One of sources I will be using for my Wisconsin Cheese Industry research is an article that called “Wisconsin Cheeses”. I found this interesting source from our McIntyre library website. I choose this source because this source explain modern cheese industry in Wisconsin. I have been researching mostly about the history of the Cheese industry in Wisconsin. But this source is more about cheese industry now a days. This sources explain why Wisconsin is known for cheese and how Wisconsin is related to cheese.

This source is published on Gourmet Retailer magazine with unknown author in 2003. This sources is written for the reader of Gourmet Retailer magazine or anyone who is interested in Cheese or Wisconsin. The purpose for writing this is to explain audience that how Wisconsin is related to cheese and what do people do for their cheese to become famous. Author creates more distance between him/her and the audience by using formal words and you or he/she.  Moreover, author creates ethos by giving the audience some real facts and explaining some events that are happened at the past.

Wisconsin has many virtues such as the nice people, the Dells, great beauty of the nature. But most people in minds, Wisconsin is synonymous with cheese. It is because Wisconsin is the largest and greatest cheese producing state in the US and it is the world’s fifth largest cheese producing region as well. Wisconsin cheese even win award at global competitions. Over the past decade, Wisconsin got the most of award at the World Championship Cheese Contest.  They also steadily win top honors at the annual American Cheese Society Conference in a many kinds of categories. Wisconsin does not win only for the testament to the quality and flavor of cheeses but it might also be their effective merchandising tools. Wisconsin cheese makers even have a slogan for display which is ‘Judge for Yourself’.  Also, Wisconsin is the first state to require that cheese makers to be licensed and the only one to implement a master cheese maker certification program. This program is only for the people with at least 10 years’ experience as licensed cheese makers.  Lastly, most people do not know about this but there is a seasonal nature of cheese sales. People buy cheeses all year around but at holiday time, people can get great opportunities with cheese sales. For example, Italian style cheese for Columbus Day and almost anything American for the fourth of July.  

After I reading this source, I can understand why Wisconsin is so famous for Cheese around the world even though I think that Wisconsin is not a good place for dairying because it has a very long winter. I did not know that Wisconsin this the fifth largest cheese producing region in the world. I did not know Wisconsin cheese is famous all around the world either. But I learned that how much Wisconsin cheese makers are putting their efforts on their cheese. Wisconsin cheese makers are trying really hard not only on caring about the tastes or quality of cheese, but also caring about the displaying and doing the decorations as well. In addition, I was really impressed that Wisconsin require that cheese makers to be licensed. This and its master cheese maker certification program can be good reasons to answer why Wisconsin cheese is popular. They do not let anyone to produce cheese in Wisconsin. They want cheese makers to be educated to make the best cheese.  I am so glad I found really interesting and informative source.

I finally started to research about real Cheese industry in Wisconsin and I found an interesting article which is named “Cheese making in Wisconsin” about beginning Wisconsin cheese industry. I choose this source to use because this source is really informative for my topic and it also cover some of my questions. I thought this would be really helpful to use because it helps me to gain knowledge about Wisconsin Cheese industry before I go further in detail stories or processes.

I  found this article at Wisconsin Historical Society website. This article is written by Bobbie Malone who is a former director of the Office of School Services at the Wisconsin Historical Society. Malone is addressing this to the people who are historian or anyone who are interested in local history or agriculture. The purpose for writing this is to inform us about how the cheese industry has started after wheat farming in Wisconsin. In ‘cheese making in Wisconsin’, Malone has invented her ethos with her audience because she showed all her works by giving real facts and accurate names and years in her article. By her doing this, she could be a reliable writer and get trusts from her audience. 

In “Cheese making in Wisconsin”, most of dairy operations in Wisconsin had to choose making cheese because they did not have enough storages and transportation was limited at that time. Charles Rockwell was one of the state’s earliest cheese makers, starting at Koshkonong, Wisconsin in 1837. Also, Anne Pickett established State’s first cottage industry cheese factory renting milk from her neighbors. In 1841. When they realized that cheese making was expanding throughout the state and many people tried to make cheese, resulting in inconsistent taste and quality and low local demand in cheese, they wanted to specialize their Wisconsin Cheese and decided to educate farmers about important things of making cheese. Experts educated famers the importance of temperature and the value of proper storage. Afterwards, J.I. Smith got the state’s first cheese vat and became the first cheese maker to market outside of the state, shipping to Chicago in 1858. And Babcock invented butterfat test which helps to develop the quality of the milk.  At that time, demand for local dairy products increased and people started moving out of the farmstead and into the factory. Beginning of the cheese industry in Wisconsin, most of early cheese factory men were from New Yorkers and they brought their skills and talents with them to Wisconsin. Moreover, state’s immigrants also brought their traditions with them. For example, Italians brought mozzarella and gorgonzola, French brought Camembert and some blue cheeses, and Germans brought Muenster and limburger. Wisconsin cheese makers also developed their original cheese like Brick and Colby. In 1860s there were about 30 cheese factories in state, the number has increased to 54 in 1870. Leaders in the cheese industry started planning into professional organization to develop their product in the 1870s. Among the organization, Wisconsin Dairyman’s Association is the most famous organization in Wisconsin. Later in 1920s’ the number of cheese factories have grown up to over 2800 and Wisconsin became the first state to grade its cheese for quality in 1921.

I was really satisfied after reading this source because I got so much information I was looking for. I learned who and when stated cheese industry in Wisconsin, some information about how Wisconsin became famous state for cheese, and who did what for specializing Wisconsin cheese.  I think this was good starting source before I dive into more detail cheese making process or any other detail materials. But, I still want to know if Wisconsin cheese makers have any special processes in making cheese or any differences compared to other area cheeses. Now, I would like to try to find specific stories or detail about making cheese in Wisconsin.