Wisconsin Foodie

– Luke Zahm: This week on Wisconsin Foodie: - Corey Geiger: Welcome to the historic Hoard's Dairyman Farm in Fort Atkinson.

– Luke: This place is kind of ground zero for dairy innovation as far as the state of Wisconsin's concerned.

- It is.

W.D.

Hoard was the father of America's dairy industry and definitely Wisconsin's dairy industry.

And it really all started here at the Hoard's Dairyman Farm and at our publishing plant, as the magazine that he founded in 1885 ended up going to over a hundred countries around the globe by 1900.

– Luke: So right now, I'm at Union Star's Willow Creek Creamery in Berlin, Wisconsin, and what we're about to do is take this milk from Hoard's Dairy in Fort Atkinson.

It's been cut into large curds, and I'm gonna take this stainless-steel bucket here and basically scoop the curds, let the whey fall out, and then pour them into these molds.

This, for me, is so cool.

I love these soft cheeses, this camembert style, something that has a lot of nuance.

Seeing how this is made is a dream come true.

Oh, man, look at this.

[Corey whistles] Yeah!

– Dan Harrell: There we are.

- Ooh, talk us through.

– Dan: Yeah, so we got the St. Savior.

All I did was take the little top off so that way it would present itself, and we wrapped it in a little purse of some puff pastry.

Maybe one of you guys pull each end of that, watch it all goo out on the plate.

– Luke: Ooh, oh, my gosh.

Seriously.

That's sinful.

Like, there should be a law against that.

[laughs] Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheering] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- I'm going out to pasture with the cows this morning.

– Announcer: At Organic Valley, we're on a mission to save small family farms.

– Farmer: Tasting pretty good?

– Announcer: And you can join us.

– Farmer: [laughs] Girlfriend's on a mission.

– Announcer: Organic Valley.

- Twenty-minute commutes.

Weekends on the lake.

Warm welcomes and exciting career opportunities.

Not to mention all the great food.

There's a lot to look forward to in Wisconsin.

Learn more at InWisconsin.com.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, come visit "Swiss"consin and see where your beer's made.

- Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit dnr.wi.gov.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site, high-quality butchering and packaging, the Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.

– Luke: Additional support from the following underwriters.

[relaxing music] Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

[upbeat music] - We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.

We are a merging of cultures and ideas, shaped by this land.

[sizzling] We are a gathering of the waters, and together, we shape a new identity to carry us into the future.

[glasses clinking] We are storytellers.

We are Wisconsin Foodie.

Today's journey takes us to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.

Home of Hoard's Dairyman.

Started in 1870, Hoard's has served as a bible of sorts for the dairy industry, influencing countless generations of dairy farmers across the planet.

Today, we meet with managing editor, Corey Geiger, as he walks us through the farm, the process, the magazine, and of course, the cheese.

Good morning, I'm Luke.

- Hi, Luke; Corey Geiger.

Welcome to the historic Hoard's Dairyman Farm in Fort Atkinson.

– Luke: This place is kind of ground zero for dairy innovation as far as the state of Wisconsin's concerned.

– Corey: It is.

W.D.

Hoard was the father of America's dairy industry and definitely Wisconsin's dairy industry.

And it really all started here at the Hoard's Dairyman Farm and at our publishing plant, as the magazine that he founded in 1885 ended up going to over a hundred countries around the globe by 1900.

– Luke: Well, I've actually used Hoard's cheese.

I know the magazine publication.

Does all of that all happen right here?

– Corey: Fort Atkinson is the epicenter for Hoard's, the W.D.

Hoard & Sons Company dating all the way back to 1870, but this farm has evolved and changed just like Wisconsin's dairy industry.

And today, we even milk with robots.

– Luke: I wanna see the changes, the innovation, how it's all come to be because I think this is an unusual historical perspective that people really need to experience.

This is an impressive facility.

- Well, thank you.

We built it a few years ago.

It's really the next generation of dairy farming here.

It houses our automated milking system, and we got room for about 300 cows in here.

– Luke: I love the scrubber brushes.

I mean, this is kind of like a modern day spa for the animals.

Can you talk me through some of the things that I'm actually looking at and seeing that have improved the lives of the animals and have made better milk?

