Spring Arrives to the Driftless
Cheesemaker Andy Hatch from Uplands Cheese
As we are inching our way through winter, the Hudson Valley is under a thick, icy shell. And even though each day is starting to feel a bit longer, and the sun is rising higher in the sky, I always wonder around this time of the year: will Spring ever really come?
To help me get through the final stretch of winter, I like to daydream about the warmer days ahead. I start to plant out the seeds for vegetables that will eventually be transplanted into the garden when the ground is no longer frozen. I begin to follow Spring Training baseball (and daydream about sitting in the stands on some hot, sunny July afternoon). I wonder when the first crocuses will show themselves. And, as a professional Cheesemonger, I consider the excitement of Springtime on a dairy farm.
Uplands Cheese is a dairy farm that is located on Uplands Ridge, a plot of land in a region of Wisconsin that is quite hilly, unlike the rest of the Midwest. This area is called the “Driftless” region because it was untouched by the glaciers that flattened the rest of the Midwest. While flat land is perfect for growing crops, the hills of the Driftless region aren't suitable for that type of farming. This is why Uplands chose to plant grasses for grazing cows.
In only a couple of months, the small herd of cows at Uplands Cheese in southwestern Wisconsin will be sent out to pasture to taste the first grasses of the year. Another year of milk production will begin, which cheesemaker Andy Hatch will skillfully turn into what is the most awarded American cheese - Pleasant Ridge Reserve. It is a cheese which is styled after the alpage, or summer’s-milk versions, of classic European alpine cheeses like Swiss Gruyère or French Beaufort. Aged, savory, nutty, and a reflection of high quality, raw milk.
A wheel of cheese is only as good as the quality of milk that it is made from, and the milk produced at Uplands during the Spring and Summertime is extremely good. One reason for this is that pasture-fed cows produce milk with an extraordinary amount of microflora. Scott Mericka manages the herd, and he makes sure they spend time grazing on a different portion of the 500 acre farm every day, allowing time for the flavorful grasses, herbs, and legumes to regrow regularly.
Pleasant Ridge Reserve is a reflection of this summertime milk. Andy Hatch makes his wheels using fresh, unpasteurized milk that comes from the herd at Uplands. Wheels are aged long enough for the myriad of microflora to act on the wheels, creating a depth of flavor that hits the palate like a symphony. (It should also be noted that if pasture conditions on any given day are not ideal, Hatch opts to sell the milk, rather than use sub-par milk for his cheese.)
Because the cows graze on a different paddock of pasture every day, each day’s production of Pleasant Ridge can taste pretty different from the previous day’s. This is a phenomenon that you don’t necessarily get with other cheeses that are pasteurized, where the milk becomes more of a blank slate. By contrast, each wheel of Pleasant Ridge is like a time capsule of the day on which it was made, full of flavors that flourish with age.
Like many of us, the cows at Uplands have spent their winter indoors, resting. They are given a break from milking over the winter. But before long, the greenery will return to the pastures. The cows will give birth to their springtime calves, as they are put out to fresh pasture. The milk begins to flow again. The cycle of seasons, and cheesemaking, will continue.
At the shop, we are excited to have just received our first allotment of 2024 wheels of Pleasant Ridge Reserve, which were made on May 18th of last year. If you’re curious to try a taste of Spring 2024, stop by for a hunk, and maybe close your eyes and think about a time when the hills will be flush with grass again.
Andy Koechling