Wisconsin Cheese Goes to Kabul - but the cows stay home

Today Nina at Wisconsinmade.com received an e-mail from a very happy U.S. soldier who received A Taste of Wisconsin Cheese Gift Box in Kabul, Afghanistan. She reported that the gourmet cheeses had arrived in excellent shape just in time for Valentine's day and had made her so happy to have received such a delicious taste of home.
The gourmet cheeses were crafted and the gift box assembled by Monroe, Wisconsin cheese-maker, Roth Kase, Inc. Roth Kase consistently wins national and international cheese competitions. They are world famous for their buttermilk blue cheese made in a traditional Swiss style.

I'm not certain however if the source cows producing the award-winning cheeses are Swiss dairy cows. On the gift box, they appear to be Holsteins. But these pictures may reflect marketing more than reality. Non-Wisconsinites easily recognize a cow if it's black and white. But solid tan? Could that be a stocky horse? I doubt the breed of cow matters too much. The important factor is that all of the cows donating their milk to Roth Kase's cheeses are Wisconsin cows. Roth Kase is an equal opportunity employer of Wisconsinites, be they cows or people.

Of course technique matters in cheese-making, but the secret ingredient in gourmet cheese is the grass which the cows consume. Wisconsin IS THE dairy state because of our succulent grass. It's true. Ask any dairy farmer, cheese maker, or farm woman. They'll tell you the same. Savory in texture and flavor, Wisconsin grass is preferred by the gourmet cows who produce the highest-quality milk used in Wisconsin's world-championship-winning cheeses.

In the pictures I've seen of Afghanistan, I didn't see much lush, long, green grass. Perhaps the omission of grass was just the photographer's oversight. But if their artful pictures reflect reality, then I think it best that our Wisconsin cows stay home. We'll feed them well here and turn their milk into cheese which Wisconsinmade.com will ship overseas. That way, everyone in the world gets to eat a variety of fine cheeses while Wisconsin nurtures its valuable state resources - our stately cows.

(Picture of boy with cow supplied by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. Picture of cheese supplied by Wisconsinmade.com)

Click on Edible Antics to read an interview with top-producing, Wisconsin cows.