MADISON, Wis. — It’s hard to say what’s most important on Super Bowl Sunday—the game, the commercials or the food. Of course, if you’re rooting for the Green Bay Packers, there’s one clear choice in the latter category: Wisconsin Cheese.
Retailers in Dallas and Fort Worth are featuring products from America’s Dairyland in a big way—this is Texas, after all. Since Cowboys Stadium in suburban Arlington is hosting the big game, area stores are welcoming game day partiers with wide open arms.
Customers can visit the end zone of snacking at Central Market, 4651 West Freeway, Fort Worth, where a 400-pound goal post made of Giganti Provolone Cheese from BelGioioso is on display from now through Super Bowl Weekend.
Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Kerry Henning will be at Central Market Forth Worth for Pro Bowl Weekend, Jan. 27-30, sampling cheese. He brought along 7,000 pounds of his Mammoth Cheddar to be carved into football themed items by The Cheese Lady, Sarah Kauffman. Customers can enter to win cheese platters featuring her football cheese carvings. She will also carve the Pittsburgh Steelers’ and Green Bay Packers’ logos and crashing helmets for the opposing teams. Kauffman will be carving in the store on Feb. 3, and will be on hand to meet with customers Feb. 4 and 5 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Kaufmann, originally from Wisconsin, has chipped Cheddar into hundreds of famous football icons since 1996, including numerous players and announcers, Lombardi trophies, and hundreds of team logos, stadiums, mascots and footballs.
At least one area specialty cheese shop is also getting in on the action with several artisan offerings from Wisconsin. Scardello Artisan Cheese, 3511 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas, will feature several wheels of Uplands Rush Creek Reserve—a very limited seasonal cheese—as well as Cave Aged Marisa from Carr Valley, Uplands Pleasant Ridge Reserve Extra Aged, and Dante and Mona cheeses from Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative.
Scardello Cheesemonger Rich Rogers enjoys introducing customers to artisan cheeses from Wisconsin and expects those sales to be up before the big game. “Many folks don’t realize all of the fantastic, smaller production cheeses that come from Wisconsin,” he says.
Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, a nonprofit organization funded by the state's dairy farmers, promotes the consumption of milk, cheese and other dairy products made in America's Dairyland. Wisconsin leads the country in cheese production, making more than 600 varieties, types and style.
SOURCE Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board
