Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative and Cedar Grove Cheese

Location:

Wisconsin

Best Cheeses:

• Dante – Sheeps’ milk aged at least 6 months. Slightly sharp with a nutty, salty and almost meaty character
• Mona – Sheeps’ and Cows’ milk blended into a semi-hard cheese with a moist texture

Cheesemakers:

The making of Dante and Mona is truly a collaborative effort.

The milk comes from the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative. The co-op traces its roots to the mid-1980s and small group of sheep producers in Wisconsin and Minnesota who supplied sheep milk to a cheese plant in Minnesota. In 1996 this group officially became a sheep dairy cooperative, and there are currently 15 farms who contribute milk to the dairy. According the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative website, the cooperative “is currently the only sheep dairy cooperative in the U.S. and the largest sheep dairy cooperative in North America.” The co-op ships their milk across the United States and also keeps some for their own cheesemaking.

The cheeses Mona and Dante are made by Cedar Grove Cheese. The recipe for Dante was developed at the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in Madison, WI.