Happy National Cheese Lover's Day! Here are 9 cheesy Wisconsin stories from the past year

Hannah Kirby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

January 20, 2022 at 9:59 AM·5 min read

Today is one of the most Wisconsin days ever.

If you're guessing it has to do with cheese? Ding, ding, ding. If you were betting on beer, still a grate guess.

National Cheese Lover's Day is Jan. 20. In honor of this occasion, you cheddar believe we rounded up nine cheese-related stories from across the state over the past year.

There's romance, recipes, the Culver's CurderBurger, cheese as a Halloween costume and more.

1. Yes, cheese is a love language

Nothing says "I love you" quite like a heart-shaped box filled with Wisconsin cheese. Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin are giving away 500 of those again this year as a part of a Valentine's Day contest called "Cheese Is My Love Language." To nominate the cheese lover in your life (or yourself), enter online, WisconsinCheese.com/LoveLanguage, by Jan. 27. One of the 500 lucky winners will also find a "Crystal Wedge" in their box, which means they get to take a trip with three friends to America's Dairyland.

The Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin contest gives away 500 heart-shaped boxes of cheese for Valentine's Day. One box includes the Crystal Wedge that unlocks a trip for four to Wisconsin for some cheesy fun.

2. The CurderBurger

For one day only, Culver's released the CurderBurger. What started off as an April Fool's Day joke ended up becoming a reality. While the prank photo Culver's shared featured a giant cheese curd in a bun, the actual CurderBurger boasted a Deluxe ButterBurger (beef patty, lettuce, tomato, pickles, red onion and mayo) that was topped by a specially made, burger-sized cheese curd. It was only available on Oct. 15, National Cheese Curd Day (our other favorite holiday). And just how many CurderBurgers did Culver's sell that day? Some 136,000 nationwide.

Culver’s April Fool’s Day prank, The CurderBurger, becomes reality on National Cheese Curd Day. For one day only, Oct. 15, a burger topped by a giant cheese curd crown will be available at all Culver’s locations.

3. Using a by-product of the cheese-making process for spirits

Copper Crow Distillery on the Red Cliff Reservation is one of a handful of distilleries in the world that makes whey-based spirits. And what is whey? A byproduct of the cheese-making process. Since opening in 2017, owner Curtis Basina has created a whey-based gin, a whey-based vodka and is looking to develop more. A member of the Red Cliff Ojibwe Nation, Basina was the first Native American to open a distillery on a reservation because of a unique set of circumstances that were bigoted in nature.

4. What's the best cheese for pizza?

Higgins Eats launched a "No Budget Cooking Series ingestigative report" to figure out the best cheese to use for homemade pizza. To shred cheese yourself or not? Should you buy whole milk mozzarella? Are blends better than all-mozz? These are just some of the questions he considered. This is serious business, after all. His overall winner ended up being a combination of Sargento's whole milk mozzarella and pizzeria shredded blends. For an in-depth look at his process, click here.

5. Trick-or-cheese

Cheese made my "9 extremely Wisconsin Halloween costume ideas" list. I mean, how could it not? You could pair a cheesehead with yellow or gold clothing. Get a yellow or gold outfit and use a fabric marker to draw cheese holes. Or, there's also the option to get a cheese costume or apparel online. And if you would go as cheese in 2022, it's only right to have an arsenal of cheesy puns ready to roll.

6. Soup, but make it cheese

“People like cheesy soups because it’s familiar. Cheese isn’t something you have to explain to most people,” Dave Jurena, owner of The Soup Market, said. “Think about all the forms you like cheese in: pizza, a charcuterie board, a dipping sauce for pretzels. If you put it in a soup, that’s just one more delivery vehicle for people to eat cheese.” Well that sounded like music to my ears. This story — all about cheese soup — also includes recipes for potato cheddar soup, cheddar beer brat soup, sweet potato cider cheese soup and broccoli cheese soup.

7. Forty-five million pounds of Colby

Wisconsin cheesemakers make more than 45 million pounds of Colby cheese each year. Colby was first developed in 1885 in the city of Colby. Residents and lawmakers from the cheese's birthplace have long advocated for it to become the official state cheese. A bill was introduced in 2021, and most recently, a public hearing regarding it was held this past week. The bill's lead authors, state Rep. Donna Rozar and state Sen. Kathy Bernier, who represent Colby, previously said the bill is a celebration of rural history and Wisconsin's dairy heritage. The bill was previously proposed in 2019, and a similar measure, in 1997.

A block of Colby cheese is seen on a cheese slicer. Residents of Colby, Wis., the town for which the cheese is named, have been pushing the state Legislature to designate the cheese as the official state cheese of Wisconsin.

8. This year's Sporkies winner

Unsurprisingly, the winner of the 2021 Wisconsin State Fair's Sporkies food competition involved cheese. Inspired by favorite "'Sconnie specialties," the Glazy Boy featured two grilled Grebe's glazed doughnuts, pressed with two slices of BelGioioso Fontina cheese, brined and slow-smoked pork loin, raspberry whole grain mustard and pickled jalapeños.

The Glazy Boy features two grilled Grebe's glazed doughnuts, pressed with two slices of BelGioioso Fontina cheese, brined and slow-smoked pork loin, raspberry whole-grain mustard and pickled jalapeños (Will be available at Miller Lite Sports Bar & Grill).

9. Can you make grilled cheese in an air fryer?

Air fryer grilled cheese: That's one of the other missions Higgins Eats took on in 2021. He asked for the best cheese to make grilled cheese sandwiches on the Higgins Eats Facebook page, then tested different combinations of those, as well as the "Ultimate Three-Cheese Grilled Cheese" on the Wisconsin Cheese website. He dubbed winners for specific categories, like the "ultimate duo" and "ultimate heat." He also got into the logistics of using an air fryer to make grilled cheese and provided some helpful hacks.

Contact Hannah Kirby at hannah.kirby@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HannahHopeKirby.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Here are 9 Wisconsin cheese stories for National Cheese Lover's Day

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