– Corey: Well, we have curtain sidewalls here that are electronically controlled based on the temperature.

They're wide open 'cause we're in the summer.

And then we have a series of 24 fans through here, moving air at 15, about 15 miles an hour.

We have sand in our free stalls here.

Great comfort for cows, and all the way back to Hoard, we talked about comfort for over a century.

And then you'll see the cows have transponders on 'em.

– Luke: Is that what that bling is?

– Corey: Yep, that's the bling bling hanging under their chins there.

And we're collecting data on 'em.

We're learning if they're moving around, if they're healthy, if we need to have a little attention.

But that transponder also interacts with the robots here, the automated milking systems that we have, and we have four of those boxes.

And that's how we are milking our cows today and collecting high-quality milk to make St. Saviour and the other cheese varieties for Hoard's Dairyman Farm Creamery.

- In my mind's eye, I'm thinking, like, robot milker.

I guess I'll wait for you to show me.

– Corey: Well, let's go look at it 'cause it's quite mind-boggling.

– Luke: All right, that's great.

- Well, we're in the epicenter of milking the Hoard's Dairyman Farm Guernseys here, and this is our automated milking center.

Some people would call it a robot center, but we got four stalls here and the cows come and go as they please and get milked.

So this cow just came into the automated milking system, and right now, there's one teat cup that's going through.

And first, we're starting with applying teat dip, and then that individual cup is going through and sanitizing the teat ends 'cause that's where obviously the milk comes through.

And at that point, the robot will then take one individual cup and put it on each of the four teat quarters, and that begins the milking process here.

That takes between five and seven minutes for an average cow.

– Luke: And so the animals, they walk up by themselves.

How do they know that they're ready to be milked?

– Corey: Yeah, this would be kind of called, some people would call it free flow, but, well, when a cow gets a little pressure in the udder, they know that it's time, and then, you know what?

We gotta have a little carrot for 'em too.

So each of the cows, with those transponders that we talked about earlier.

So the robot knows who they are, and they each get a little sweet treat, which is another enticement here, but it's a little bit of cow nature and some carrots in the form of grain.

– Luke: Sure; even how the robot puts the cups on back to front, like, there's no guesswork.

It's all very, very methodical.

– Corey: Very methodical.

But that very first moment, that first milking for a cow, that robot has to learn 'cause it's remembering the teat coordinates and everything.

So we know that 3391 just came in here and that robot says, "Oh, I have a pretty good idea where her teats are on the udder," and it just goes to work right there.

- That's incredible.

Are more and more dairies transitioning to this?

– Corey: I would give a loose estimate that probably 5% of Wisconsin's cows are milked by robots.

We all know what the labor market says, and it takes a lot of hands to run a farm.

Hoard talked about that in the 1880s, and now it needs more hands.

So, we gotta have this delicate balance of adding some technology and working together with our families and our employees on our farms.

So it's just a part of that journey.

[groovy music] - I'm Brian Knox.

I'm the president of Hoard's Dairyman.

I'm the fifth president.

Hoard's Dairyman is a publication that was started, was spun off of a weekly newspaper in 1885.

It's sort of the bible of the dairy industry.

The original W.D.

Hoard in 18, I believe it was '88, he got elected governor as the "Cow Candidate," and he would travel throughout the Midwest, giving speeches on why you should go into dairying, et cetera.

He fought against things like filled cheese and watered milk and all those things that were bad for it.

And my gosh, you should pasteurize your product.

And basically, pure food was what he was campaigning for.

I always had a love of cows.

I, once I turned 16, I ended milking for my brother-in-law.

All of my kids, as they grew up, at a certain age, they had to go work at the Hoard Farm and learn how to milk.

I didn't expect any of them to come back.

My daughter Paris was the middle child.

She actually was an apprentice cheesemaker at the Center for Dairy Research before she met this guy and moved to Des Moines.

So she sells cheese for us out there.

Brian came back after going to University of Wisconsin-Madison, and I put him in charge of circulation for the newspapers 'cause that was actually my background, circulation for The Dairyman and then the newspapers and whatever, and he did a very nice job, but he didn't really want us to be in newspapers.

So it was sort of like, "Well, can you do cheese?"

