A recent readers' blog reminded me of the private cheese tasting I was treated to here in the OnMilwaukee.com offices a couple weeks ago with Heather Porter Engwall, Director, National Product Communications for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and her colleague Megan Bykowski-Giesegh.
We had a number of great cheeses that day, but what most rocked my world was trying Carr Valley's buttery Casa Bolo, which is made from a mix of goat, sheep & cow milk.
It's semi-soft and it's got a nice, salty sweet flavor and a great complexity from its two-year aging.
I brought some home and it had my wife and kids raving, too. When my wife posted about it on Facebook, we learned that Carr Valley is owned by the aunt and uncle (Sid and Nancy!) of one of her childhood friends.
Engwall told me that Carr Valley is the most award-winning cheesemaker in the world. Yes, the world.
I was also wowed by BelGioioso's super-mild fresh crescenza-stracchino. It's creamy and sweet. The Denmark-based cheesemaker is run by Errico Auricchio, who moved to Wisconsin from Italy in 1979 start BelGioso.
Sartori's basic (unflavored) Bellavitano is based on parmigiano, buttery & crumbly, but not as aged. Has a nice snap, tho'. Last summer, I stopped in at the Sartori store in Plymouth after spending a morning making cheese up the road at Beechwood and everything I sampled there was quite good.
I was especially interested to taste Widmer's brick spread (with cheddar, too) since I was taking my son to the see it in Theresa a couple days later. This was also a hit at home, where spreadability is appreciated by the littlest cheese-eaters. It also has a much saltier taste than Widmer's blocks of brick and cheddar.
We learned on the Widmer tour that they don't make it. Another company creates the spread from Widmer cheese.
Marieke's aged gouda is about 2 years old, from Thorp, and is nutty and firm. The cheese is made within 5 hours of milking!
I leave you with Crave's Petit Frere, French-style semi-soft cheese with nutty and earthy flavor. Comes in a cool lil' box, which the kids love. I enjoyed the earthiness that comes with ripe cheeses, but I realize they're not for everyone.
Crave is a super environmentally friendly farmstead cheesemaker in Waterloo, northwest of Watertown.
Thanks to bloggers Peefandlo for reminding me to share.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
