CHEESELANDIA GAZETTE · 2020-05-20 · What do you want people to say after they tasted your...

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the masters of cheeseWe sit down with Sartori Master Cheesemaker, Pam Hodgson,

and Henning's Master Cheesemaker, Kerry Henning for some Q&A. Plus, two cheese-meets-berries recipes that pair perfectly with

the warmer weather ahead.

WELCOME TO THE GAZETTEThe Gazette is a quarterly publication that celebrates the people

and stories behind Wisconsin Cheese.

We'd like to thank Kerry Henning and Pam Hodgson for spending some time with us and letting us dig into their story. We hope you enjoy it. We'd also like to thank our partner-in-storytelling, Wisconsin-based

photographer, Pete Olsen, for bringing our words to life. Enjoy the read.

CONTENTS

142

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pam hodgsonSartori Master Cheesemaker

recipeGrilled Chicken Salad with Blackberry Vinaigrette

kerry henningMaster Cheesemaker

recipeCheddar-Blueberry Buckle

PG. 01TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAM HODGSONSARTORI MASTER CHEESEMAKER

PG. 03PAM HODGSON · · · · · · SARTORI MASTER CHEESEMAKER

The drive to Plymouth to meet Sartori Master Cheesemaker, Pam Hodgson, turned into more of a race as we tried to beat an impending rainstorm. Upon arriving, we had a rapidly narrowing window of time to squeeze in our photo shoot. As we chatted cheese, the topic of Pam’s family farm came up. We checked our radar map and decided to gamble on a drive to the family farm, arriving in Herman about 20 minutes later. Pam shared the long history of the farm, from her great grandparents purchasing the land in the late 1880s to her memories of planting trees on the farm with her siblings as a young child. We walked through grapevines blooming over

with juicy, sweet, Concord grapes, enjoying yet another legacy planted by Pam’s grandfather.

Eventually, we moved on to a tour of the farm’s original barn. The barn was full of artifacts from the farm’s past: wooden sleds, old farm tools. We climbed over the railing onto a wood beam floor kissed with hay, the sky creeping in between a high wall of wood slats. Pam pointed up to an old basketball hoop still nestled on a wood beam where she used to play. When we finally emerged from the barn, the sky had grown darker. It would soon be time to pack up and head back to Madison, but not before we sat down with Pam for a little Q&A.

How did you get your start in cheese?Growing up, I never had a goal to become a cheesemaker or a master cheesemaker. I wanted to be a dairy farmer like my parents. In 1991, I was looking for an opportunity to help support my family. There was an opening in a dairy plant and it was good, honest work. Once I got started, I fell in love with it. It's like I took a job and found a career. There are so many aspects of cheesemaking that appeal to me on many different levels.

As cheesemakers, we talk about cheesemaking as being an art and a science, and it truly is. I use my

science background all the time, but it's just as important that I pay attention to the process. Our major ingredient, milk, changes seasonally. As a cheesemaker, I'm always listening to the process and making small tweaks along the way. Even though we start in a slightly different place one day to the next, we end up in the same place. The goal is to make consistently high quality Wisconsin cheese.

What does your average day look like?Typically, I get up around five and I'll spend some quiet time in the


house preparing mentally and physically for the day. I start work at 7:30. I struggle a little bit to describe a “typical” day because it always depends on what projects we have going on. At Sartori, we put a lot of emphasis on being innovative and creative, so a fair amount of my time is spent thinking about how to come up with the next super great cheese. That's a daunting thing, because cheese making is ancient. People make cheese all over the world, and at Sartori we're not really interested

in knocking off somebody else's great cheese. We want to create our own great cheeses. We'll look to different parts of the world and other cheesemakers for inspiration, but we're not about stealing their cheese or ideas. It's a daunting thing to create American originals, yet that’s what we do. If you look at Montamoré® and BellaVitano® with all their hand finishes, we have succeeded. But it is a daunting challenge, and the question is always, “So what's next?”


What are some of the challenges you have faced as a woman in the industry? For a long time, I was the first and only woman in a leadership role at the plant. Five years later, a second woman was hired into a similar leadership position and it was the neatest experience. The plant changed from a place where I was the first and only woman to a culture of “this is a plant where men and women work.” It was really neat to see that transformation; it’s true that water does wash away the stone.

