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(cheese, cont.) Carpenter says the way to make money and to build a reputation these days in the cheese industry is to create specialty products, particularly a “signature cheese,” which she defines as a cheese no other cheese maker has made before or would be able to reproduce. “Some of these cheeses are aged in caves,” she says. “Some of them are made from milk that comes from cows that only feed on certain types of grass. Some of them are aged for a particular amount of time. There’s always something that makes them unique.” Gingrich’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve is the perfect example of a signature cheese. Gingrich only makes this one kind of cheese and he can’t make enough of it to fill demand. This year, he produced 33,000 pounds, selling at $25 a pound. Gingrich boosted production after he hooked up with the DBIC. The center helped him design his own cheese factory, and thanks to sound guidance, he managed to get up and running by the end of summer. Now he’ll make all of his cheese on the same farm where his cows graze. An on-site cheese factory is more economical. No longer does Gingrich truck milk to a factory in Plain to use another cheese maker’s equipment. The popularity of ethnic cuisine, the Food Network, serious cooking and travel have made Americans more willing to gobble up unique cheeses like Gingrich’s. “I ate some cheese while I was visiting a friend in Germany,” John Sacia, a 22-year old from Galesville says. “When I got back to the states, I started to hunt around for the same kinds of cheeses—they were pretty different from your basic cheddar.” “The best way to sum it up is to say America’s palette has become more mature. We see growth in hand-made cheeses,” Robert Frie says. Frie works as the operations manager for Roth Kase in Monroe, one of the largest producers of Gruyere in the United States. Gruyere gives fondue its distinctive sharp, dry flavor. Wisconsin competes with California to be the center of the cheese , says Frie. Because of the move in the west toward huge-scale dairy operations, California’s milk production surpassed Wisconsin’s in 1993. Industry experts expect to see cheese production follow the same trend because California cheese makers can buy milk cheaply and get more of it. Jessica Marinelli, who moved to Wisconsin from California, says, “Wisconsin cheese is not as salty or flavorful and it’s much softer than California cheese. Also, it seems California has a much larger selection of cheeses that are not only really good, but produced right in California.” The phenomenon isn’t limited to California. Out east, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are also turning out excellent goat and raw-milk cheeses. Historically, milk production in Wisconsin has always been a little low, at least in relation to how much milk is needed to produce dairy products in the state, says Carpenter. Wisconsin has always produced more cheese than it has produced milk to make the cheese with. “As a state, we fall 10 to 15 percent below the demand,” Carpenter says. Because specialty cheeses sell at higher prices, Carpenter keeps telling cheese makers in Wisconsin the same thing over and over again: make unusual cheese. “It’s where the money is at,” she says. “For the amount of milk used, you make more money if you produce a specialty cheese than if you produce standard block cheddar—and you don’t have as much competition since you’ve carved out your own niche.”
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