Cheddar: Classic & Contemporary

Most of the cheese produced in Wisconsin is Cheddar, and Wisconsin produces the most Cheddar in the nation. When young, Cheddar has a mild & creamy taste, which gets sharper as it ages. Cheddar is labeled as Sharp at 9 months, and can be aged up to 10 or even 20 years. 

Cheddar is naturally a creamy white in color. Yellow Cheddar is the result of a marketing ploy in England in the 1700's. Cheesemakers at the time noticed that cheese made from milk in the spring when the cows were eating fresh grass was a more golden-white and more highly prized than the purer white it became later in the year when the cows were fed dry hay. In an effort to match that color, they started to add a tasteless vegetable dye called annatto, ultimately adding so much as to get to the golden-orange color we know today.

Colby: A Wisconsin Original

Colby cheese is a milder, softer, and moister form of Cheddar. It was invented by Joseph F Steinwand in 1885 and is named after the township of Colby, Wisconsin, where his father Ambrose had built the first cheese factory in Clark County. The town itself was named after Gardner Colby, whose company built the Wisconsin & Central railroad through the area. Colby became popular throughout the area, and eventually throughout the state. An 1898 issue of the "Colby Phonograph" noted that "A merchant in Phillips gives as one of the 13 reasons why people should trade with him, that he sells the genuine Steinwand Colby Cheese." Marble Colby, also known as Tiger Cheese or Co-Jack® was also invented in Wisconsin and is a blend of Colby & Monterey Jack cheeses.

Monterey Jack

It has long been claimed, on the other hand, that Monterey Jack, a semi-hard white cheese, was invented in Monterey, California. In reality, it is a derivative of a Portuguese cheese brought over by Franciscan friars in the 1800s by way of Mexico. The name “Jack” derives from either the vice-like cheese “jack” that was used to press the cheese, the fact that it was a man named David Jacks who first mass-marketed the cheese in the early 1900’s , or a combination of the two. Much like the current national ad campaign about California’s “Happy Cows”, it seems that the only real California connection to Monterey Jack cheese is the ability to market claims effectively---if not accurately…in any event everyone knows Wisconsin Jack cheese is superior.