This post has been written by a guest blogger; the Cheesy Old Codger, a.k.a., my dad.
How an old codger spends summers in retirement (the definitive checklist). Play golf, check out the Blue Angels at EAA Airventure 2017, golf, touring historic homes, golf, stopping at Woodman’s for their liquor department, golf… the list goes on like that. Now, that’s quality time spent in retirement.
My wife and I go to Woodman’s often, she buys the groceries, and I go for the finer things – a liquor department that puts other liquor departments to shame. On this occasion, I was perusing the bourbon aisle while my wife was out wandering the store. After making my purchase, I joined the sea of Friday afternoon shoppers, and I happened to find my wife in the dairy department. With her cart half full, she was reading which items from her list were still needed.
On a small, innocent looking table lay bags of Dupont Cheese curds, giving me a “come hither” stare. A pledge I made many years ago, to never let a fresh cheese curd be alone, I reached out and befriended them. Little did they know I would eat them.
Big Box and Fresh
Yes, a big box supermarket can have fresh curds delivered on the day they are made. Woodman’s in Appleton has fresh cheese curds delivered on certain days of the week. This table was full of Dupont Cheese located in Marion, WI. All the bags were dated with that day’s date with a time stamp of 8 am. I happily grabbed a bag and threw it in our cart.
When I got back to our car, I dug out the curds from the bags of groceries and decided to try them straight away. You have to be wanting to get into this bag of curd. The bag was tamper proof, with a heavy duty wire cleat sealing the bag, not the twist- on- twist-off tie typically found from a small-scale curd operation.
Quality
The store had the curd stored and ready to eat at room temperature, just as the bag had printed on the packaging “Best when served at room temperature.”
The curds were a yellow variety, but the manufacturer did not say what kind. They had a mild cheddar flavor, and the salt was at a minimum. I had to roll the curd around in my mouth so my taste buds could locate the salt. The texture was a robust rubbery, smooth, and yet they still had a tender structure. With my first bite into the curd, I knew they were fresh, with the squeaking that only a fresh curd can deliver, and it continued reverberation in my head until they were just small particles.
My take is, if you need a curd fix and can’t find a cheese factory, these curds at Woodman’s will satisfy your restless taste buds.
A new item got added to my bucket list that day; a road trip to the factory in Marion WI.
Sincerely,
C. O. Codger
The Cheese Curd Hunter 
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