- Announcer: This week on Wisconsin Foodie... - Steve: Decatur Dairy was a vision started by seven farms in 1942.

So, we make Havarti, Muenster.

We make farmer's cheese.

Today, we're making some brick cheese and we're doing some dill Havarti.

- Luke: This is incredible!

- We kinda developed this system years ago, [chuckles] throwing them over the table.

- You know, Seattle's got its fish markets.

We've got our cheese plants.

[laughing] - Yeah, pretty much, you're right.

- Mary: To make really good cheese spread, you have to have good cheese to start with.

So, the master cheesemakers have such care and passion for their cheese, it's gonna be good, and it makes great spread.

And Steve from Decatur Dairy is a great example of that.

- Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: [energetic music, cash register rings] [gift card rustling] [pouring a beverage] [mystical swirling] [heart beats "lub-dub"] [bell chimes as door opens] - 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.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk [cheerful whistling] with just a few simple ingredients.

Sun, soil, rain, and grass.

[bubbles popping] And grass, and grass.

- Cow: Yee-haw!

[angelic choir music] - Organic Valley Grassmilk, organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

[banjo music] - 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 "Swissconsin," and see where your beer's made.

[upbeat music] - 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 dot wi dot g-o-v. - From production to processing, right down to our plates, there are over 15,000 employers in Wisconsin with career opportunities to fulfill your dreams and feed the world.

Hungry for more?

Shape your career with these companies and others at fabwisconsin.com.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animals 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.

- Additional support coming from the Viroqua Food Co-op, Central Wisconsin Craft Collective, Something Special from Wisconsin, Crossroads Collective, La Crosse Distilling Company, as well as the Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

[clapping along to energetic music] - Announcer: We are a collection of the finest farmers, food producers, and chefs on the planet.

We're a merging of cultures and ideas shaped by this land.

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

[clinking glasses] [scraping knife] We are storytellers.

We are Wisconsin Foodie .

[paper rustling] [upbeat music] - I'm Steve Stettler.

I'm here at Decatur Dairy.

Decatur Dairy was a vision started by seven farms in 1942.

And it started out as a Co-op, Decatur Swiss Cheese Co-op, and it was a Co-op until 1982.

We moved here in 1973.

The Co-op hired my dad.

He was the head cheesemaker.

And in 1982, I bought the business and I started Decatur Dairy as the marketing arm for the Co-op.

Well, the Co-op has become more of a partnership than a Co-op.

The farmers own the building.

I own the business and the manufacturing and the sales.

So, it's a partnership of them, furnishing me a building, giving me the milk and then me creating products and selling it and getting them a good return.

For being three miles out of Brodhead, kinda in the middle of nowhere.

I mean, people find us and, maybe it's the longevity of having a store here for so long, but I think it's, too, that we have items that people want.

And we cut everything fresh off the block which is kind of like an old meat market or an old cheese market that people have a hard time finding or are not accustomed to.

So I think that's the point of difference for us, is that we wait on every customer individually and it's kind of an experience.

And then we put the grilled cheese in there.

That's kind of a little different flare.

That was just an idea of trying to bring something new to the customer.

And it's growing.

Kinda' got legs of its own at the time or at this time anyway.

[upbeat music] - Good morning, Steve.

- Luke, glad you're at Decatur Dairy.

- Glad to be here, thanks for having me.

What are we doing today?

- Today, we're processing some cheese, we're making some Muenster, Havarti.

Doing some cheese curds, that kind of stuff.

Same stuff we do every day.

You wanna to go take a look at what we're doing?

- Let's check it out.

[upbeat music] - All right, let's go.

All right, so we'll go out and make some curd.

- This is a busy place.

- Yeah, you came right now where everything's rocking and rolling.

[laughing] - What are we looking at?

- Right now, we got to Havarti.

The PH is perfect on it.

So we're putting it in salt brine, that's what we're doing.

So, we make Havarti, Muenster.

We make a farmer's cheese, Today, we're making some brick cheese, and we're doing some dill Havarti So, this is nine-pound Havarti loafs right now.

- Luke: So.

you know, I think this is something that people kind of take for granted.

They think that most of this is mechanized but there's nothing mechanized about this.

- Not at Decatur Dairy.