"Sure," you know, and it's turned out to be quite well.

This is the St. Saviour.

It's made like the camembert.

It won the bronze medal at the World Cheese Contest in Spain and the silver medal at the English one a week ago.

[gentle music] - Luke: So right now, I'm at Union Star's Willow Creek Creamery in Berlin, Wisconsin, and what we're about to do is take this melt from Hoard's Dairy in Fort Atkinson.

It's been cut into large curds, and I'm gonna take this stainless steel bucket here and basically scoop the curds, let the whey fall out, and then pour them into these molds.

This, for me, is so cool.

I love these soft cheeses, this camembert style.

Something that has a lot of nuance.

Seeing how this is made is a dream come true.

Jon, how long you been making cheese, brother?

– Jon Metzig: Well, I got my cheesemaker license in 2003 when I was 18, but I started helping out when I was six years old with my parents at the other factory.

- Sweet, so your whole life has been this.

- Yeah.

- Understanding this sweet science and the process behind it.

– Jon: So Union Star was the original cheese factory, started as a co-op in 1906.

My parents bought it in 1980, and we always focused on retail sales.

And in early 2000, they built the highway bypass.

So, that's when they built this location to have a second retail front, and then that gave us opportunity to make different style of cheeses.

– Luke: Does this small-batch production give you creativity as a cheesemaker?

- Yes, that's one reason why I like traveling so much to Europe.

You're seeing cheeses that aren't around here at all.

– Luke: Sure.

- Different styles that people have never heard of.

And so you can come back with that creativity and then tweak it a little bit, depending on your conditions, you know, your milk, customer base, et cetera.

And yeah, it just gives you a lot of opportunities.

- How is it working for, like, you know, Hoard's is such an institution.

You know, I know my grandfather talked about Hoard's all the time, and like, he obsessed over those magazines, circling cows that he thought were pretty or good producers or whatever it was.

How is it making cheese with that label on it, knowing that there's a tremendous amount of tradition and pride?

- Well, I mean, it's a honor.

It's fun.

Like you said, everybody in the dairy industry knows the name Hoard's.

I mean, if you don't know the name, you are not in the dairy industry.

So, that was a great honor when they came and started, first contacted me about making this cheese for them.

- So, you know, one of the things that struck me while being at Hoard's and watching the milking process, Guernseys, right?

- Yep.

- You don't see a lot of Guernsey herds out driving around the countryside.

How is it working with the Guernsey milk from a cheesemaker's perspective?

- Well, a Guernsey definitely has what we'd call solids, higher butter fat, higher protein than other milk.

So the Guernsey milk, the yields are much higher.

So that's one of the biggest difference.

You're not used to having such a high yield.

And that's from the higher butter fat, higher proteins.

– Luke: Which, you know, going back to the idea of full fat is good fat, that's been kind of revolutionary in the dairy industry as of recent.

– Jon: Yeah.

– Luke: You want that butter fat content.

– Jon: Right, and what customers should understand is, ounce for ounce, cheese is one of the most nutritious foods out there in the world.

– Luke: Right.

– Jon: When you think of, like you're saying, the fat, the minerals, everything that's in it.

- Well, it's everything that those animals are consuming.

- Right.

- And when you have a beautiful, pristine place like Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, you know, clean air, clean water.

- A little more than that.

- Yep.

It's no surprise that this comes through as delicious, healthy, and nutritious cheese.

– Jon: And that's one of the things that's so fun about cheesemaking is you can directly see what the animals... how they're treated, their diet.

I mean, it definitely shows through right away.

I mean, we have the best farmers in the country.

They do a wonderful job taking care of their animals and just really, they make Wisconsin the dairy state.

– Luke: They do.

– Jon: Your cheese cannot be better than the milk.

So you wanna make great cheese, you have to start with great milk.

It's that simple.

- Great cows, great farmers, great soil, great water.

- Yep.

- All of it.

- It's all tied in together, which is like exactly what Hoard had said, you know, like W.D.

Hoard in like, the early part of the 19th, 20th century.

He was talking about how you have to have sustainability in the soil, and like, that has to be a living organism.

And if you do that, the cows will inevitably take care of you, you know, which is great.

