Jason Wiebe Dairy

Natural Cheese made in Kansas

Natural Cheese made in Kansas on the farm (Farmstead) from grade-A milk for the difference you can taste and the taste you’ll want again.

At the 'Olympics' of cheese in Madison, WI, judges sniff, poke, and chew to determine the world's best variety of cheese.

There's an interesting article about cheese contests and judging in the April 11, 2006 issue of Christian Science Monitor.  What follows is a couple paragraphs from the lengthy article.  You can read the complete article at this link to Christian Science Monitor

To help unravel some of the mysteries of cheese for the novice, Regi Hise is co-hosting a cheese-tasting class for novices in a room near where Johnson is sniffing and spitting. (Note to self: Stop eating cheese with crackers: You can't truly taste the cheese for the cracker flavor. And don't eat it cold: You can't truly taste cold cheese.) Mr. Hise, a food-marketing consultant, tells the audience that demand in the culinary world is increasing for foods with "umami," what he terms the fifth flavor after sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. And cheese has it.

Indeed one of the forces driving what dairy consultant Daniel Carter calls a revolution in cheesemaking in the US is demand from "white tablecloth" chefs. "They want more complex, interesting cheeses," says Mr. Carter, founder and chairman of the Dairy Business Innovation Center in Delavan, Wis. This has boosted demand for artisanal cheeses - demand traditional cheese-producers such as Wisconsin and Vermont hope to capitalize on as huge dairies in California, Texas, Idaho, and New Mexico tighten their grip on the high-volume market for cheese on processed foods.

Cheesemakers are experimenting with different blends of milk from cows, sheep, and goats. In addition, interest is growing in Old World techniques, such as aging cheese in caves. There, cheeses don't need refrigeration, moisture levels are right for bacterial growth, and the cheese can interact with natural molds that give it an edge on the table. One of the state's leading cheese- makers held a seminar, whimsically dubbed the cave meeting, one night to gauge interest in the technique. "We expected five people," Carter says. "We got 45."

World Dairy Expo 2006 - 2nd Place in the Flavored Natural Cheese Class.

This cheese was named a winner in the 13th Bi-ennial United States Championship Cheese Contest, last year.

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