KIEL – Living in Wisconsin, I've seen a lot of cheese. But I've never seen anything quite like Henning's in Kiel before.
Founded in 1914 by Otto Henning, Henning's Cheese, 20201 Point Creek Rd., in Kiel, is still a family affair, with Otto's grandkids Kay, Kerry and Kert and two great-grandkids, Mindy and Rebekah, still guiding the ship.
Stop in and you'll find a bright, friendly store and a mini museum of old cheesemaking gear. Windows let you see the cheesemaking in action and when we appeared in the window a group of women was extruding, cutting and brining string cheese.
The instant we were spotted, one of the women grabbed some samples and brought them out to us. That's the kind of place Henning's is.
Later, we got a tour from Kert Henning, who showed us some parts of the operations. He also told us about Henning's giant cheddar wheels. They've made them as large as 12,000 pounds.
But more common are 300-pound and 1,200-pound versions, some of which we saw in the aging room. Wheels this big are made for special orders only, of course, and Kert told us about the time a high-falutin' Texas grocery store called to ask how big a wheel they could get.
Cheesemaker Kerry Henning measured the factory's doors and decided on 12,000 pounds, reminding the Texans to take similar precautions. Texans, they assured him, do everything big. Make the wheel.
When it arrived... yup, too big for the doors. They had them removed. Too big for the door frame. They removed the front plate glass window. Too big to fit past the registers up front, so they had to remove two of those. Too big for the aisles. So, it had to sit right up there in the front of the store.
But that wasn't the last such order from the grocery. No siree. But this time, once the cheese wheel arrived, they built a new store around it.
Interesting fact: after it's made, cheddar is placed into a cooler to bring down its temperature. But it takes so long for the temperature of a huge wheel of cheese to come down that the cheese actually "ages" in advance. The higher temps cause the aging process to speed up.
Kert Henning says some cheesemakers actually fudge the aging process a bit by using this trick. They keep their coolers just a little bit warmer to help the cheese "age" faster. Henning's, he says, doesn't do that.
That might explain why the cheese at Henning's is such a treat. The curds squeak, the string cheese is sinewy and salty-good and the cheddar, especially, the six-year is delightfully snappy on the tongue.
I was especially surprised by how good the flavored cheeses are. I tend to stay away from these, preferring the classics, but Henning's makes a range of delicious options, including blueberry cobbler cheddar, creamy caramel cheddar and habanero jack, which is deceptive. It takes a minute for the heat to kick in. Be careful.
But visit Henning's, where you'll meet some great Wisconsin dairymen and women, taste some delectable cheese and, if you take Point Creek Road all the way east to get to I-43, you'll see some of the most beautiful landscapes in all the state.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