It's this closed circle.

So we're coming up on the end here of the vat of curds.

What happens next for this beautiful, beautiful cheese?

- So we will flip it three times in the molds, and that's just to help drain the moisture a little bit better.

Let it sit overnight, and then I will brine it tomorrow morning.

– Luke: Okay.

- And that helps get, obviously gets the salt in, which impacts the flavor, moisture, helps preserve it.

And then we put it in our curing room for 10 days.

– Luke: 10 days?

– Jon: 10 days, where we flip it every other day and we let the white mold grow on the outside.

- So now you've seen it.

We've walked through the process from getting the milk, bringing it here to Willow Creek at Union Star, and now actually making this delicious camembert, but the one thing that we're missing is sitting down and enjoying some of this fantastic cheese.

So I think we're gonna get back on the road and take ourselves to a restaurant that's been serving food in Wisconsin for as long as Wisconsin has been Wisconsin.

[gentle music] Because Corey is an active farmer, we had to wait until the harvest was completed to take a few moments to travel to Genesee Depot, where we're dining at the oldest fine dining establishment in Wisconsin, The Union House.

- My name is Dan Harrell.

I am the executive chef and general manager here at the Union House in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin.

All right, so we're just gonna do this one nice and simple.

This is gonna be the cheese done in its natural state.

Yeah, so this building is 1861, named Union House after the whole Union and the war starting.

So it was built as a hotel right off the railroad tracks.

Yeah, being Wisconsin, you know, cheese and dairy is kind of the epitome of what we have to offer, you know?

Yeah, we do great produce, we do great meats.

We know dairy, pork, beef, but the cheese world is always growing, always evolving.

So the St. Saviour, we prepare it, you can do it any way.

You can eat it in its raw state, you can brle it, you can do an en crote, which we decided to do today, in any aspect of that cheese.

Usually, you know, when you get into the double cream cheeses, the bries, they kind of tend to lack in flavor.

But the thing is, is that this cream that they use to make this cheese is superior to anything else I've ever tried.

- Corey, we made it; we're at Union House in Genesee Depot.

And I gotta say, like, going from watching the animals, the milk being produced, the milk being trucked up to Willow Creek, the cheese being made, and then having the opportunity to see all the generations of knowledge and information that have been sifted and winnowed into this one product.

I can't believe that I haven't tasted it yet, quite honestly.

- Well, I'm excited for you to have that opportunity, and it's great to be at the Union House here, and it's kind of a great tie-in with the history of when this place started and almost syncs directly up with the Hoard's Dairyman company as well.

- Oh, man, look at that.

– Dan: There we go, gentlemen, here we are.

St. Saviour, yeah, we're gonna be pairing that with a fennel and pear mostarda today.

So this is to try it in that natural, raw state, and then I'm gonna be doing something special, more like an en crote, so enjoy.

– Luke: So this cheese, we can see right now, like, I love that fudgy center.

I mean, it's gorgeous.

And the rind on this, that mold is definitely part of the cheesemaker's ambition and vision.

So, do you eat the rind?

– Corey: I absolutely eat the rind, and it's pretty unique in cheesemaking because sometimes mold is the enemy, but here, it's our friend.

– Luke: Yeah.

– Corey: And the other beautiful thing about St. Saviour is as it's out on a plate a little bit longer, it'll start to melt and ooze, and it really lets out its qualities at that point.

- So this for me, based on, like, the consistency, you know, it is, I used the word fudgy earlier, but it's so smooth and delicious.

It's almost dessert-like, right?

It's just off the hook.

- And that's what makes it so unique.

I mean, it can start the meal and it can bring the meal to fruition as a dessert as well.

- Super buttery notes, you know, good salt.

You get a little bit of that lingering mold.

But it's very, very lovely in the accent notes.

You know, it's just a small spike of acidity on my palate, and it's...

The pear and fennel mostarda, it doesn't hurt it at all, either.

Mm, good cheese, Corey, good job.

- All right, so this is gonna be our hot preparation that we're gonna do the St. Saviour with.

Really quick, all I'm gonna do to this is we're just shaving off the top of that.

We're gonna center right here on some puff pastry.

