By Peg Todloski, Weaver Street Market Specialty Merchandiser
Through our Special Delivery program, we bring in small-batch, artisan cheeses a couple of times a month. We bring in a limited amount of these amazing cheeses and sell them at a crazy-good price. When they’re gone, they’re gone, but not to worry, there’ll be something else on the way. Be sure to stop by our cheese counters to find out what Special Delivery we’ve received lately.
This week’s Special Delivery cheese is from Uplands Cheese Company in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. Southern Wisconsin has a deep reservoir of cheese-making knowledge, much of which has been passed down from the alpine cheesemakers who have emigrated there over the past two hundred years. In 2000, Mike Gingriche and Dan Patenaude began working with local cheesemakers to develop their own version of these ancient alpine recipes. Today Uplands Cheese Company’s approach to making Pleasant Ridge Reserve is very traditional in the sense that they only use fresh, raw, grass-fed summer milk in the cheese-making process.
This week’s featured cheese is Pleasant Ridge Reserve, named after the land formation on which Uplands Cheese Company’s farm sits. It is made in the tradition of alpine cheeses like gruyere and Beaufort. Only made from May through October when the cows are eating fresh pasture, and then aged a minimum of 60 days, this grass-fed, raw-milk cheese has a unique flavor and texture all its own.
This particular shipment is aged over 12 months and has wonderfully expressive flavors. Savory notes intermingle with mushrooms, sweet cream, and touch of fruitiness. Pleasant Ridge Reserve has won the Best in Show award at the American Cheese Society’s annual judging and competition THREE times, something no other cheese has done before.
We only received five wheels for our three stores, so don’t wait too long, pick up a piece of this amazing cheese before it’s all gone!