a more quintessential food in Wisconsin?

Wisconsin cheese curds have a signature orange color,

they have a unique flavor

that can vary depending on the batch,

and, most importantly, when you bite into them,

they must, must squeak,

which tells you the curd is a good one.

We're here in Door County,

and we're about to meet Chris Renard,

a third-generation artisanal cheesemaker

who's been making cheese his entire life.

They're going to show us

how milk turns into this savory, squeaky snack.

The process itself takes four hours.

It starts with cheesemakers releasing 20,000 pounds

of pasteurized whole milk into a large open vat.

Chris: All the milk that comes in today

we'll make into cheese tomorrow.

For every 10 pounds of milk,

you get about 1 pound of cheese on average.

Medha: Luckily, Wisconsin is the perfect place

to get all this milk locally.

The state has about 1.3 million cows.

And with that much dairy available,

they take cheese production seriously.

It's the only state in the United States

that requires a special license

to sell any cheese of any kind, including curds.

Chris gets his milk from 24 family farms in the area

that work together with the dairy plant

as a cheesemaking ecosystem.

Chris: Depending on the milk that

comes in that day,

the temperature outside,

what the cows have eaten at the time of the year,

every vat of cheese will have a slightly different flavor.

Medha: All that pasteurized milk gets mixed

with just a little annatto seed coloring

to give it that orange hue.

Wisconsinites prefer their curds orange,

while cheesemakers on the East Coast stick to white cheddar.

For a vat that holds 20,000 pounds of milk,

Renard's adds only 29 ounces of coloring.

Chris: The seed comes from either

South Africa or South America.

It does not affect the flavor.

Medha: What does affect the flavor

is the rennet.

Unlike cheesemakers in Europe,

Chris doesn't use animal rennet to make his cheese curds,

which together with the starter cultures

breaks down the milk into cheese.

Chris: The rennet we use is a microbial rennet.

We've found it works the best with the cheese.

That rennet does a really nice job of setting it up,

and the enzymes of the rennet help with the aging process.

Medha: And so we see over here,

just observing in the room, it's getting really steamy.

Chris: We cook everything with a bath with steam.

So no matter what time of the year it is,

it's always warm in the cheese factory.

Cooking it for a couple reasons.

One, it's gonna help firm that cheese up

and take some of the moisture out.

But it also -- you want the starter

to be at the optimal temperature.

Medha: What temperature range

do you want to be in for this?

Chris: We're gonna cook this to 100 degrees.

Medha: What happens when the cheese mixture

gets to 100 degrees?

Chris: We will shut off the steam

so it doesn't get any hotter.

But what we'll also do is then we keep agitating.

The reason is, is we want to firm this curd up.

We want the nice squeaky cheese curd you're gonna get.

If your starter cultures don't get to the right temperature,

you'll have an off flavor.

So, once the cheese firms up,

the milk coagulates and it gets nice and firm,

then we'll take wire knives, and we run that through.

And that is cutting it into curds and whey.

Medha: Those wire knives are called cheese harps,

and they've been around since the 1960s.

Once the cheese is cut,

it takes about two and a half hours

until you see actual curds start to form.

Cheesemakers here aim for a nice even cut.

The more even the cut, the more the whey is expelled

and the cheese sticks together.

Chris: We're stirring it right now

to keep it from clumping.

One of the reasons we do what we do hands-on

is we can watch and control all that.

We don't have to worry about a malfunction of equipment.

We're literally doing it.

What we're doing right now is checking

to make sure the cheese curds are firm.

We want the right firmness to move on to the next process.

If you leave it too soft, the proteins, calcium,

some of that's gonna expel out in your whey.

Medha: As soon as cheesemakers like Chris

approve the texture and pH level,

whey is removed from the vat

and pumped into a cream separator.

The cream is sold to Pine River Dairy to make butter,

while the whey is sold off to make whey proteins.

Once a majority of the whey is drained,

cheesemakers draw the curd to the sides of the vat

and let the whey continue to drain down the center.

This process is called ditching.

Chris: We're pushing the cheese to the sides,

and we're firming it, pushing it together

so it's one solid piece.

Medha: Am I doing this right?

Chris: You're doing it good.

Yes, push right -- there you go.

Medha: Like that? Chris: Yep.

Medha: Or too much? Chris: No, you're OK.

