It’s all Gouda…
No problem.
Wisconsin still keeps the #1 spot as the nation's top cheese producer, beating out California.
For a while there, and just for a while, it was thought that California had a chance of overtaking Wisconsin and taking our "Cheese head" title with it.
About half of the 9.7 billion pounds of cheese made in the U.S. comes from the two states, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Production has grown much more rapidly in California in the past decade as large plants opened there year after year.
Wisconsin's lead in annual production shrank to about 164 million pounds in 2007, according to NASS. Last July, California came within less than 6 million pounds of Wisconsin in monthly production.
But then the gap started growing again, reaching 30 million pounds in March.
The quick shift is partly due to two plants closing in California in 2007, while two opened in Wisconsin this year, [Dick] Groves said [longtime owner of the Madison-based trade publication, Cheese Reporter.]
This is good news.
While, besides cheese, we're also known for beer, sausages, and cranberries, somehow I can't see our football fans wearing a foam Pilsner glass or brat on their heads during games. It just wouldn't be the same.
And, we might have had to replace the "Dairy" in "Dairy State" with something like, well, I don't know, apples or something clever like that.
Maybe one of the reasons we produce so much cheese here in Wisconsin is because of our demand for cheese curds....
Seriously, can you get them anywhere else? And if you can, are they as fresh as ours?
Do they "squeak?" I think not...
So, to celebrate, why not have a little California w(h)ine with some Wisconsin cheese this weekend.
Both states will thank you.
From the Fresno Bee
