{"id":3125,"date":"2025-04-22T16:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T16:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/how-hooks-cheese-champions-quality-aging-creativity\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T16:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T16:25:12","slug":"how-hooks-cheese-champions-quality-aging-creativity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/how-hooks-cheese-champions-quality-aging-creativity\/","title":{"rendered":"How Hook’s Cheese Champions Quality, Aging & Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Hook's<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

In tiny Mineral Point, Wisconsin,\u00a0Hook\u2019s Cheese Company, Inc.<\/a> is having a moment.\u00a0For only the third time in history, the company will release its 20-year-cheddar<\/a>\u00a0during May 2023. \u201cWe made about 1,000 pounds of this batch,\u201d says co-owner, Tony Hook. \u201cIt\u2019s already a little over half gone. We\u2019re charging $209 per pound but stores will charge more. In 2015 our first batch was 450 pounds. Our second batch was 500 pounds, in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Tony and Julie Hook have found the spotlight. Among many awards,\u00a0Julie was named a top female maker of Colby cheese in 1982-an honor which she still retains. And Tony has crafted cheese for more than 50 years.<\/p>\n

Origins of Hook\u2019s Cheese <\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\"Tony

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Tony Hook at Dane County Farmers Market photo credit Amy Sherman<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIn 1970, I started working at [nearby] Barneveld Cheese Factory,\u201d Hook says. \u201cThen I apprenticed under the owner, Bill Schuelke, for two years. I got my license in 1972. Julie apprenticed under me and got her license around 1978.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple launched Hook\u2019s during 1976. A decade later, they moved to downtown Mineral Point.\u00a0Producing dozens of cheeses, they also operate a (seasonal) booth at Madison\u2019s renowned\u00a0Dane County Farmers\u2019 Market<\/a>. Today, six full-time employees include Tony plus one sister, nephews, and a nephew\u2019s wife. Julie helps with marketing for demos and shows, and she works at the Market booth on Saturdays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were out at Buck Grove (the original location) it was just the two of us,\u201d Tony Hook says. \u201cWe bought the Mineral Point plant, and I picked up milk from farms until the late 1990s. Until 2001 we made about 1.5 million pounds of cheese annually, and we made the majority for big distributors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1994, we started selling at the Market, our name got recognized a little more, and we started picking up several dozen small distributors. So everything we have made since 2001 has had our label.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that point, we\u2019ve grown to about 400,000 pounds per year, but our margins are a lot bigger. We now ship things out in much smaller amounts, too. We have less volume overall, but we make 70 varieties of cheeses and cheese curds. And a lot of high-end chefs put our name right on their menus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making Cheddar <\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\"Dane

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Dane County Farmers\u2019 Market<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All milk used in Hook\u2019s cheeses is rBST free, and the company requires that all dairies they work with certify this. Hook\u2019s initially crafted six- to seven-year cheese with local milk.\u00a0By Dec. 2009, their 15-year cheddar was the oldest commercially available Cheddar.\u00a0But Hook\u2019s cheddar aging process differs significantly, from how the British typically make cheddar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the British traditionally make bandage-wrapped cheeses that are air-cured,\u201d Hook explains. \u201cOver the course of a year, this cheese may lose about 25% of its moisture. We make our cheeses in 40-pound blocks. They\u2019re aged in plastic and never exposed to air, so they don\u2019t lose any moisture during that period of time-which makes it quite different from bandage-wrapped cheddar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hook\u2019s Blue Cheeses <\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\"Hook's<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Hook\u2019s has also become well-known for its \u2018blue\u2019 cheeses, since the 1990s. \u201cWe have seven varieties of blue now,\u201d says Hook. \u201cIn the last 20 years, it\u2019s just been kind of fun to make a lot of different styles that we like. By\u00a02001 we started making gorgonzola.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

With a soft, edible rind, Tilston Point Blue arrived three years later. Sheep’s milk blue cheese-which is similar to Roquefort-arrived five years afterwards.\u00a0There\u2019s goat\u2019s milk Barneveld Blue, and You Have to Be Kidding, which has a mixture of milks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the Milk\u2026and More <\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\"Tony

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Tony and Julie Hook<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hook recounts the relatively recent history of artisan cheese in America sharing that \u201cIn 1970 there were only a select variety of cheeses made in the U.S. But over the last 25 years a lot of U.S. [cheese] artisans have added a lot of new products that certainly compete well with many European cheeses.\u201d As for his own success, he humbly gives credit to the excellent milk that he believes results in a better product.<\/p>\n

In addition to working with cow\u2019s milk dairies, Hook also sources sheep milk from Hidden Springs Creamery<\/a> in Westby, WI and goat milk comes from LaClare Family Creamery<\/a> in Malone, WI.\u00a0But it\u2019s not all the milk, it\u2019s Hook\u2019s combination of old-world tradition along with new-world artisan craftsmanship and innovative techniques, such as his unique curing and multiyear wet aging, that has made his cheeses renowned in the U.S. and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In tiny Mineral Point, Wisconsin,\u00a0Hook\u2019s Cheese Company, Inc. is having a moment.\u00a0For only the third time in history, the company will release its 20-year-cheddar\u00a0during May 2023. \u201cWe made about 1,000 pounds of this batch,\u201d says co-owner, Tony Hook. \u201cIt\u2019s already a little over half gone. We\u2019re charging $209 per pound but stores will charge more. … Okumaya devam et “How Hook’s Cheese Champions Quality, Aging & Creativity”<\/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-3125","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\/3125","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=3125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sutyo.com\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}