New Cheeses from a New Creamery

We love offering brand new products at our full service cheese department at the State Street Potash Markets. Offering new cheeses from a brand new creamery is doubly exciting, and last week we had the chance to do just that with two cheeses from Blakesville Creamery in Port Washington, Wis.

Blakesville, located along the shore of Lake Michigan, just a few minutes north of Milwaukee, was developed on the site of a former cow’s milk operation. The farm is milking about 900 goats, mostly Saanen and Alpine breeds which produce high quality milk. In order to maximize value, the owners built a creamery from the ground up, to the specifications of veteran cheesemaker Veronica Pedraza who directs cheese production. Pedraza has made cheese at Sweetgrass Dairy in Georgia, Jasper Hill Creamery in Vermont, and at Meadowood Farms in New York. She also worked as a cheesemonger for a time at Chicago’s renowned Pastoral Artisan Bread and Cheese which closed last year.

The two cheeses we purchase directly from Blakesville include a fresh chevre delivered to us each week, and a young bloomy rind called Lake Breeze which is aged just a few weeks. Both are bright, full-flavored cheeses with wonderful flavors and textures. The fresh cheese is sold in a 6.5 oz cup (fresh chevre does not have to be sold in the little logs, but that packaging is more efficient for larger scale producers). Lake Breeze is a small wheel (about 4 oz) wrapped in proper cheese packaging and baring a two-sided label with the adorable likeness of a goat sailing on a little sailboat. You can find both in the cheese department grab and go case.

Carrying the Blakesville products was an easy decision, says David Phillips, the ACS Certified Cheese Professional who manages the cheese selection at Potash Markets.

“The best young goat cheese is probably going to be made nearby, and Blakesville is just 90 minutes from us,” Phillips says. “In addition, we are happy to help support small, independent, farmstead operations, as we do when we carry products from Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery in Champaign, Illinois. We hope our customers will join us and enjoy these great products.”