[laughing] We do everything by hand.

This is incredible.

- We kind of developed this system years ago, [chuckling] throwing them over the table.

- Luke: You know, Seattle's got its fish markets.

We've got our cheese plants.

[laughing] - Yeah, pretty much.

You're right, you're right.

- What else is happening over here?

- So we're gonna make some cheese curds.

Right now, this is farmer cheese here.

So, they just turned it.

It's a part skim milk.

So we have it in tubes.

So they turn them every about 40 minutes.

- Okay, so I get the idea that you, you make a lot of different styles of cheese here, but what are you most known for?

- Well, our Havarti and our Muenster.

We do some Gouda.

We do a lot of farmer cheese.

We do a lot of curd, a lot of curds.

We do, right here.

This is our Stellar Swiss.

- Wow.

- So that's something that we developed.

So that's an original to Decatur Dairy.

It's a Lacy Swiss, but we make it in a long horn form.

We do the same cheese in a Colby Swiss.

- Okay.

- So, we mix Colby and our Swiss together.

And that's pretty unique, also.

- Well, what's next in the process?

What are we gonna see?

- We're gonna do some cheese curd.

- Yeah.

- So we got some in the back.

I have Masters in brick, Muenster, farmers cheese, Havarti, Cheddar, Specialty Swiss, and now curds.

And I've always felt that cheese curd should be a master cheese.

But to me, I think curd stands alone as a master cheese because it's so unique to Wisconsin.

So, our cheese curd is actually curd that has sat on the table or been out of the bath for about three hours and we're gonna mill it.

- Okay, well, what are we looking at here, Steve?

- We're putting a curd mill together.

So this is what we use to cut the curd up.

- Is this, like, a commonly used machine?

- Ah, it's old.

Most guys use a cuber now.

But we use a rotary mill.

That's the old tradition.

That's kind of what we do at Decatur.

Should I show you how it's done?

- Yeah, do it.

- I went through the grading period and did the required work I had to do.

And I'm the first master in cheese curds, certified master.

So that's kind of a cool thing, [upbeat music] but it was also kind of a mission of mine to get cheese curds, which I think are standalone in Wisconsin, as a master cheese.

And I think most people would agree with me that curd should be a master cheese in Wisconsin.

- This is an activity [machine chugging] I can almost guarantee no other chef in America, gets the experience of participating in.

We're cutting fresh cheese curds here at Decatur Dairy.

And a lot of this is done the old-fashioned way.

My dad used to have a saying, an old dairy farmer, "That there are two ways to do something, the easy way and the right way."

And we're doing things the right way here at Decatur Dairy.

- That's how you mill curd.

[Luke laughs] - That is satisfying as all get-out.

- Well, as you see, some are a little bigger, some are a little smaller.

- Luke: It's like snowflakes.

All of them are unique.

There's not one uniform piece in there.

- Steve: All right, so what we did, is now we ditched it.

So we get all the water and whey off.

'Cause there's still some whey coming out of the curd.

- Sure.

- Steve: So, as you can feel, the curd's a little cooler now.

- Luke: Yep.

- Steve: It's cooling down somewhat.

And now we're gonna add some salt to it.

- Okay.

- So we get it off the table.

We cut it up and we run it through the mill.

We ditch it, rinse it, get the whey off.

Now we're gonna salt it.

So, salting the curd, there's not really a recipe for it.

You've just got to do it by eye.

That's what I do.

- That's a sign of a true master right?

- Right.

[laughing] - Luke: Oh man, you can actually feel the salt on the outside of these, almost developing a crust.

This guy cooks, like I do.

[laughing] A little bit more?

I got to say for, like, as carefully controlled as the process is, you know, knowing exactly where the pH is on the cheese the whole time.

And then, just-- It's that master artisan touch.

Knowing exactly what you're tasting for, and how much that really equates to.

Here we go.

The master test.

You get the salt first.

- And then, the cheese.

- And then, the cheese, the creaminess.

- That's exactly what you're supposed to get.

Now we got to go sanitize our hands.

- All right, here we go.

[upbeat music] What are we making here?

- So, this is Havarti - Luke: Havarti, wow, look at these curds.

- So, it's coming out of that.

- Luke: Yep, what do you look for when it comes out of the vat like this?

