MONROE — Continuing the tradition of making a wheel of Emmentaler or Swiss Cheese, hand-stirred the old-fashioned way in a copper kettle by the Green County Courthouse in downtown Monroe gives several master cheesemakers a great sense of pride and joy.
“John Bussman, a cheesemaker from Warren, Illinois, was a great promoter of Cheese Days and started the cheesemaking demonstration in 1970,” said certified Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Jeff Wideman and owner of Maple Leaf Cheese. “It was his way of honoring his parents, who came from Switzerland, and sharing the art of cheesemaking.”
Bussman, who died in 2016 at age 92, was a third-generation cheesemaker who grew up in his father’s cheese factory between Gratiot and South Wayne. He began washing cheese kettles when he was 11 years old. In 1938, the family moved to the Opie Cheese Factory near Gratiot before settling in Warren, Illinois, near the Wisconsin border. Bussman worked nearly 80 years lifting blocks and wheels of cheese.
Today from noon until 4 p.m., the Old-World Cheesemaking Demonstration will take place north of the Green County Courthouse in Monroe. The public is welcome to watch and learn as members of the Foreign Type Cheesemakers Association and other cheesemakers make a 200-pound wheel of Emmentaler or Swiss Cheese the old-fashioned way in a “better be shining” copper kettle.
An era that was, that will never be again.John Bussman, Master Cheesemaker 1924-2016
“Visitors can take a turn stirring with a Swiss harp and ask questions about the cheesemaking process,” said Gary Grossen, who is a Master Cheesemaker at the Babcock Hall Dairy Plant.
Emmentaler is pale yellow and riddled with distinctive holes, or ‘eyes.’ It has a hard, thin rind. The aroma is sweet, and its flavor is nutty and somewhat buttery, with a slightly fruity, acidic tone.
Several years ago, Master Cheesemakers Grossen and Wideman added a cheese-grading component to the demonstration.
“After the cheese is ‘hooped,’ we will ‘plug’ a block of cheese and demonstrate the grading and judging process using the criteria of the USA and World Championship Cheese Competitions,” Grossen said.
He and his wife Corie served as 2008 King and Queen of Green County Cheese Days and Grossen worked alongside Bussman during the Cheese Days demonstration since the 1980s.
“As cheesemakers, we will always remember the sight and smell of Swiss cheese in a dimly-lit cheese cellar or the ‘thump’ of a cheese trier handle on the hard rind of a well-cured wheel of Emmentaler,” Grossen said, quoting from a book he once read.
Grossen grew up making cheese with his parents at Prairie Hill Cheese Factory in Green County. He is a Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker with certifications in brick, muenster, cheddar, havarti and gouda.
Special guest will join during this year’s demo
MONROE — On Saturday, two of Jeff Wideman’s cheesemaking friends will join in during the cheesemaking demonstration including Jeff Jirik, who made blue cheese at The Caves of Faribault in Faribault, Minnesota.
In the 1970s, Jirik worked at the Treasure Cave, Inc., which was eventually sold and the plant closed. Jirik moved to Wausau and worked as a cheese grader for Pauly Cheese.
He often thought about reopening the caves and making blue cheese.
“That dream became a reality,” Wideman said. “He started making blue cheese at The Caves of Faribault. Then he sold the factory to Swiss Valley Farms and continues to work for them in research and development.”
Traveling from New Hampshire, Peter Kress also will join in the cheesemaking demonstration. Kress, with the help of his wife and three children, began the State of Maine Cheese Company in 1983 and made a variety of cheeses and bottled milk for many years.
“When he was establishing the factory, Peter had no one to talk to about the cheesemaking process,” Wideman said. “He came to Wisconsin to attend classes at the University of Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research and we became friends when he would call with cheesemaking questions.”
Kress is retired from the cheese industry, lives near New Boston, New Hampshire, and “is excited as ever to attend Green County Cheese Days 2018.”
