Wisconsin is known across the country for it's delicious cheese, and so we decided to break up the drive from Madison to Green Bay by sampling cheese at various stops along the way. Our favorite stop by far was Schultz's Cheese Haus in Beaver Dam. The folks inside could not have been friendlier allowing the kids and I to sample all kinds of interesting and delicious things while explaining to us about the origin and character of a variety of cheeses-like Gouda, Cheddar, Swiss, and a bunch of others. A real standout was the chocolate cheese. I was told they use chocolate fudge on a cheese base-I am not sure what that meant but it was terrific. It was so good and definitely did not taste like cheese and so we bought some to munch on for the rest of our journey. We also bought a little baby Swiss and Muenster too. My kids kept giggling because they were dying to ask for a sample of Limburger, but they just couldn’t do it. If you don't know, Limburger cheese has a very strong smell in fact I won't say what it smells like but I think you can figure it out (sorry, don’t mean to offend anyone who likes this stuff). If you ever see it in the market, take a whiff…it’s what you call “pungent.”
As we were perusing the rest of the charming shop we noticed some "cheese heads" and so since we were heading to Lambeau Field in the town of Green Bay I felt we had to channel some Packer spirit and so I bought one for each of the kids who proceeded to promptly put them on. The kids all thought these were great fun and kept them on for the whole ride. We got lots of thumbs up and horn honking on the way to Green Bay.
Every time we wander into a place like Schultz's I feel like I am opening the world up for my kids. It's not the cheese so much as it's the spirit of wonder and the fun of discovering something new. Life is a smorgasbord of goodies to sample and try and I am forever grateful to share so many wonderful discoveries with the three of them. If you find yourselves driving up to Green Bay do check out Shultz's for a tasty treat of one of Wisconsin's most famous foods.