How do you know that these curds are ready?

- Well, it's kind of hard to feel with a glove on.

That's the problem I have with gloves.

- Luke: Yeah, 'cause so much of this is tactile, right?

- Yeah, I mean to really know what you're doing, you got to feel the curd.

- It's like making bread almost, - You got to know how that dough feels.

- Our cheesemakers sanitize their hands all the time.

When I'm making cheese, I wear gloves, but I don't wear gloves to feel the curd so you know the texture.

So, all we do, is we're running it down the slide.

All the whey goes off the curd and then we just fill a form.

- Luke: I can't say that I've ever seen a curd slide before.

- Steve: When I went to have one designed, They're like, "What are you making?"

[laughing] The first time I saw one was in Europe.

And then, I had one built when I got back.

it separates the whey from the curd.

So, your curd's dryer going into the form.

- Sure.

- They're just easier to fill.

- Luke: Sure, oh, this is incredible.

- Steve: We'll go up on the back deck.

I'll show you where the curd's coming from.

[upbeat music] So we have everything on computer up here.

- Luke: So, through the course of a day of production, how many times do you go through these vats?

- We do 18 vats.

- 18 vats, okay.

So we do like four-and-a-half turns.

- Luke: How much milk is that coming in?

- Steve: It's about 500,000.

- Luke: 500,000 pounds?

- Yes.

- And how much cheese is that going out?

- Steve: 55 probably, somewhere in there.

55,000, 60,000, depending if we're having a good day and the yield's good - Sure - So you know.

- Luke: So, about a tenth of the weight.

- Yeah.

- The milk weight comes out as cheese.

- Wow - 10% This is where the curd's coming out of.

So, it's a double low vat.

- Wow.

- And you can see the curd and whey in there.

There's still quite a bit of whey in there so we can run it through a pump.

- Yeah.

- So, it's easy to pump, get to the table.

So we stir it the whole time.

- Luke: How much is this process modernized for you over the past, this has been around since '42?

Is that when your dad started it?

- Yeah.

Well, the farmers started it in 1942.

- Okay.

- So, it's a farmer Co-op.

The farmers actually own the building so they're involved.

Right now, it's more of a partnership.

So I own the business, they own the building.

They bring me all the milk, I make and sell the cheese.

We split the profit.

So it's worked out really well in this environment for us.

So in '73, we had about 28,000 pounds of milk.

In '82 or '83, when I bought it, we had about 35,000, 40,000 pounds of milk a day.

Now we're getting in about 400, 420,000 pounds of milk a day.

- You know, all this talk about cheese, of course, it's making me hungry.

[laughing] Do you think we can go taste some of these beautiful creations?

- Oh, absolutely.

- Awesome.

- We'll go up to the store.

[upbeat music] So now we'll try a little cheese.

- This is my favorite part of the job.

- If you wanna try some cheese.

- I do wanna try some cheese.

- Steve: So, here's one of the things that has been on our creative agenda.

We got messing around with cheddar, which I'm a master in, and Muenster, which I'm a master in.

So, we put the two together, and we made a cheese we called "Chedster."

- So, how do you taste cheese with a master?

- You just eat it.

- You just eat it?

[laughs] - You just eat it.

- All right.

- The thing about this is you wanna taste a little bit of everything.

So, you wanna taste the Cheddar and the Muenster.

- Okay - You know if it was being graded that's what they would wanna definitely taste.

- Sure.

- And you want it a little warm.

You don't want it ice cold.

So, you want it room temperature.

- Okay.

- So, the Muenster kind of mellows out the Cheddar.

- Yeah, it's delicious.

You're right.

That Muenster kind of like gives it a body like that buttery creaminess, you know, that sometimes Cheddars as they sharpen, or they're aged, they kind of lose a little bit of that.

This carries it through.

- I'm working right now with Pine River on a Colby Swiss spread.

- Nice.

- And that's actually went through the development stages and we got labels printed.

So, we're gonna be doing... That product actually right here is the raw product, the Colby Swiss.

I mean, everybody thinks I'm mixing everything with everything, [laughing] but this actually was, it was so popular here and I'm selling it now in retail areas and other cheese stores that it's just growing in popularity and our customers love it.

