Wisconsin’s centrality to the American cheese industry is not exactly news. The Dairy State’s first cheese factory opened in 1841, and since then, Wisconsin has become the heart of US dairy production. It is the only state to require a license to make cheese commercially and to offer a master cheesemaking certificate, and it has the most rigorous apprenticeship requirements in the country. With over 1 million cows and an annual production of well over 3 billion pounds of cheese per year, cheesemaking in Wisconsin is very big business.
For decades, the Wisconsin cheese biz has seen a steady increase in mass production and standardization in the name of consistency—the state produces more cheese than anywhere in America and only trails the rest of the US, France, and Germany for total cheese production internationally. With its industry so firmly rooted in industrialization, Wisconsin has somewhat unfairly come to be associated “boring” cheese and for years American connoisseurs looked to like Europe, Vermont, or the Bay Area for “fancier” cheese selections. But artisan and farmstead cheesemaking has seen a resurgence in Wisconsin as well; in the 1980’s and 90’s, as California chèvre enjoyed the spotlight in farm-focused restaurants like Chez Panisse, the Wisconsin artisan cheese movement enjoyed a similar flush.
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