#634 Onion Cheese
Fun Fact #634
Onion Cheese
Good Morning Everyone. Today’s Fun Fact is a little unusual however it deals with a personal adventure of mine that you may find interesting and/or funny. Back over the 4th of July week I stumbled across a specialty cheese called “Onion Cheese” and it was awesome. When I came back to Illinois I decided I'd get some more and encountered an interesting issue.
Turns out, while recipes involving Onions and Cheese have existed since at least the 1300s the introduction of onions in the actual cheese making process is rare. This is in large part because in most traditional cheeses the onion overpowers the Cheese itself becoming quite pungent and … well rather repulsive. Which is why many are called “Onion-Jack” and why no matter the brand, nothing tasted like the cheese I had remembered.
From there I tried to just order some from where I had originally gotten it, but there are laws in Wisconsin preventing anyone except an authorized Distributor from selling Cheese over state lines. Then went to their distributor, only to run into issues and so this journey went on back through a surprising 8 middle companies until managing to contact –apparently– the only farm in the world which makes this specific type of Onion Cheese out in Prairie Du Chien (Valley of the Dog), Wisconsin.
Turns out that the farmer invented this Cheese back in 2009 because he likes burgers but found most cheese gets overpowered by the onions thus he came up with this Onion-Provolone which is very mild on the onion flavor –explaining why it tastes so unique. He was also surprised I managed to find his specific farm’s number (apparently that’s a big no-no as per his deal with the distributor to protect his privacy. He’s since removed his number from where I found it so no one else can). Thankfully he did agree to talk to the distributor to get the Cheese up on their websites so anyone across the Midwest can order it. It appeared on North County Cheese’s website as a Savory-Onion Deli Horn (5 lb) about a week later and is now available at $29 ($5.8/pound) and it is really fantastic on burgers.
I also wanted to say “Thank you” to 640 Meats here in town for slicing the deli-horn I brought in free of charge this past Sunday. They are honestly one of the best butcher shops I know of and their mini sandwich cafe is amazing. Well worth a trip if you’re ever looking for an excellent lunch. As always thanks for reading and please have an amazing day!