- First and foremost, I can say it's a beautiful cheese.

Why with this specific cheese, do you see holes?

Is that part of the Swiss cheese making?

- Well, we put it in a warm room which was another interesting subject when you take Colby.

'Cause nobody puts Colby in a warm room, but we, with our process, we put it in a warm room and warm it up.

So the cultures work and you create the openings in the cheese.

- Luke: Man, that's so cool.

- And then you get the hint of Swiss.

People that really don't even like Swiss cheese, will eat Colby Swiss.

- Sure.

So you've kind of bridged a gap for cheese eaters and cheese makersalike.

- Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

- That Swiss cheese flavor, that nuttiness.

Sometimes Swiss cheeses can be dry, and they can be... For folks who aren't necessarily tuned in to what that's supposed to taste like, that can be a challenging cheese, but mixed with that Colby, again, it just rounds it out so beautifully.

- Yeah, and it's a full cream cheese.

So we start out, get the moisture down, and that's what we end up with, which is a crowd favorite.

I mean, there's very few people, I would bet that come in here that do not buy that, it's a crowd favorite.

- Luke: I understand why completely, it's delicious.

[upbeat music] - Well I've been fortunate over the years to run into other producers and people in the cheese industry and Phil and Mary Lindemann were one that I just kind of run into them.

And I don't know if it was late at night.

I've always sold cheese spreads.

Well number one, I started selling Pine River's cheese spreads, which we have almost every one of their spreads in our store and they go over very well and I've gotten to know them and it was kind of a mission of mine to make one of my cheeses into a cheese spread.

So I'd been working with Phil and Mary and their team.

They've developed a Colby Swiss cheese spread for me.

- My name is Phil Lindemann and I am the president and CEO of Pine River Pre-Pack.

- Mary: My name is Mary Lindemann.

I'm the marketing director for Pine River Pre-Pack.

- And we're in Newton, Wisconsin.

[mellow guitar] Well, it started in 1963.

My dad came from a cheese family.

His dad said, "Why don't you go and get into cheese cutting and wrapping?"

When you cut and wrap, you have pieces and there's trim.

And that trim is what we use to make the first cheese spread - Mary: To make really good cheese spread, you have to have good cheese to start with.

So the master cheesemakers have such care and passion for their cheese, it's gonna be good and it makes great spread.

And Steve from Decatur Dairy is a great example of that.

- The first time I tried Colby Swiss, we were at the Decatur Dairy, seeing Steve, and he said, "Do you wanna try the Colby Swiss?"

And I said, "Yeah, that would be great."

And then he did his usual, cut it off with a knife, handed to me, I tasted it.

I said, "Steve, this stuff is really great."

And then he said, "Okay, so what can we do with it?"

I said, "Well, we can make some good cheese spread out of it."

And then, that was the story.

[upbeat music] My whole thing is I look at the cheese, I taste the cheese.

There's texture and all these things that make that cheese great.

And then, I'd have to think about, "Okay, when we take our formula "and take their cheese and put it in, what's it gonna do to that cheese flavor?"

And I can usually tell before I put it in our blend, if it's gonna be good or not.

And I knew when Steve-- We were at his shop when that cold weather hit that time and that's where I tasted it.

And I said, Steve, this stuff, this could make some good cheese spread, and he, "Yeah, let's try it."

So I grabbed a piece that day and I got the guys in the sample area to blend it up and sent it over.

And he's like, "Oh, we got to have this."

But it took a year to get everything pulled together, labeling and everything he had to do to get it ready to go.

But now we're going.

We'll see what he does with it.

I'm sure he'll do a lot with it.

- Morning, Phil.

- Hey, Steve.

Look at what I have in my pocket.

- Oh, cool!

We're gonna have a little bit of a snack while we're here.

Look at this stuff, it's beautiful.

Try that.

- It looks awesome.

Texture's great.

- Oh, yeah.

- Phil: Smooth, this stuff really makes great cheese spread.

- So you get a little Colby and you get the Swiss flavor.

- Phil: That stuff is awesome.

That's gonna be a good one.

- So I'm glad that we got this done for you in time because the crowds are knocking your door down to get it I know that.

- Well, they're interested.

I got their interest, so... - Phil: This is like a day's supply in your store, I betcha.

