MONROE - Green County now can boast not only of having the most certified Master Cheesemakers (10) in the state, but also of having the Master Cheesemaker with the most certificates.
Master Cheesemaker Bruce Workman, owner of Edelweiss Creamery near Monticello, was awarded his sixth and seventh certificates, for Emmenthaler and a low-fat, low-sodium Special Lacy Swiss, Thursday at the International Cheese Technology Exposition at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.
Workman also holds master certificates for Gruyere, baby Swiss, Butterkase, Havarti and Raclette. And he said he's not done yet.
"You can never learn enough," Workman said.
He plans to return this fall for a fifth time to the Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker® program for certification in brick and Muenster.
"You have to be diverse, or you're never going to survive," Workman said.
Wisconsin cheesemakers are "top dog" in the country, and it benefits the state to be up on top, Workman said.
He credits the Master Cheesemaker training program, the only Master program outside of Europe, for helping make that happen. Begun in 1994, Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker is administered from the Center for Dairy Research located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is funded by the Wisconsin dairy farmers represented by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
"It's knowledge that keeps us ahead of everybody," Workman said.
Participants in the program must be licensed cheesemakers with at least 10 years experience in a plant which participates in the Quality Assurance Program.
In addition to that, they must have made the cheese variety for which they seek certification for at least five years.
Workman already is well-known as the only North American maker of the traditional 180-pound Big Wheel Emmenthaler Swiss.
His master status for the cheese variety can be designated on its label, something customers look for, as an added value in marketing, Workman said.
His Emmenthaler Old World recipe uses raw milk cooked in a copper kettle that he imported from Switzerland, along with an entire Swiss cheese plant.
Edelweiss Creamery is outfitted with the latest in modern technological equipment to manufacture its cheeses, but Workman does not let it "run the plant." There needs to be constant sampling.
"Manufacturing uses the equipment, but the computer does not run the program," he said. "It's better to make good quality than to grow too big and not have control."
Workman also is particular about the milk that goes into his cheeses. Edelweiss Graziers Co-op, formed in 2006, now has five rotation grazing dairy farmers. Milk from the different farms is never mixed, never pasteurized and is rBGH-free.
Pasteurization produces "flat milk" that is used in mass-production cheese plants, he said.
Rotation grazing creates a milk supply that is higher in fats and proteins, natural vitamins, minerals and Omega-3s, Workman said.
The Gouda and cheddar have a richer, creamier-color.
"It's gold," he said. And the white cheddar is a real cream color.
"You can taste the grasses," he said. "That's how cheese was traditionally made."
Achieving Master status is tough, but attainable.
"Most worked from the floor up," Workman said about cheesemakers.
For lack of jobs for a junior high boy in a small village, he began working in a small cheese factory on the north side of Monticello before and after school. He said he would pack cheese in the morning and come in after school to wash forms before returning for sports practices.
He took his first course to be licensed in cheesemaking in 1972. Wisconsin was the first state to require a licensed cheesemaker in each plant to oversee every pound of cheese made in the state.
In the Master Program, besides taking such courses as dairy chemistry, cheese technology and water and waste management, accepted participants are tested on the quality and consistency of their cheeses and their plants are audited. All the while, they are still making cheese.
The final test is 16 pages of questions and every answer has to be referenced from books studied. How many pages of answers did that create?
"I type smaller," Workman said.
Workman said his second, third and fourth times through the program were not as tough. With the required courses already completed, he had only to take the elective classes for his variety of cheeses.
But he would like to start a new generation in the time-honored tradition.
"If I could find a kid who really had the heart to make cheese, and doesn't want to go to college," he said.
Although he regrets not going to technical school for some business courses, Workman said high school math, to understand weighs yields and tables, and biology to understand bacterial cultures, is enough to get started in cheesemaking.
"Basic high school chemistry would get you through," he said. "If I could find some kid, it's be worth the effort."
Master Cheesemaker Bruce Workman, owner of Edelweiss Creamery near Monticello, was awarded his sixth and seventh certificates, for Emmenthaler and a low-fat, low-sodium Special Lacy Swiss, Thursday at the International Cheese Technology Exposition at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.
Workman also holds master certificates for Gruyere, baby Swiss, Butterkase, Havarti and Raclette. And he said he's not done yet.
"You can never learn enough," Workman said.
He plans to return this fall for a fifth time to the Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker® program for certification in brick and Muenster.
"You have to be diverse, or you're never going to survive," Workman said.
Wisconsin cheesemakers are "top dog" in the country, and it benefits the state to be up on top, Workman said.
He credits the Master Cheesemaker training program, the only Master program outside of Europe, for helping make that happen. Begun in 1994, Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker is administered from the Center for Dairy Research located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is funded by the Wisconsin dairy farmers represented by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
"It's knowledge that keeps us ahead of everybody," Workman said.
Participants in the program must be licensed cheesemakers with at least 10 years experience in a plant which participates in the Quality Assurance Program.
In addition to that, they must have made the cheese variety for which they seek certification for at least five years.
Workman already is well-known as the only North American maker of the traditional 180-pound Big Wheel Emmenthaler Swiss.
His master status for the cheese variety can be designated on its label, something customers look for, as an added value in marketing, Workman said.
His Emmenthaler Old World recipe uses raw milk cooked in a copper kettle that he imported from Switzerland, along with an entire Swiss cheese plant.
Edelweiss Creamery is outfitted with the latest in modern technological equipment to manufacture its cheeses, but Workman does not let it "run the plant." There needs to be constant sampling.
"Manufacturing uses the equipment, but the computer does not run the program," he said. "It's better to make good quality than to grow too big and not have control."
Workman also is particular about the milk that goes into his cheeses. Edelweiss Graziers Co-op, formed in 2006, now has five rotation grazing dairy farmers. Milk from the different farms is never mixed, never pasteurized and is rBGH-free.
Pasteurization produces "flat milk" that is used in mass-production cheese plants, he said.
Rotation grazing creates a milk supply that is higher in fats and proteins, natural vitamins, minerals and Omega-3s, Workman said.
The Gouda and cheddar have a richer, creamier-color.
"It's gold," he said. And the white cheddar is a real cream color.
"You can taste the grasses," he said. "That's how cheese was traditionally made."
Achieving Master status is tough, but attainable.
"Most worked from the floor up," Workman said about cheesemakers.
For lack of jobs for a junior high boy in a small village, he began working in a small cheese factory on the north side of Monticello before and after school. He said he would pack cheese in the morning and come in after school to wash forms before returning for sports practices.
He took his first course to be licensed in cheesemaking in 1972. Wisconsin was the first state to require a licensed cheesemaker in each plant to oversee every pound of cheese made in the state.
In the Master Program, besides taking such courses as dairy chemistry, cheese technology and water and waste management, accepted participants are tested on the quality and consistency of their cheeses and their plants are audited. All the while, they are still making cheese.
The final test is 16 pages of questions and every answer has to be referenced from books studied. How many pages of answers did that create?
"I type smaller," Workman said.
Workman said his second, third and fourth times through the program were not as tough. With the required courses already completed, he had only to take the elective classes for his variety of cheeses.
But he would like to start a new generation in the time-honored tradition.
"If I could find a kid who really had the heart to make cheese, and doesn't want to go to college," he said.
Although he regrets not going to technical school for some business courses, Workman said high school math, to understand weighs yields and tables, and biology to understand bacterial cultures, is enough to get started in cheesemaking.
"Basic high school chemistry would get you through," he said. "If I could find some kid, it's be worth the effort."