midwest. In Wisconsin, though, we (quite literally) saw dairy farms everywhere! Every couple of miles, there was another one. And it makes sense, because this is where they make cheese! So, they need lots of milk.
The picture on this postcard is what I will always think of when I think of Wisconsin, because this is what I saw mile after mile after mile:
We really were in cheese Heaven, too. We drove through the countryside of Iowa, Lafayette, Green, Dane and Sauk counties. We visited a couple of cheese factories and learned about cheese making, and we stopped at cheese shops to sample and purchase different artisan cheeses. We also had a quick lunch at a cheese store in Madison, which sits just across the street from the state capitol building. The girls were completely cheesed-out by the end of it, and they have now declared loathing for all things cheese. Ray and I, on the other hand, were pretty into it!
Our first cheese stop was at Cedar Grove Cheese in Plain, WI. This is a small, family-owned company that has been in the cheese business for 125 years. We were able to watch the cheese-making process through glass windows, and the nice woman at the shop walked us through the process. She gave us a crash course in cheese making and answered our questions. She also introduced us to cheese curd snacking, and we left with a bag of curds for the road.
Being new to the cheese curd thing, I can only describe the taste as very similar to string cheese, but it’s more fresh. Also, when the lady said they were “squeaky,” she wasn’t kidding. As I chewed, I could hear the squeak in my mouth. They’re pretty darn good!
What we really enjoyed about Cedar Grove is that they were super friendly, more than happy to share their knowledge and love of quality cheese and cheese making, and they are a green business. They have a “Living Machine,” a wastewater treatment system that uses tropical plants and microbes to clean all waste water from the factory. This was of special interest to Ray, who loves greenhouses and all things plant related.
Feeling like we had a good, basic understanding of how cheese is made, we moved on down the road to another award-winning cheese factory: Arena Cheese, Inc., which is located in Arena, WI. Arena also had a viewing window, where patrons could watch cheese being made. They also had several samples out, so we tried some Colby-jack, Smoked Gouda, and a couple of others. We also bought some for later.
I think my favorite cheese stop was Carr Valley Cheese Co., which has several locations. We stopped at the one in Mazomanie, WI. Carr Valley is family-owned, and has been around for about 100 years. According to their website, Certified Master Cheesemaker Sid Cook “has won more top national and international awards than any other cheesemaker in North America.” He also received his cheesemaking license at 16! Talk about carrying on the family business… Pretty impressive.
What I liked about our Carr Valley stop is that there were so, so, so many samples. The woman running the shop also told us we could try anything we wanted, whether it was out or not. We tried cheese, spreads, butters, dips. They also have menage cheese and butter, which means it is made from a mix of cow, goat, and sheep milk. They also had some half-priced cheese that was merely cheese that had been cut in a less-than-pretty shape, so we took advantage of that. It didn’t change the taste! We walked out of there with several little treats for later.
We drove into Madison, and had lunch at Fromagination, which offers artisan sandwiches with fresh meats and Wisconsin cheeses. The girls weren’t impressed with the fancy sandwiches and would have preferred Subway (but we get plenty of that all the time – It’s their favorite). We tried the “Signature Sandwich” (smoked turkey breast, French Brie, cranberry relish, on sunflower honey wheat bread). Oh my goodness – that bread! We also got a “Best of the Midwest” (salami, Wisconsin Provolone, olive tapenade on demi baguette). Good – minus the olives… I’m not a fan of olives. Finally, we got a Val D’Aran Beef (roast beef, mayo-based black pepper and garlic aioli, greens, Wisconsin Cheddar, on sesame semolina bread). I didn’t try that one, but Ray seemed to like it. He had a local beer, and the girls and I had some local root beer. Good stuff!
After lunch, we took a quick walk around the capitol building.
After our cheese tour, we went back to our campground, had dinner, and then enjoyed a little cheese fest by the fire. Well, the girls had s’mores. But, Ray and I sampled our purchases.
We also got a chance to eat fried cheese curds, which are pretty good. I’d say they are sort of like fried mozzarella, which I’ve had quite often, but not as stringy. More squeaky!
While our Wisconsin time was all about the cheese, we took some time to enjoy other things, too. Our campground had a ton of outdoor activities for the girls (mini-golf, carpet ball, playgrounds, outdoor Giant Jenga, Checkers, and Connect-Four, and pool). It was rustic, but really nice (and just a little cheesy – see what I did there?)…
4ina5 