- Steve: Sometimes you meet somebody and you don't know exactly where it's gonna go.

And this relationship has actually ended up a new product for us.

So, it's been unique.

- You bet.

- Thanks.

It's about the friendships at the end of the day.

- This has been an amazing day.

Not only did I get a chance to, like, work in the curd room, also just be able to get to hang out here and get to know you a little bit.

'Cause you're not really a bad guy.

I don't care what they say about you.

You're pretty tolerable.

- Well, the same kind of goes for you.

[laughing] I mean...

So, this is our Stettler Swiss.

- 'Kay.

- And we put it on the grilled cheese and that's, I mean, this one here we sell a lot of.

- Oh, man.

And people that don't even like Swiss will order this 'cause it's so smooth.

- It's so smooth.

This is, this is next level.

Like it's a flavor bomb going off in your mouth.

With Swiss you get those elements of nuttiness.

And you get some of the sweetness.

There's something else about this.

It's the sauce.

Tell me about the sauce.

- Secret sauce.

- Yeah, what's in the secret sauce?

- It's a secret.

I can't tell 'ya.

- It's just secret.

- Yeah.

There's chives in it, everybody can figure that out, but other than that, it's a secret.

Other than that, it's a secret.

- Okay, I'm starting to pick up on it now.

And now, I'm not I'm not gonna say anything about it 'cause it's your secret.

- You're starting to pick up on it?

The notes, huh?

- The notes, yeah.

That's my job.

[laughing] - That is your job?

- The notes.

- That's what keeps bringing people back is just they're a little different, they're a little unique.

It's not a normal grilled cheese, you're gonna find in a restaurant.

- No, it's not.

But I think that that's part of the experience.

You come out here, outside of Brodhead.

Number one, it's beautiful.

Number two, this is a cooperative group effort.

So, this is so many farms coming together.

You've got a master cheesemaker.

You've got people who come to work and have fun at work.

And like what they're doing, you've got a hub of activity out here in rural Wisconsin and that's awesome.

It comes through in the food, it comes through in the cheese.

- Our farmers start it all, you know, they built the place, and we just kind of kept carrying it on.

- Exactly.

- No one ever thought we'd be ending up doing grilled cheese sandwiches.

- [laughs] Let alone on television.

- Steve: Right, right.

- Well, here's to the best farmers in all the land.

- You got it.

- Cheers.

[chuckling] [upbeat music] The best farmers in all the land.

- You got it.

- Cheers.

[chuckling] Y'all act like you've never seen people toast grilled cheese sandwiches before.

[laughing] - Crew: Every day, - We've seen a lot of this.

- Every day.

[laughing] - You know, you would think after 40 years you'd be a little bit easier getting into a picnic table.

There's no graceful way, is there?

- No, there isn't.

- You gotta kinda fall in.

- You can't have separate benches 'cause then you lose the benches 'cause somebody walks off with them.

- Announcer: Wisconsin Foodie would like to thank the following underwriters: [energetic music, cash register rings] [gift card rustling] [pouring a beverage] [mystical swirling] [wind whooshes] [heart beats "lub-dub"] [bell chimes as door opens] - 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.

- At Organic Valley, our cows make milk [cheerful whistling] with just a few simple ingredients.

Sun, soil, rain, and grass.

[bubble popping] And grass, and grass.

- Cow: Yee-haw!

[angelic choir music] - Organic Valley Grassmilk, organic milk from 100% grass-fed cows.

[banjo music] - 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 Swissconsin, and see where your beer's made.

[upbeat music] - 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 dot wi dot g-o-v. - From production to processing, right down to our plates, there are over 15,000 employers in Wisconsin with career opportunities to fulfill your dreams and feed the world.

Hungry for more?

Shape your career with these companies and others at fabwisconsin.com.

- With additional support coming from The Conscious Carnivore.

From local animals 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.

- Additional support coming from the Viroqua Food Co-op, Central Wisconsin Craft Collective, Something Special from Wisconsin, Crossroads Collective, La Crosse Distilling Company, as well as the Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

- Are you hungry for more?

Check us out on YouTube.

Make sure to hit that 'subscribe' button so you can be the first to see new and unique videos, as well as browse past episodes.

♪ ♪