Wisconsin is known worldwide for cheese, and a new group aims to spread the word about the state's great cheeses and the people who make them.
Launched on Monday, Monona Terrace.
Group founder and executive director Jeanne Carpenter, who publishes the blog Carpenter's love for cheese extends beyond Swiss and Gruyere. She has been working with Wisconsin cheesemakers for five years through the Dairy Business Innovation Center, a non-profit dedicated to cultivating specialty and artisan dairy businesses. She highlights the dozens of farmstead and artisanal cheesemakers that have set up shop across Wisconsin over the last decade, both benefiting from and adding to the state's reputation for the food. "People think of those foam Packer cheeseheads when they think of Wisconsin, but we really are so much more. There are more cheesemakers moving here, starting here," she says. "In the last five years, Wisconsin has become this mecca for artisan cheesemakers." Connecting consumers to their products will be one of the primary goals for the group. Carpenter is also a contributor to Fromagination on the Capitol Square.