Dairy plants typically run around the clock every day of the week. As a young mother with small children, it was challenging because at some point in my career I've worked every shift there is, including weekends. I will be forever grateful to my own mom, because she understood that challenge from growing up around the industry. Although my grandfather probably did not run the plant around the clock, my mom knew how demanding the work was. Without her support, I never could have done it. I'd call her and say, "Hey, I've got problems here.

Can you pick up the kids for me?" And she did. Other times I’d call and say, "I need to work tonight so I can see what’s going on with this piece of equipment at two in the morning. Can the kids sleep over with you?" She was always there for me, and I never could have done what I did earlier in my career without her support.

Another thing that was really, really handy: my mom was majorly serious food safety. I grew up knowing good manufacturing practices without really knowing that's what they were. I learned food safety at home. When I started working in the dairy plant, I also started to understand why we did things the way we did at home. I grew up on a dairy farm and we drank milk from our cows, but my mom pasteurized it. She also made my dad milk a cow into a bucket for her first because she wanted the best-tasting milk for our table. If a cow didn't meet her standards, my dad would have to keep trying different cows until she found one that met her standards. Safe to say: a cheesemaker's daughter has high standards.


If you met someone who had never tried Sartori cheese before, what would you give them as that first taste for their palate? That’s an excellent and very challenging question, because Sartori cheeses have so much width and breadth. There's certainly something for everyone and I couldn't stop with one. I'd have to create a cheeseboard. On one end we would have SarVecchio®, representing an incredible Parmesan aged for a minimum of 20 months. On another end, we'd have the Montamoré® cheddar with its creamy, sweet, tangy, unexpected flavors. In the middle there would be some hand-finished BellaVitanos though I’m not completely sure which one. It would depend on the day and what I knew about the person that could help me choose something to surprise and delight them.

One of my favorites is the hand-rubbed BellaVitano® with cracked black pepper. A lot of the time people say, "I don't know if I like pepper with my cheese. I like pepper on my eggs, but cheese…I don't know." Then they try it. I enjoy letting the cheese speak for itself. We also have

a hand-soaked Tennessee whiskey BellaVitano® that right now I'm quite in love with.

What do you hope people feel or they would say after they use your cheese?I have very high expectations. As I interact in the world and watch the media, we seem to be in a very decisive place in the world right now. Good food can foster good conversation that inspires people listen as well as speak. Good food can help bring people together. My aspiration for a good Sartori cheeseboard is that it brings people together –families and friends –so that they can enjoy time together, good conversation and be together instead of being separated in ideas and thoughts. I hope we bring people together so that they can see each other as people.

What inspires you to keep making cheese? I love the process. I love how there is always something going on all of the time. Right now, one of the things that is really, really important to me is developing future master cheesemakers and developing our team here at Sartori. I've worked


very, very hard for nearly 30 years to try to really master cheesemaking, and there's still a whole lot more to master. As I work with future master cheesemakers, if I do this right they will be better than I am. They're going to know everything that I know plus all the stuff that they know and will discover. As someone who has a fair amount of pride, ingenuity and work ethic, it’s a humbling thought that as hard as I work, the next person is going to be better than I am. That's how it should be.

When I look back at my early days in the plant, I was as green as green gets. I was a farm kid. I didn't know anything about cheesemaking. My maternal grandfather was an accomplished cheesemaker, but I knew him as Grandpa. He was already retired when I was a kid.

I look back at that and there were a lot of people who showed me things and taught me things. The people I worked with side-by-side were trying to figure something out or make a process better in order to improve our cheese.

At that time, there weren't a lot of women who were pursuing cheesemaking. I have memories of people who actually made it harder for me. I came across a Mark Twain quote, which spoke to me at the time, and it goes like this: "Be aware of people who belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that. But the truly great ones make you feel that you, too, can be great." I still like that quote today, but I hear it differently now. I hear it as a personal challenge to help somebody else out.

"My aspiration for a good Sartori cheeseboard is that it brings people together... I hope we bring people together so that they can see each other as people."


What does it mean to you to be A Wisconsin cheesemaker?I feel blessed. There is a certain amount of responsibility that comes with the role simply because of the sense of responsibility and pride in Wisconsin. If a state claims to be “America's Dairyland,” then there have to be standards. I have to do my part to meet or exceed those standards so that every time somebody has a bite of Wisconsin cheese, they just have this amazing, wonderful, flavorful experience. It’s important to me that what I do, how I do it and what I create lives up to that.

What do you envision as the future of cheesemaking in Wisconsin?There’s probably no place else in the world that's better for making cheese than Wisconsin. As a Wisconsin cheesemaker, I have tremendous support. Dairy is so important here and we have a very good infrastructure. Our dairy farm families have access to some of the best large animal veterinarians in the country. They have dairy cattle nutritionists and soil scientists

that help them be the best possible stewards of the land.

The Center for Dairy Research is located in Madison, Wisconsin, and it's truly a gem of a resource for Sartori as we are trying to develop new cheeses. We can go to the center without jeopardizing our current production in the plant. Then there are the technical experts and scientists at the center who just plain help us to be better. I could go on and on.

Wisconsin is truly a very good place to be a cheesemaker and I feel very, very lucky. As I travel to American Cheese Society events to talk to other cheesemakers, I realize how lucky I am. There are definitely talented cheesemakers all over the country, but nobody else has the level of support we have here in Wisconsin.

You can learn more about Sartori Cheese and buy some of Pam’s creations at sartoricheese.com


sartorisartoricheesecheese

Plymouth


Ingredients List

1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries, divided

1/3 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (6 ounces each)

12 ounces (about 14 cups) fresh baby spinach and kale salad mix

4 ounces Sartori Merlot BellaVitano® cheese, crumbled

Instructions

Cheesemonger Tip

Place the 1/2 cup blackberries, basil, balsamic vinegar and honey in a food processor. Cover and process until mixture is smooth; slowly stream in olive oil until blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour 3/4 cup vinaigrette in a sealable plastic bag. Add chicken; seal bag and turn to coat. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate remaining vinaigrette until serving.

Grease grill grate. Heat grill to medium. Grill chicken, covered, over medium heat for 5-7 minutes per side or until a thermometer inserted in meat reads 165°F. Transfer chicken to a cutting board; keep warm.

Divide salad mix onto four serving plates. Cut chicken into slices. Top salads with chicken and remaining blackberries. Drizzle with reserved vinaigrette. Sprinkle with Merlot BellaVitano®.

A unique tasting experience, this award-winning, rich and creamy cheese features the berry and plum flavor notes of Merlot wine. It’s an excellent choice for pairing with warm, crusty breads or dried nuts and fruits on a cheeseboard.

PG. 15RECIPE · · · · · · GRILLED CHICKEN SALAD WITH BLACKBERRY VINAIGRETTE

Master CheesemakerKERRY HENNING

We headed northeast out of Madison on our two-hour drive to Kiel to meet Master Cheesemaker Kerry Henning and visit Henning’s Wisconsin Cheese. From the moment you step foot into Henning’s quaint cheese shop, you can’t help but feel their deep generational roots in cheesemaking. By the time we

arrived, the crew had finished their daily cheesemaking, but even after a long day, Kerry greeted us with a smile and we embarked on a tour of the plant. When Kerry offered a tour of the cheese rooms, we got excited knowing that we were in for a rare treat—a room full of mammoth cheddar cheese wheels.

PG. 16KERRY HENNING · · · · · · MASTER CHEESEMAKER

What’s your story? I grew up in the business. Just like a farmer, when you're old enough to do some type of chores, it’s expected you will contribute. I am a third-generation cheesemaker. My grandpa started in 1914, and then my dad took over the business in the mid-1960s. As soon as I was old enough – eight, nine, ten years old – I was doing small jobs and involved in the business already.

When I was in college, I was studying accounting, and I thought I'd be going into the accounting field. My junior year I had a great professor who taught agricultural economics. I always liked to dabble a little bit in agriculture when I was in in college, and this professor got me thinking more about agriculture for a career.

About the same time, I was dating my future wife and started looking to the future. My mom and dad seemed to have a pretty good life. It was a lot of hard work, but they worked together. Eventually, I decided to double major.

After I graduated from college, I came back into the business. About that time my older sister got into the business, and a year later my brother and my future wife joined us. This was the early 80s, and we felt that there was potential for small cheese factories who marketed cheese under their own branding. That was something that wasn't common prior to that time. Big names like Kraft and Schreiber’s were out there, but we felt that with enough hard work maybe we could develop a brand name for ourselves.

Here’s more from our conversation with Kerry:

What do you hope your brand stands for? What do you hope the customers feel when they eat your cheese? The one thing we hope for is good quality, really flavorful cheese. As people continue to “dumb down” products throughout the country, cheese is no exception. Everybody is trying to make it as cheap as possible. We feel it should just go in the opposite direction, so we focus on making the best product possible.

