Farmers' Markets of the Heartland

WISCONSIN

Wisconsin By the time our journey leads us to Wisconsin, it is clear that the Midwest has a dynamic local food scene, despite the challenges facing small farms. Every farmers’ market has vegetables and fruits; bakeries; often meat, poultry, and eggs; and sometimes locally roasted coffee—each market with its own story and distinctive collection of boosters and curmudgeons. Wisconsin’s distinction is having cheese, and lots of it. The state has more than 1.2 million dairy cows, many of them in small herds grazing on the rolling pasture. More than 90 percent of Wisconsin milk is made into cheese. A lot of it goes on hamburgers at fast food joints, but the specialty cheeses have captured the attention of food enthusiasts around the world. 204 wisconsin Wisconsin Cheese by the Numbers 1.265 million dairy cows 1,185 licensed cheesemakers 51 master cheesemakers 600+ varieties, types, and styles of cheese 98 ribbons at the American Cheese Society competition in 2010, attended by 225 companies in 34 states, plus Canada and Mexico Dane County Farmers’ Market Since 1972 300+ vendors Wednesdays and Saturdays, April through November Capitol Square, downtown Madison The striking white capitol dome reigns over the weekly Dane County Farmers’ Market, widely considered the best market in the nation, and not only for its dramatic presence. The diversity of vendors—cheese, meat, baked goods, doughnuts, copious varieties of apples—is breathtaking , and it is the only market where I found a vendor selling hickory nuts. Many vendors are vegetable growers whose names are frequently flagged on restaurant menus. It is no wonder the market can boast up to twenty-five thousand shoppers on any given Saturday, and twice that many on special event days. Shoppers stroll counterclockwise; don’t try to buck tradition by walking in the opposite direction—you’ll end up like a salmon swimming upstream. Best to cross the street, double back, and cross back into the market stream. The Dane County Farmers’ Market hosts a good halfdozen or more artisan cheesemakers, making it a perfect place for a do-it-yourself cheese tour showcasing Wisconsin artisans. wisconsin   205 There is Willi Lehner of Bleu Mont, whose bandaged cheddar was lauded by the Wine Spectator as one of the hundred best cheeses in the world. Lehner is a firstgeneration American, son of Swiss immigrants who came to Wisconsin in the 1950s with cheesemaking experience and dreams. Lehner buys milk from Mike Gingrich of Uplands Cheese Company. And although Lehner’s cheese is sought-after everywhere, it is his cave that is the envy of his fellow cheesemakers. While I was visiting various cheesemakers in the area, the first question was “Did you see Willi’s cave?” It is a half-round structure made with narrow I-beams and rebar, then buried under six feet of soil. It creates the perfect temperature and does not require heating, cooling, or humidity control. The climate is perfect for aging bandaged cheddar, cheese wrapped in a muslin cloth to age. When the cheese is ready, Lehner peels the “bandage” and tosses it in the compost. His bandaged cheddar and Alpine Renegade cheeses have created substantial buzz among cheese devotees. Head down the square and meet Brenda Jensen of Hidden Springs Creamery, a sheep’s milk cheese operation with more than three hundred milking ewes. Jensen Willi Lehner of Bleu Mont Farmstead cheese: cheese made on the farm where the animal is milked. Artisan cheese: small-batch, hand-crafted cheese, often with proprietary custom recipes. 206 wisconsin supplements her supply with cow’s milk from her Amish neighbors to make Meadow Melody, her first mixed-milk cheese. The Driftless region of Wisconsin—the hilly portion of the state not scraped flat by glaciation—is where Brenda Jensen makes her cheese. She farms with draft horses Chief and Beauty.  And I am sure to stop by Fantome. A grande dame of goat cheese, Anne Topham, is widely considered to be one of the leading goat-cheese makers in the country. The Dane County Market is her bread and butter, and she is here almost every week. If I have not spent my cheese allowance yet, I will stop by Hook’s, Brunkow (for its Avondale Truckle), or Forgotten Valley—up to a dozen Wisconsin cheeses in all at the market. And across Carroll Sreet is Fromagination, a cheese emporium with more than forty Wisconsin cheeses, where sampling is...