Artisanal cheese on a large scale

TURTLE LAKE, Wis. — For the fourth year running, the top cheese in the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association’s World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest has been one created by Lake Country Dairy, the domestic production arm of Schuman Cheese.

This year’s overall grand championship cheese selection was their Vanilla Mascarpone. Other overall grand champions made by Lake Country Dairy, under the Cello label, include Pure Maple Mascarpone in 2024, Artisan Parmesan in 2023, and original Mascarpone in 2022.

In addition to their Expo win, Lake Country Dairy won more than 40 awards for its products in 2025.

“We’re proud of our mascarpone,” said Gary Gosda, plant manager at Lake Country Dairy. “It’s actually a byproduct of the Parmesan we make, but it’s a key part of what we do. When we make Parmesan, we skim some of the cream, and that is what makes mascarpone.”

The manufacturing process used at Lake Country allows their version of the creamy, Italian-style cheese to shine, day in and day out, bringing the Cello brand of mascarpone global recognition.

“We skim the milk today to make Parmesan and we make mascarpone tomorrow,” Gosda said. “We know it’s fresh; we’re making cheese within 24 hours. The cream never goes back on a truck. It is pumped very few times; it’s as fresh as it gets. Our sanitation, our quality assurance and our expectations of our mascarpone room are very, very high.”

Gosda said recently they have added ricotta cheese to their repertoire.

Ninety percent of the milk processed at the Polk County creamery comes from three local farms: Denmark Dairy LLC in Ridgeland; Norswiss Farms Inc. in Rice Lake; and Fetzer Farms Inc. in Elmwood.

“We have a great relationship with our farms,” Gosda said. “That relationship helps build consistency — the more consistent our milk, the better my cheesemaker can do.”

Gosda said they encourage their farmers to focus on maintaining consistent components throughout the year, over volume.

“Great milk, and great cheese, are a direct result of cow care,” Gosda said. “Our farms are vigilant about their cow comfort and focus on overall herd health. The quality of the milk we are able to source is something we’re proud of.”

On average, Lake Country processes 850,000 pounds of milk per day from those three farms. This equates to nearly 22 million pounds of hard cheeses each year, with the plant running 5-6 days per week.

“We usually get about 15-18 million pounds of organic milk each year,” Gosda said. “That makes for about a half-million pounds of organic Parmesan cheese and then 300,000-400,000 pounds of organic ricotta and mascarpone. We’re proud of our organic products and the growth we’ve seen there.”

Schuman Cheese purchased Lake Country Dairy from the Ludy family in 2007.

“Schuman Cheese is a privately owned, fourth-generation business,” Gosda said. “The two families crossed paths numerous times and they ended up working together in other countries, developing cheeses where there was a milk source and an opportunity for importation to the U.S.” 

Neal Schuman, the third generation of his family to operate Schuman Cheese, desired to have a U.S. production plant that would make the best hard Italian cheese in the U.S., Gosda said. The purchase of the plant was brokered, bringing Schuman Cheese into the U.S. cheese manufacturing sector.

“Neal brought in a lot of Italian influence,” Gosda said. “We went from a block plant to a wheel plant. The blocks of cheese, you make it today, salt it, package it, and it goes to storage to age all in one day. With the wheels, we’re going to handle that cheese a lot — from the make to the brining, then curing it to desired moisture.”

The process is the foundation for achieving the desired results, Gosda said.

“What we make today doesn’t leave here for about 60 days,” he said. “We could do it quicker, but we chose to slow down the process to ensure we are allowing the cultures to develop the desired cheese flavors.”

Once the desired moisture content is reached, the cheeses created by Lake Country are aged for 10-12 months.

Despite the basic properties of cheesemaking being universal, Gosda said cheeses made in one geographical location are different than the same style of cheese made elsewhere.

“Nothing is apples to apples,” Gosda said. “The differences are in the milk source, the diet of the cows, the breed of the cows, and the soil and ecology where their feed is grown. Then there is pasteurization versus unpasteurized. It would be a huge challenge to duplicate 100% what we’re doing here in northern Wisconsin in Colorado (for example).”

While Parmesan is traditionally considered to be an Italian cheese, Gosda said there are distinct differences between the Italian and domestic versions.

“We pride ourselves on our Parmesan and other Italian cheeses as the cheeses Americans want,” Gosda said. “We’ve taken everything from the Italian processes and cultures and brought it here. We know it’s going to be a slightly different cheese. We are not trying to duplicate — we are making cheeses that fit our customers. Our Parmesan won the U.S cheese contest back-to-back in 2022 and 2024 and overall Italian-made Parmesan. That speaks for itself.”

In addition to making Parmesan in stainless steel vats, Lake Country has developed a line of Parmesan made with copper vats.

“We’re the only plant in the U.S. to be making Parmesan using copper vats,” Gosda said. “They come with a heavy price tag, but it is an investment to make the best possible Copper Kettle Parmesan (Cheese).”

With their devotion to creating a wide variety of next-level, artisan cheeses on a large scale, Gosda said educating the consumer to embrace the different varieties available is a focus of their marketing.

“People might think they’ve had Parmesan when they’ve shaken the stuff out of the green can on their pizza — that’s not the Parmesan we produce,” Gosda said. “We make cheeses that, once people have tried it, they realize they love it and want it. We want our cheese to be a true eating experience. We want to educate the consumers about all the options they have, that there is more to cheese than just cheddar, Colby and mozzarella. Once you get them to try it, they love it.”