{"id":2158,"date":"2024-01-07T16:31:12","date_gmt":"2024-01-07T16:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/cheese-shops-we-love-fromagination\/"},"modified":"2024-01-07T16:31:12","modified_gmt":"2024-01-07T16:31:12","slug":"cheese-shops-we-love-fromagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/cheese-shops-we-love-fromagination\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheese Shops We Love: Fromagination"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LOCATION<\/strong><\/h3>\n

12 South Carroll St.<\/p>\n

Madison, WI 53703<\/p>\n

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“fromagination”<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0afagen<\/a>\u00a0is licensed under\u00a0CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Committed to highlighting Wisconsin\u2019s cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ken Monteleone is in a great spot to sell cheese. Not only is Fromagination<\/a>\u2019s perch on the Capitol Square\u2013where the country\u2019s largest farmer\u2019s market (Dane County Farmers\u2019 Market<\/a>) pops up each Saturday\u2014he\u2019s within an hour\u2019s drive of some of the world\u2019s most renowned cheesemakers. Visitors want, and expect, to buy local cheese and they want to be wowed.<\/p>\n

As a result, the cheese cases in this darling shop are well stocked with Wisconsin selections, examples of fourth- and fifth-generation cheesemakers who may be in the Dairy State now but can trace their roots back to cheesemakers in Switzerland and Italy.<\/p>\n

It was after moving to Madison from Dallas in 1993, as a senior buyer for Famous Footwear, that Monteleone pondered a very serious question: \u201cWhy isn\u2019t there a nice cheese shop?\u201d The question pulled at him for years until, still not seeing a decent cheesemonger, and sampling cheese on shoe-buying trips to Europe, he opened his own shop in 2007. His family\u2019s experiences in the artisan-food business came in handy. <\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in an Italian family [in Colorado],\u201d he says. \u201cMy father and his brother had their own specialty-food store that specialized in produce from Colorado. For Christmas we would buy an 80-pound wheel [of cheese] and when people would come to our house we would cut off a chunk for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Wisconsin cheeses are a hallmark, \u201cour portfolio has been more balanced than in years past,\u201d says Monteleone, whose number-one goal is to be different from other local grocers in terms of the cheeses he carries. One avenue he\u2019s pursuing is supporting more Wisconsin sheep\u2019s-milk cheeses, as this sector is growing in the Dairy State. And to make things easier for customers, three different \u201ccheeseboard kits\u201d\u2014Gala<\/a>, Soir\u00e9e<\/a> and M\u00e9lange a Trois<\/a>\u2014contain all the fixings.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Fromagination<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

THE SHOP<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Because stay-at-home orders early in the COVID-19 pandemic encouraged people to tinker with cheese boards, Fromagination began offering curbside pick-up and online ordering so they could stay open. COVID-19 safety protocols once they did reopen \u201cgave us an opportunity to refresh the store in how things are laid out,\u201d says Monteleone. A communal table in the back of the shop is now two tasting tables. A patio overlooking Capitol Square seats about a dozen guests at six tables. Fromagination also beefed up its online-ordering capabilities, which was good timing once The Today Show featured Fromagination\u2019s gift basket as part of its \u201cThanks for Giving\u201d segment last December<\/a>. Each purchase included a $10 donation to Second Harvest Foodbank \u201cAs soon as that aired our Internet orders went crazy,\u201d says Monteleone, spiking from 40 to 500 orders per day and allowing them to write a $25,000 check to Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. \u201cPeople wanted to gift [for the holidays] and also do something to give back to their community,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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TOP-SELLING CHEESES
<\/strong>– <\/em><\/strong>Ch\u00e8vre from Blakesville Creamery<\/a>, Port Washington, WI<\/h2>\n

\u201cOne of their cheesemakers used to work at Fromagination and then at Uplands Cheese<\/a>,\u201d says Monteleone. \u201cThey\u2019re making an amazing soft-ripened goat cheese.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Fromagination<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

–Pleasant Ridge Reserve<\/a> from Uplands Cheese<\/a>, Dodgeville, WI<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still our top-selling cheese and has been since the day we opened the store,\u201d says Monteleone.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Fromagination<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

-Bandaged Cheddar from Bleu Mont Dairy, Blue Mounds, WI<\/p>\n

Cheesemaker Willi Lehner is known for being a micro producer of his cave-aged cheese, which is why \u201cwe\u2019ve been very lucky that he continues to supply us with cheese,\u201d says Monteleone.<\/p>\n

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Photo courtesy of Fromagination<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

–Eight Year Sharp Cheddar<\/a> from Hook\u2019s Cheese Company<\/a>, Mineral Point, WI<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people don\u2019t want the strength of a 15-year cheddar,\u201d says Monteleone, \u201cand people still associate Wisconsin with the orange cheddar.\u201d This non-dyed white cheddar is a huge hit. <\/p>\n

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–Sweet Annie<\/a> and Rebel Meil<\/a> from Landmark Creamery<\/a>, Paoli, WI<\/p>\n

Named for founders Anna Landmark and Anna Thomas-Bates, Sweet Annie\u2019s a sheep Gouda that they\u2019ve been aging and it\u2019s very good,\u201d says Monteleone. Another creamery favorite is Rebel Meil, a semi-soft beer-washed cheese produced in collaboration with Giant Jones Brewery in Madison. \u201cPeople love collaboration and they give us something to talk about,\u201d says Monteleone.<\/p>\n

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ALSO LOOK FOR<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cDuring the pandemic, people were making way more cheese boards,\u201d says Monteleone, \u201cand now they\u2019re looking to add more to their cheese boards so we\u2019ve expanded our assortment of charcuterie.\u201d Wisconsin\u2019s own Driftless Provisions<\/a>, Red Table Meat<\/a> and Underground Meats<\/a> are all represented at Fromagination. Mustards, crackers (Madison\u2019s Potter\u2019s Crackers<\/a> are quite popular), pickled items (including from Forward Provisions), nuts, fruit preserves, honey and maple syrup, too. Quince & Apple<\/a> is a local producer of fruit preserves just introduced to Fromagination\u2019s shelves. \u201cWe\u2019re finding more and more products that are artisan-based and in the Old World style,\u201d say Monteleone. <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOCATION 12 South Carroll St. Madison, WI 53703 \u00a0 “fromagination”\u00a0by\u00a0afagen\u00a0is licensed under\u00a0CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Committed to highlighting Wisconsin\u2019s cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me Ken Monteleone is in a great spot to sell cheese. Not only is Fromagination\u2019s perch on the Capitol Square\u2013where the country\u2019s largest farmer\u2019s market (Dane County Farmers\u2019 Market) pops up each Saturday\u2014he\u2019s within … Okumaya devam et “Cheese Shops We Love: Fromagination”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1271,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-milk-and-diary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1271"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}