During a recent trip to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, we enjoyed delightful "Badger Blast" ice cream at the Babcock Hall Dairy Store. Badger Blast is a chocolate lover's delight that includes premium chocolate ice cream laced with dark chocolate flakes and fudge swirls.
Babcock Hall has an operational dairy processing pilot plant. The plant can pasteurize milk and make cheese and ice cream. While many food science students use the facility to learn food processing techniques. The Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research also offers short courses. The four-day "World of Cheese Education from Pasture to Plate" short course looks very interesting. The course is designed for culinary professionals and covers all aspects of cheese-making and cheese-handling.
Another trip discovery was a unique cheese called Juustoleipa. This Finnish style cheese that was originally made from reindeer milk, of course, the Wisconsin version is made from pasteurized cow's milk. The name means bread cheese and the slice of cheese I purchased was about the size of thick slice of bread. After the cheese has ripened the cheesemaker bakes the cheese. This step gives the cheese a mottled brown appearance on the surface almost like french toast. Another interesting thing about this cheese is it squeaks as you eat it.
This cheese is usually served warm with jam or honey. I enjoyed the mild flavor and the texture was similar to Halloumi. I recommend trying this cheese. I enjoyed enjoyed the cheese dipped in coffee a traditional Scandinavian way to enjoy Juustoleipa.
