Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese Wins First Place Award At The Wisconsin State Fair

Waterloo, WI —The Crave family is continuing its award-winning streak for Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese. Their latest honors come from the 2018 Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Products Contest, where they stacked up First, Second and Third Place Awards.  Crave Brothers Farmstead Classics Marinated Mozzarella won a First Place Award, with Second Place honors going to Crave Brothers Mascarpone, and Third Place for Crave Brothers Oaxaca.  Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese is made with milk from the family’s own dairy herd in a farmstead cheese-making facility.

Crave Brothers Marinated Mozzarella comes in the form of ciliegine (cherry size) mozzarella balls marinated in a blend of olive oil and canola oil. The marinade features a custom blend of Italian seasonings, along with garlic, crushed red pepper and black pepper. Earlier this year, Crave Brothers Marinated Mozzarella also took First Place honors in the World Cheese Championships. Marinated Fresh Mozzarella is ideal for adding to antipasto appetizer kabobs, and also enhances salads and pasta dishes. Crave Brothers Fresh Mozzarella comes in a variety of forms. In addition to Marinated Mozzarella, choices include medallions, 8-ounce and 1-pound balls, 1-pound logs, containers of small mozzarella balls in four sizes, and curd form mozzarella.

Recipe winners in the 2018 Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese recipe contest demonstrate the versatility of Fresh Mozzarella. In the Professional Chefs’ division, Kristina Vanni of New York City featured Crave Brothers Marinated Mozzarella in her Second-Place Award-winning recipe for Italian-Style Shakshouka with Fresh Mozzarella and Marinated Crostini. Her recipe spin on the classic North African dish of shakshouka—traditionally made with eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers and onions spiced with cumin—incorporates Crave Brothers Marinated Mozzarella melted into the warm tomato sauce. She also brushes the accompanying toasted crostini with the herbed marinade before baking. In the Consumer recipe contest, Donna-Marie Ryan of Topsfield, MA, won Third Place Prize for her Scrumptious Summer Blueberry Mozzarella Wild Rice Salad, made with Crave Brothers Fresh Mozzarella, fresh blueberries, salad greens, chilled wild rice and blueberry vinaigrette

Crave Brothers Farmstead Classics Mascarpone adds it Second Place Award at the 2018 Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Products Contest to an impressive list of 30 previous awards. Crave Brothers Mascarpone contributes a fresh, sweet cream flavor and velvety texture to everything from dips to desserts. Use it to create easy summer recipes such as Mascarpone-Filled Strawberries and no-bake Crave Brothers Chocolate Mascarpone pie.  For the pie, fill a prepared chocolate cookie crumb pie crust with 16 ounces of Crave Brothers Mascarpone blended with 6 ounces of melted semi-sweet chocolate. If desired, add 2 Tablespoons of Amaretto or Kahlua liqueur to the filing. Cover and chill the pie for one hour before serving.

Crave Brothers Oaxaca is an award-winning fresh Hispanic-style melting cheese, named for a state in Southern Mexico. Crave Brothers Oaxaca earned Third Place honors in this year’s Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Products Contest. Oaxaca is a popular cheese for sandwiches, quesadillas and wraps, but it also lends itself to experimenting with grilled foods.

Licensed cheese maker George Crave oversees the making of all the Crave Brothers handcrafted artisan cheeses. Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese is sustainably produced in the family’s own farmstead cheese-making facility that practices water conservation, recycling, and uses 100 percent green power. The anaerobic biodigester produces enough electricity to power the Crave Brothers Farm, the farmstead cheese-making plant, and over 300 homes in their community.

Visit the website at www.cravecheese.com for recipes from the Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese Recipe Contest winners, product information about the award-winning line of Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, and videos highlighting the Crave Brothers green story.

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The Crave family farms 2,500 acres of productive land in south-central Wisconsin, growing soybeans, corn and alfalfa to use as nutritious feed for their Holstein cows. From the biodigester to water recovery and recycling, sustainability is top-of-mind on the farm. The Crave Brothers Farm LLC and Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese LLC use 100% green power and are carbon-negative businesses. Their anaerobic biodigester produces more electricity than they need, enough to power the dairy farm, the farmstead cheese-making plant, and over 300 homes in their community.

Every pound of cheese made by George Crave, a licensed cheese maker, is made with milk from the family’s herd. Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese produces Fresh Mozzarella, Mascarpone, Part-skim Mozzarella, Oaxaca, Farmer’s Rope String Cheese, and Fresh Cheddar Cheese Curds in white, yellow and jalapeño varieties.

Source: Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese