By Austin Coe Butler
When it comes to cheese, Minnesota is often outshined by the bright, milky star of its neighbor, Wisconsin. There’s a reason Wisconsin is called “America’s Dairyland” after all, with its storied history of dairying and cheesemaking powered by the “Wisconsin Idea,” massively influential milk and cheese lobbies, and a rigorous Master Cheesemaker program. It’s one of the few states you can make a decent living making cheese. But Minnesota has its own remarkable history of cheesemaking, and today many incredible local cheesemakers are producing some of the best and most innovative cheeses in the country.
For instance, did you know that America’s first blue cheese was made here in Minnesota nearly two-hundred years ago? The greater St. Paul area was once known as the Blue Cheese Capital of America. When the St. Peter’s Sandstone was glaciated thousands of years ago, intricate limestone caves were formed. Being porous, limestone is ideal for aging cheeses, and there’s a reason why the legendary ewe’s milk blue cheese Roquefort originated in the ancient limestone caverns of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. These caves are stilled used today by the Caves of Faribault.
Joe Sherman cut his cheesemaking teeth in those very same caves when he was 19 back in the 1980s. In 2005, he founded Northern Lights in Plato, Minn., about 50 miles west of the Twin Cities. Joe only makes 100 wheel batches of his Northern Lights Blue from fresh, unpasteurized milk from a local herd of cows that grazes on pasture year round. Its bright, peppery, and salty flavor and crumbly yet creamy texture are the hallmarks of a classic American blue cheese that is right at home in blue cheese dressing, on a steak, or by itself.
Redhead Creamery in Brooten makes the petite American brie Little Lucy and spicy Red Temper Cheddar, which you may have see at the State Fair with a ribbon pinned to it. The Little Lucys are perfect for a twosome or a picnic with their creamy, lemony brightness that’s a bit more mellow than your French bries. Redhead Creamery just won an award from the Dairy Business Innovation Alliance (DBIA) for their venture to get artisan cheesemakers into the artisan alcohol market by making fermented whey beverages more accessible to smaller producers.
Alemar Cheese, founded by Kieth Adams here in Minneapolis in 2008, immediately gained acclaim for their first cheese, the Camembert-style Bent River (which you’ll find in our case as the smaller Boom Island.) Their washed-rind Good Thunder is funky, fudgy, and barn-yardy in all the right ways. Alemar Cheese now operates out of the Food Building in NE Minneapolis. Apricity, their newest cheese, is a bright, lactic-set cheese that immediately became a staff favorite with its tangy flavor and mousse-like texture. Charlotte Serino, the head cheesemaker, has been making some big waves on the national stage with her cheeses!
And of course there’s Shepherd’s Way in Nerstrand, run by Stephen and Jodi Ohlsen Read. We currently have their aged sheep’s milk tomme Friesago, which will transport you to the Tuscan countryside, the decadent, brie-like Hidden Falls, and Big Woods Blue.
We’ll be celebrating Minnesota cheese and cheesemakers all weekend long, so stop by the shop to try some home-state heroes!