Christine Hyatt/Capriole Goat Cheese
They make cheese in Indiana too? Yes! Witness Sofia, an ash-coated chevre.
For most people, the phrase “American cheese” conjures the image of slices in cellophane rather than something tasty from across the U.S. And because Wisconsin has cornered the cheese market, it’s easy to forget there are cheeses from other parts of America.
Reminding people of that is why the American Cheese Society, the national organization dedicated to artisanal and specialty cheese, declares October as American Cheese Month. Sure there are other hot spots like Vermont and California, but in the Madison area, artisanal cheeses from Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina as well as neighboring Iowa and Minnesota, among other states, are available, too.
“You’re seeing all these little cheesemakers popping up just like you’re seeing microbreweries and distilleries, so it’s hard to keep up,” says Shannon Berry, who chooses the cheeses at Fromagination on the Capitol Square. “But it’s also really fun to be part of that culture.”
Fromagination specializes in Wisconsin cheeses, but also sells a handful from other states. A particular favorite for Berry and many other cheese fans are products from Jasper Hill Creamery in Vermont. In July, Jasper Hill’s Harbison was named Best of Show at the American Cheese Society conference. It’s a soft, spreadable cow’s milk cheese wrapped in a spruce bark — not unlike Uplands Cheese Co.’s cult favorite, Rush Creek Reserve, but smaller and made with pasteurized milk. Other Jasper Hill cheeses sold at Fromagination and at Metcalfe’s Market include the brie-inspired Moses Sleeper and Bayley Hazen Blue. Another semi-soft cheese, Oma, is aged at Jasper Hill but made at Vermont’s Von Trapp Farmstead (yes, that Von Trapp family).
These cheeses fill a niche in Wisconsin cheese shops. Few state companies make bries and camemberts, so out-of-state soft cheeses avoid competition with the locals.
The cheeses can also be almost local, as in from Minnesota: Alemar Cheese Company’s Bent River camembert style and Blue Earth brie, as well as Redhead Creamery’s Little Lucy Brie.
Blue cheeses are also a good non-compete product for local shops, where Hook’s blues deservedly dominate the cases. Besides the Jasper Hill blue, other out-of-state blues available include one from Point Reyes in California (at Metcalfe’s), from Oregon’s Rogue Creamery (at Hy-Vee), and the decadent Shakerag Blue from Sequatchie Cove in Tennessee. Shakerag Blue is wrapped in fig leaves that have been soaked in whiskey.
“Some of our cheeses are suggested by some of our customers when they move here or travel,” Fromagination owner Ken Monteleone says. “They introduce us to things we might not be aware of.”
Customers asked for cheeses from Capriole Goat Cheeses in Indiana, which Fromagination carries. Its Sofia is a sweet, delicate, ash-coated chevre — a goat cheese for people who think they don’t like goat cheese.
Landmark Creamery Provisions in Paoli also carries out-of-state cheeses, but specifically not sheep’s milk cheese (because that’s its own specialty). Even though Landmark makes its own cheese, co-owner Anna Thomas Bates says the business still wants to support other small creameries.
Bates makes her retail connections through personal relationships. She discovered one favorite, from Nebraska’s Dutch Girl Creamery, at a farmers’ market in Omaha, where her parents live. Landmark also carries the beautiful Rocket’s Robiola from North Carolina’s Boxcarr. This is a tangy, ash-coated cow’s milk cheese.
“These cheesemakers fill in some holes with what Wisconsin is doing,” she says. “I know them and I respect them.”
Wisconsin products will always dominate here, shop owners say, but there’s no reason to build a cheese border wall.
“It’s amazing how many wonderful cheeses are out there that we have yet to discover,” Monteleone says. “That’s part of the fun.”