We're gonna kind of fold over each time around just so it doesn't look like, you know, we're trying to wrap a very horrible present here.

All right, so we got an egg here, with just a splash of cold water.

This egg wash is really gonna help that browning process as it bakes to create a nice golden crust, but also give it some sheen as well.

And then we're gonna hit this, after it's egg washed, with some fleur de sel, some French gray sea salt.

The salt's really gonna hold up to the baking process and not only season everything a little bit more, but also create some texture as well.

All right, so now that we got it all seasoned up, we're gonna get it over onto just a really light greased parchment paper and tray.

And this is going to be going in the oven for about 12 minutes.

Halfway through that, we'll rotate it.

- Oh, man, look at this.

[Corey whistles] Yeah!

– Dan: There we are.

– Luke: Ooh, talk us through.

- Yeah, so we got the St. Saviour dead center on that plate.

All I did was take the little top off so that way, it would present itself.

And we wrapped it in a little purse of some puff pastry.

We also have some fleur de sel just to season that all together, and then that same mostarda we had earlier right next to that.

And it should go well.

You know, maybe one of you guys pull each end of that, watch it all goo out on the plate.

– Luke: Ooh.

[laughs] Oh, my gosh, look at that.

– Corey: Now, that's what St. Saviour was born to do.

– Luke: Oh, yeah, look at that pull.

Oh, my gosh.

Seriously.

That's sinful.

Like, there should be a law against that.

[laughs] It's so buttery and flaky and delicious.

And I'm just talking about Corey.

[Corey laughs] No, the puff pastry.

It's a great complement for, like, that...

I mean, this looks like straight butter coming outta here, but it's not.

It's this delicious cheese.

And this is a home run.

Maybe even a grand slam, dude.

This is really, really good.

I promise you, this will not be the last time that you'll see the looks of us around here because this is truly something absolutely unique.

Not only is it the oldest fine dining experience in the state of Wisconsin, it's one of the few restaurants that I've put on a suit jacket for.

But man, this place just sings of history.

And if you're gonna understand the cultural identity of food in this place, this is a great place to start.

So, thank you.

– Dan: Yeah, thank you.

- This is the sweet science from a restaurant started in 1860 to Hoard's Dairy, which has been around almost as long.

This is the culmination of generations of farmers, of scientists, of cheesemakers, of people whose passion is the Wisconsin identity.

And it's amazing.

[groovy music] - Okay.

Stay right there.

- You've done this before, eh?

- I have.

Eh?

Oh, my gosh, you're a good lady.

Thanks for making such delicious milk.

Oh, man.

I know, you kinda hit the jackpot when it came to being born on this farm.

– Arthur: Ready to make some cheese?

- [sleepily] Yeah.

[both laugh] Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters.

- The dairy farmers of Wisconsin are proud to underwrite Wisconsin Foodie and remind you that in Wisconsin, we dream in cheese.

[crowd cheers] Just look for our badge.

It's on everything we make.

- I'm going out to pasture with the cows this morning.

– Announcer: At Organic Valley, we're on a mission to save small family farms.

– Farmer: Tasting pretty good?

– Announcer: And you can join us.

– Farmer: [laughs] Girlfriend's on a mission.

– Announcer: Organic Valley.

- Twenty-minute commutes.

Weekends on the lake.

Warm welcomes and exciting career opportunities.

Not to mention all the great food.

There's a lot to look forward to in Wisconsin.

Learn more at InWisconsin.com.

- Employee-owned New Glarus Brewing Company has been brewing and bottling beer for their friends, only in Wisconsin, since 1993.

Just a short drive from Madison, Come visit "Swiss"consin and see where your beer's made.

- Wisconsin's great outdoors has something for everyone.

Come for the adventure, stay for the memories.

Go wild in Wisconsin.

To build your adventure, visit dnr.wi.gov.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animal sourcing to on-site, high-quality butchering and packaging, The Conscious Carnivore can ensure organically raised, grass-fed, and healthy meats through its small group of local farmers.

The Conscious Carnivore: Know your farmer, love your butcher.

– Luke: Additional support from the following underwriters.

[relaxing music] Also with the support of Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel, where you'll find past episodes and special segments just for you.

[whimsical music]