Hurry To The Award-Winning Nasonville Dairy Cheese Shop

 

Hurry To The Award-Winning Nasonville Dairy Cheese Shop

A drive to get fresh cheese curds at Nasonville Dairy gets us excited. Everyone is eager so we have a bounce in our step when we leave early mornings. Always before 7 am.   

 

Nasonville Dairy is an award-winning cheese plant located in the heart of Wisconsin, but it’s their cheese shop that keeps us coming back.

 

A Nice Drive To Nasonville Dairy

From Eau Claire, Wisconsin we take Interstate 94 east to Osseo. At Osseo, we take Highway 10 for about an hour to the cheese factory in Nasonville. It is only a few miles outside of Marshfield but the factory is the only building there other than homes and dairy farms.  

 

We like this drive as much as getting cheese because we see Amish buggies and farms as soon as we exit the interstate. Many Amish communities dot the landscape for most of the way to Nasonville.

Along with Amish communities and dairy farms, hardwood forests combine to create a relaxing drive. Fall is even better with bright maple trees changing colors. You can even buy locally made maple syrup at a few places along the way.

 

A fun landmark to stop at just outside of Neillsville is Chatty Belle The Talking Cow. She talks when you put a quarter in the box. We promise you can’t miss Chatty Belle. She is a giant cow standing next to the yellow Wisconsin Pavillion from the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair. The pavilion was permanently moved here after the World’s Fair and now houses a cheese and gift shop. At the time, the architecture resembled a futuristic building. Now, we think of the Jetsons every time we see it.

 

At The Nasonville Cheese Store

 

Nasonville Dairy sits off of the two-lane highway in the middle of nowhere. Seems like many people need to turn around because no signs point tourists to the cheese store. This is not a flashy tourist attraction by any means, but you’ll get excellent cheese here. 

 

However, this is an old-fashioned cheese store commonly found in Wisconsin cheese factories from the past. Although many people remember these small cheese shops from the 1970s and 80s, this one is fancy compared to those in the past.

 

Those shops served their communities without advertising or any other retail reason. Locals came in to buy the cheese they needed. In this case, off of the old fashioned chalk board in the background.

 

Those small-town cheese factories kept a daily schedule of which cheese was made every day, then locals bought what was made that day. For instance, if Wednesday’s parmesan was made, then you would buy fresh parmesan that day. If Friday was muenster day then you buy your muenster on Friday.

 

Stores typically didn’t have cheese on display or individually wrapped pieces either. You would walk in then give your order to the cheesemaker wearing their white uniform. Next, they pulled out big slabs of cheese from behind a glass front cooler and then cut your cheese order. Next, they wrapped your cheese in butcher paper. Of course, if you wanted to taste the cheese before buying they would always cut a sample piece for you. 

 

Notice how cheese curds weren’t mentioned yet? That’s because they only started to become popular in the 1980s.

 

Get There Early

 

Just as we planned, we arrived early enough to beat the crowds. This small space becomes difficult to browse when more than a few people shop at a time. Then again, they come and go quickly because they all know what they want. Given that you can call in your order we always see customers picking up their bags of pre-packed orders without a need to shop. Just like the old days.

 

We always buy other varieties of cheese too, but it’s the cheese curds we can’t wait to open immediately. Those bags magically open before we even pull out of the parking area. Trust us, we have tried a lot of cheese curds all over Wisconsin. Along with Hooks Cheese Company in Mineral Point, these may be tops. Best of all, each morning fresh batches are made so you will get the best squeak.

You need to add fresh cheese curds to your bucket list. This is why you need to hurry to the award-winning Nasonville Dairy Cheese Shop.

 

More Interesting Places For You To See

 

By the way, check out Hooks Cheese Company and the artsy small town of Mineral Point. Mineral Point is one of our favorite small towns, so we had to write about it.

 

Another favorite road trip of ours is to Lake Superior to watch huge freighter ships come and go into port. We think you will like this too! You can read about it here. 3 Exciting Places To See Massive Ships On Lake Superior.

 

Crokicurl is a fun new game that came down from our Canadian friends and first landed in Altoona, Wisconsin. In fact, read about this exciting winter game that combines curling and crokinole. Altoona held the first U.S. crokicurl championship at the first U.S. crokicurl rink. The best part is that anyone can play since it’s family-friendly.

 

The Cheese Curds!

This is important. You need to experience the squeakiest cheese curds possible. The freshest cheese curds have the most squeak when you bite into them. The squeak slowly goes away throughout the day so you want to get them early in the morning. To emphasize, fresh is a serious issue in Wisconsin.  

 

What is a cheese curd? Simply, small cheese pieces, called curds, form and separate from the liquid whey. During the cheesemaking process, the whey is drained leaving just the curd. The drained curd is then molded into blocks or wheels, thus making cheese. 

 

So, cheese curds are small pieces of cheese before being molded or aged into larger blocks and pieces, just like what you buy at a store. 

 

And, they are delicious!  

 

There’s Much More Than Cheese Curds

Besides cheese curds, we have more reasons we like to visit Nasonville Dairy.  

 

Most importantly, this is a very good cheese factory with a lot of variety.

 

These are some of our favorites.

 

Muenster is a soft white cheese and one of our favorites. Creamy muenster goes well with summer sausage on a cheese tray. You can immediately tell it apart because it has an orange color on the outside. The orange outside is just the same coloring used in cheddar.

 

Some brands of summer sausage to try Old Wisconsin (their beer salami is fantastic too), Klement’s, Cher-Make, and Usinger’s.

 

Of course, extra sharp cheddar and also goes well on a true Wisconsin cheese tray.   

 

Baby swiss goes very nice with grilled sandwiches such as a Reuben.

 

Farmer’s and brick are always a favorite too

 

My (Tom) obsession right now is their asiago. It is softer and creamery here with a milder taste than other asiago brands. I like to finely shred it and I’m finding that I can’t shred a little. Instead, I keep going because it’s so good. Eventually, I run out and end up with a large pile of fluffy cheese to put away in the refrigerator.

Four Master Cheesemakers Is A Big Deal

Maybe we like cheese from Nasonville Dairy so much because they have four Master Cheesemakers on staff.

 

Wisconsin has over 1,200 certified cheesemakers, but only 5% have earned the title of Master Cheesemaker. So, if you do the math, then that’s only around 60 who have earned the title of Master. At the same time, only two are women.

 

In short, earning the title of Master Cheesemaker is extremely difficult.

 

The University Of Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker program is the only one of its kind outside of Europe. As expected, most cheesemakers that make it through this program say it’s the hardest thing they have done in their lives.

 

Each participant can choose two types of cheese for certification from the program. You can always enter the program as many times as you would like, but the same difficult standards apply each time. 

 

To qualify for this three-year program, you need ten years of experience in quality assured plants and making the same cheese you’re entering for five years.    

 

Maybe we like coming here because Nasonville Dairy has four Master Cheesemakers certified in 2, 4, 4, and 8 separate cheese categories.

 

Final Thoughts

 

A relaxing day trip through Wisconsin’s beautiful countryside combined with squeaky fresh cheese curds makes us happy. Driving along back roads and small towns just add to a nice day out, but the dairy farms make this scenic Wisconsin drive unique. Even though we enjoy getting out, we still hurry to get cheese curds while they are freshest. Then we munch on them while exploring for the rest of the day.

 

As always, thanks for reading Hurry To The Award-Winning Nasonville Dairy Cheese Shop.

 

Tom and Kristi

 

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