I moved recently to a new neighborhood. One of our neighbors had always bought store brand cheese, but said, "I suppose I better try yours.” Later he mentioned being amazed just at the differences in flavor between what we make and what the store brands offer. This led him to explore other Wisconsin cheesemakers. He said, "I just didn't know that there was such a difference in cheeses.” When you hear stories like that, it makes you feel really good, and inspires you to continue doing what you’re doing.

What makes Wisconsin cheese so special?A lot of it is tradition. Everyone who has grown up in the business knows the hard work that is involved. A lot

of the people come from smaller plants, and they take pride in what they're doing. A lot of it is the attitude of the cheesemaker. It’s the customers, too. Are they willing to pay a little higher price for a better-quality cheese?

We have great milk in Wisconsin. Cows are big animals. They don't like warm weather. We’ve always known that Wisconsin has cow-friendly weather. We have 30 days or 40 days of the year that are hot and then it's back to cooler weather again.

We also have access to great support staff in Wisconsin because we got so many companies here. From people who do stainless steel work to cultures and enzymes, whatever we need to make a great product we have access to in Wisconsin.

Another thing is our Center for Dairy Research and Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin. Their support for the cheesemakers keeps us improving on our craft. You can have all those things, but if you don't know how to put that recipe together, it's all for nothing. There's a lot of pieces to the puzzle of making great cheese.



"Personally, I would love to see a shift back to being more purist with medium and aged cheeses. With flavored cheeses, you're always chasing some new idea..."

What does your cheese say about who you are?I'm a stickler for details – at the plant and at a home. I like to have things neat and clean; floors clean, windows washed. I don't expect perfection, but I want pretty dang close to excellence.

What do you want people to say after they tasted your cheese? I would love them to say, "Wow! This is really good cheese. This is some of the best cheese I've ever eaten". We do a lot of flavored cheeses. Just like flavored alcohol has gotten to be big,

flavored cheeses have become a big thing. So I also want people to say, "Wow, what a great combination. The flavors just meld together so nicely. I would've never thought to put that flavor in cheese. I didn’t know you could do this.” Those are the kinds of things that I like to hear.

What is the future of cheese? Personally, I would like to see a shift back to being more purist with medium and aged cheeses. With flavored cheeses, you're always chasing some new idea. Every month,


it seems like we're trying to come up with the newest flavor of the day. It's exciting for a while, but it only lasts for so long, then it’s on to something else.

If you were a cheese, what cheese would you be?I've never had to think about this before. I'll go with my peppercorn cheddar—a little bit spicy, a little on the dry side. My kids always think I've got such dry humor. The cheese is just packed full of flavor, so you hope that people find you really interesting.

What’s your best piece of advice for that next generation of cheesemakers?Focus on the details. It's the little things that really matter. When you think you can let some of the little

things slide…you just can't. You have to bring focus and the desire to explore and expand what you know. Be willing to keep on improving on your art.

My son and my nephew are in business with us now, so we got them going as a fourth generation. We've got some good products here, and we win contests and awards. Sometimes it's tempting to go on cruise control, but you can never get caught up in that. You have to always be thinking about ways to do things better. Always be exploring.

To learn more about the Henning’s Family operations, go to henningscheese.com

henninhenningg’’sscheesecheese

Kiel


Ingredients List

STREUSEL TOPPING:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

6 ounces Henning's Blueberry Cobbler Heritage Cheddar cheese, shredded (1 1/2 cups)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons cold butter

Sweetened whipped cream

Instructions

Cheesemonger Tip

Heat oven to 350°F.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and cheddar until blended.

Combine the flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a medium bowl; gradually add to butter mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beating each addition until combined. Fold in blueberries.

Transfer batter to a greased 9-inch springform pan.

Combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until center is set and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes.

Carefully run a knife around edges of pan; remove sides of pan. Garnish with whipped cream.

Henning's Blueberry Cobbler Heritage Cheddar is a special blend of white cheddar cheese with blueberries. Try it also shredded in crepes or sliced on a brunch cheeseboard.

PG. 25RECIPE · · · · · · CHEDDAR-BLUEBERRY BUCKLE

STREUSEL TOPPING:

CHEESELANDIA GAZETTE · 2020-05-20 · What do you want people to say after they tasted your...

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