Grilled cheese galore

OMRO, Wis. — Bringing consumers closer to the dairy industry while encouraging a taste for dairy products is the goal of Winnebago County’s Grilled Cheese Day and June Dairy Day. Grilled cheese sandwiches are the featured food at each of these cheese-centered events, with one taking place in the city and the other in the country.

Grilled Cheese Day will be held June 21 at Silver-Shea Holsteins near Omro, featuring a meal that includes a grilled cheese sandwich, cheese curds, potato chips, milk and custard. Focused on the freshest taste from the farm, every sandwich and cheese curd served will be made from milk produced by the cows at Silver-Shea Holsteins.

Owned by Allen and Cathy Silverthorn and their son and daughter-in-law, Josh and Jade Silverthorn, the farm is home to 180 milk cows. For the last 20 years, the Silverthorns have shipped their milk to Union Star Cheese Factory in Fremont.

“The cheese curds are about as fresh as you can get,” Jade said. “They will be made from milk we produce the night before and brought out fresh in the morning.”

Jade said their farm is currently the only one producing milk for the factory, which is owned by Jon Metzig.

“Grilled Cheese Day is a good opportunity to push that connection with our cheese plant,” she said. “We’re excited to have everyone come out and see what we do.”

Cows are milked twice a day in a step-up double-6 parlor and are housed in a sand- bedded freestall barn. The family farms about 400 acres.

“With the connection we have with Union Star, you don’t get much closer to all the cheese than that,” Josh said. “The grilled cheese and cheese curds — everything is provided by our cows — and we’re excited to promote that.”

The Silverthorns hosted breakfast on the farm 10 years ago. Dan Hinz, chairman of the Winnebago County dairy promotion committee, said the breakfast changed to a grilled cheese event in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic. The county did an on-farm grilled cheese drive-through event that year and the following year.

The change in format ended up working out in their favor, and the committee decided to retain the grilled cheese menu when returning to the full-scale June Dairy Month event in 2022.

“The grilled cheese meal and fresh cheese curds are more dairy centered,” Hinz said. “Featuring cheese and butter, I think there is more dairy in the sandwiches than in the traditional breakfast. It’s a simpler, easier menu and we’re able to get away with less volunteers.”

Hinz and his family milk 300 cows on their farm in Pickett.

“This year at Grilled Cheese Day, we’re focusing heavily on Union Star, which is the only cheese plant in Winnebago County,” Hinz said.

The event will also include farm tours, butter making, cheese sampling, dairy trivia and more. Hinz said they are hoping to see around 2,000 people at Grilled Cheese Day.

“People enjoy it,” he said. “There is so much disconnect nowadays, and this is their chance to come out and see a working family farmstead and meet the farmers. They can get up close to the calves, etc.”

On June 14, June Dairy Day was set to be held for the third year in a row. Organized by the Oshkosh Parks Department, June Dairy Day takes place in downtown Oshkosh at the Leach Amphitheater.

“The parks department wanted to do something during June Dairy Month, and the event is slowly growing,” Hinz said. “The first year, we had a few hundred people come. Last year, we had about 800, and hopefully we’ll build on that more this year.”

Grilled cheese sandwiches made from provolone and cheddar are combined on the same sandwich and available for purchase. Hinz said these two cheeses melt well together. Calves, heifers and dairy goats will be on display. In addition, cheese samples, root beer floats and educational activities designed to teach people about dairy will be part of the event.

“With Wisconsin being known as the dairy state, June Dairy Month is our opportunity to try and get people on a farm, but if we can’t get them to the farm, we can bring the farm to downtown Oshkosh,” Hinz said. “We can teach them about our dairy industry across the state, and they can see the animals too.”

Hinz said they felt adding the second June Dairy Month event was important because it reaches a different demographic than Grilled Cheese Day.

“With such a diverse culture in Oshkosh, we saw it as our opportunity to educate a completely different group of people,” Hinz said. “This is a chance to teach them about dairy and the great Wisconsin cheese and cheesemakers we have throughout the state.” ]

Promoting the dairy industry is a yearlong endeavor for the Winnebago County dairy promotion committee. During National Ice Cream Month in July, the committee has brought a calf to Leon’s Frozen Custard in Oshkosh. Around Christmas, they host cheese and wine samplings/pairings as well as milk and cookies at Brighton Acres, an event barn in the area. In early December, they support a marathon by handing out bottles of chocolate milk.

“It’s a great recovery drink and shows support for nutrition,” Hinz said.

June remains the focus of the county’s promotions, however, and the Silverthorn family said they are looking forward to welcoming the community to their farm to celebrate. Visitors to Grilled Cheese Day will be able to connect the dots from farm to table while eating products made with milk from the cows that stand before them.

“If even one person who doesn’t have a connection to the dairy industry has a positive experience and can feel closer to their food, it will be a great experience,” Jade said.