Grossen has earned awards and recognition through the years, including the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association Vanguard Award, which recognizes cheesemakers or cheese manufacturing employees whose work has helped to blaze trails in dairy operations. This week, he was recognized with the Big Cheese Award from the Foreign Type Cheesemakers Association for his dedication and work in the dairy industry and continuing the education of others in the art of cheesemaking.
In 2013, Grossen said Bussman donated the ‘factory’ and equipment to “ensure that the legacy of cheesemaking was shared for generations to come.”
Grossen recalled words from Bussman: “In all my years, I have never gotten over the impression that a miracle occurs when cheese is made.”
Grossen has also received numerous awards from world and U.S. Cheesemaking contests, and is a member and served on the Foreign Type Cheesemakers Association board of directors for 35 years as president and treasurer. He is a member of the Southwestern Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association, the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association and a member of the National Historic Cheesemaking Center.
Wideman has earned numerous awards and recognition including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association. He has served on the board of directors since the late 1980s in six-year increments spanning five decades. He is past president of the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association. He assisted in writing the charter for the Wisconsin Specialty Cheese Institute. Wideman has been a judge for many cheese competitions in Europe, including Spain and Switzerland and other places around the world.
He also is proud that Maple Leaf’s English Hollow Cheddar was selected as a World Champion Cheese two times, one in 2008 and 2018.
“Out of 3,400 entries from around the world, it placed in the top 20,” Wideman said. “It is a cheddar that I created after traveling to Holland in 1993.”
Wideman grew up on a dairy farm on Carter Road, previously English Hollow Road, and went to work for the dairy cooperative where his parents were farmer patrons. It was there that he learned the art of cheesemaking from Swiss cheesemakers Han and Sep Jaeggi. Wideman’s Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker certifications are for Monterey jack and cheddar cheeses.
The purpose of the Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Program is three-fold: to provide a formal sequence of courses that leads to the title of Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker; to add value to cheese because it was made by a ‘Master Cheesemaker,’ like those of European tradition; and to equip Wisconsin cheesemakers with the knowledge and skills to be competitive in the marketplace both nationally and internationally.
The program takes two years and eight months from the time cheesemakers are accepted into the program until they graduate.
An apprentice must have at least 10 years of experience before applying. As the only program of its kind outside of Europe, it ensures that the old-world standards of quality and craftsmanship continue to produce the finest cheeses in Wisconsin.
“The Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker program represents the highest achievement that we, as cheesemakers, can attain,” Wideman said. “It is not an easy path through the Master Cheesemaker Program. It is clean and pure.”
Maple Leaf Cheese Master Cheesemakers Wideman, Paul Reigle and staff create more than 30 varieties of award-winning cheeses including cheddar, colby, edam, Monterey jack, pepper jack and a yogurt cheese.
In all my years, I have never gotten over the impression that a miracle occurs when cheese is made.Gary Grossen, Master Cheesemaker at the Babcock Hall Dairy Plant, recalling words from John Bussman
“And as far as the cheesemaking demonstration during Cheese Days; until we can no longer do it, it will happen,” Wideman said proudly.
Another third-generation Green County Master Cheesemaker Steve Stettler, who is the cheesemaker and co-op manager for Decatur Swiss in Brodhead, said he was honored to be president of the Foreign Type Cheesemakers Association when Bussman’s family said that they could use the factory and the equipment. He was also asked by John to be a part of setting up the factory and helping with Cheese Days.
“Gary and Jeff were instrumental in working with the Bussman family to give us permanent use of John’s prized belongings,” Stettler said. “Cheesemaking during Cheese Days was an honor for John Bussman, and his joy of entertaining and educating the public. Dan Kaiser was John’s right-hand man and helped him build the factory and he is still instrumental in helping set up the factory and making sure it is done exactly the way it was designed.”
To learn more about the art, tradition and history of making cheese, visit the National Historic Cheesemaking Center and Museum in Monroe, 2108 6th Avenue, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
