What does it take to produce the best cheese in Wisconsin? Ask Beth Crave, director of quality assurance at Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese in Waterloo. They took home the No. 1 trophy for their chocolate mascarpone at the Wisconsin State Fair’s Blue Ribbon Dairy Products Contest. Chocolate cheese — just one unique variety that cheesemakers across the state are proud to bring to consumers.
The Crave family is very excited and proud to have taken home top honors from this year’s State Fair. The winning cheese was based off of a recipe for chocolate mascarpone pie. It features a creamy and chocolatey flavor with just a touch of irish cream. The judge’s notes noted it’s velvety texture and distinct flavor, they also shared that they just kept wanting more.
Crave says it takes years to develop new products — it starts with listening to what customers want, then it takes years to perfect a new recipe, and it takes an investment of manpower, time and money. She says the chocolate mascarpone took over a year to develop to get the perfect mixture of chocolate and irish cream. She says they also had some help, both from the folks at Center for Dairy Research and Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.
As they celebrate 20 years making cheese, she says Crave Brothers is working on new concoctions in the plant to come out this spring. While she won’t spoil the surprise, she hopes to have new products on shelves soon. But prices are increasing, which is being passed along to the customer. She assures customers that quality will remain as high. Demand remains strong and steady — she expects that to continue in 2023.
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