Everyone goes crazy for it. It sells out faster than you can say cheese curd. It’s the legendary CurderBurger from Culver’s, and it’s making its long-awaited return on Oct. 2. It will be available this time around until Oct. 31 or while supplies last.
Culver’s cheese curds are made here in Wisconsin at LaGrander’s Hillside Dairy in Stanley. Master Cheesemaker Ryan LaGrander gives Mid-West Farm Report a peak at what this Wisconsin delicacy — and National Cheese Curd Day on Oct. 15 — means for his cheese plant:
LaGrander’s has been supplying Culver’s with cheese curds since they first came out on the menu in the early 2000s. LaGrander’s makes the curds and freezes the product so that the curds can be breaded at another facility.
LaGrander’s makes quite a variety of cheeses: Colby, Monterey jack, Colby jack, pepper jack and cheddar curds. Most of their cheese is packaged as traditional 13-lbs horns or mini horns like you find in a deli case at the grocery store.
However, cheese curds make up 65-70 percent of their cheese production. He ships out three semi loads of cheese curds every day, tallying up to about 14-15 million individual curds.
The cheese curd patty that goes on the CurderBurger is made up of individual curds. Between the CurderBurger coming out in October and National Cheese Curd Day on Oct. 15 — cheese curd production jumps up 25 percent from Culver’s demand alone.
To meet this demand, LaGrander’s implements extra production days and buys more milk for about a month leading up to October.
What’s the secret to these tasty curds that are so sought after? LaGrander says it’s because the milk comes from Wisconsin farms producing high-quality milk — specifically 130 farms in a 60-mile radius of the cheese plant in Stanley.
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