Medha: And then one more? Chris: Yep.

Push it just so it firms up, there you go.

Medha: Oh, so you don't have to push that hard!

Chris: This big mass of cheese

is gonna get trimmed into slabs.

And those slabs will be about 20 pounds.

Medha: And so what are you doing now?

You're cutting the...

Chris: We're gonna level it off,

and then we're gonna break up all this cheese on top

so it all gets matted into one slab.

Medha: Oh, I see.

What do we do?

I just do this?

Chris: You can break it up, yep.

Medha: Oh, my God!

So we're breaking it up so that it can layer on top.

Chris: So it's gonna knit all back in together

as we roll it over and stack it up.

[Medha grunts]

This is a good hand massage.

Chris: Right now, this moisture you're feeling in here

is probably in the 43-to-45 range.

So it's a higher moisture percentage.

We don't want it too firm, too hard.

Medha: And why?

Chris: 'Cause you want to keep the squeak,

the moisture in it. The rubbery texture.

Medha: Hopefully I'm helping. [laughs]

Chris: You are.

Medha: And what are you doing now?

Chris: What we're doing is we're gonna take

all the fines, the smaller curds,

and we want to mill it in so we get

as much of our yield as possible.

Medha: So grab it? Chris: Pick up the front.

Slide your hand down the cut side.

Medha: This way? Chris: Yep.

And turn it right over it.

And then you're gonna just slide it nice and tight.

We wanna mat and knit all this cheese

together in one solid slab.

Medha: Oh, gravity will mold it, basically.

Chris: Mold it together, yep.

Now we're gonna flip it one more time,

and then we are gonna cut it and stack it.

Medha: Like -- OK.

Chris: I'll let you get the first one,

and I'll get the rest.

[Medha grunts]

[laughing] OK!

Afterward, Chris checks

the acidity level of the cheese.

And if it is in the correct range,

they will begin to mill it up into cheese curds.

And what if it doesn't hit your desired pH level?

Chris: We'll leave it to sit.

That's one of the things about being a small artisan plant.

We can leave the cheese sit if it's not where we want it,

and don't have to force it through.

Medha: The cheese is washed with warm water

to expel any extra whey,

then salted three times.

This is done to seal in and enhance the flavor

and also control the pH of the cheese.

Chris: We're breaking up all the clumps

just so we get the salt to distribute evenly.

The salt's absorbing into

all the small pores in the piece of cheese.

Medha: So, is this the final product?

Chris: This would be cheese curds.

Medha: And what's the difference between

a cheddar curd flavor and a plain curd flavor?

Chris: One of the differences you'll notice,

like a young cheddar compared to a young Colby,

in the first seven to 10 days

you're not gonna taste much difference at all in flavor.

But after that 10-to-14-day range,

when the cultures start really getting

a foothold in the cheese,

the flavors will start to differ faster.

My cheesemakers probably try one curd

out of every batch they make.

Medha: Oh, my gosh, can we try?

Chris: Yes, we can. Medha: Are we allowed to?

Wow.

I love the texture of your cheese curds.

Chris: Thank you.

Medha: That's wonderful.

In total, a plant like Renard's can sell

about 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of cheese curds a day.

Some of the curds are sent to be breaded

at restaurants to fry,

while others are packaged and sold fresh at stores.

Chris wouldn't let me return to Chicago

without trying Renard's myriad of curd flavors.

So, we're going to try the different flavors

of cheese curds that Renard's has for us.

All of these cheese curds are their cheddar cheese curds,

but they have different seasonings on top.

All right, let's give it a go.

Mm! Can you hear the squeaking?

I don't know if you can hear it.

This is so squeaky.

It feels so fresh.

And it has a little hint of ranch.

As you can tell, it's the ranch flavor.

It's a little bit moist, but it's also in between

a soft mozzarella and a hard, aged cheddar.

It's basically smack-dab in the middle,

where you get the softness of it,

but it's also, it has a little bit of a bite.

Not too much.

But it's super tasty.

And you can tell that this was salted.

And then the seasoning on top

is really what I prefer.

I could pop these in like popcorn.

Have to come back to Door County

to try out these curds.

OK, I'm doing it.

Oh, my God.

[laughing]

We did it!

- And your pants are still white!

- I know!

- With white pants!

- Look at that! You can be fashionable and milk a cow.