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Maytag Blue Cheese
Item number: 308
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| Opening bid: $0 | Winning bid: $85 |
Shipping amount for this item: $0
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Winning Bidder: Kevin \"This cheese is mine\" Carey
Donated by: John Klaus |
For years Maytag washers and dryers were the gold standard of such appliances, and for years all of them were made in Iowa, in the small county-seat town
of Newton. Maytag Industries has been sold, and the appliance plant is silent today.
But down the road and around the corner from the plant, nestled among the rolling hills, fertile fields, and aged oaks of central Iowa, is the Maytag Dairy
Farm, which produces Maytag Blue cheese, as well as other, lesser-known (but equally wonderful) cheeses. Yes, the two are related. Fritz Maytag, son
of the founder of the Maytag washing machine company, decided he wanted to make his own entrepreneurial mark on the world. Shortly before World
War II, he established a prize-winning herd of Holstein milk cows. About 1940 he began working with scientists at nearby Iowa State University to begin
making a great American blue cheese, modeled on the great blues of Europe. The result was one of the first American farmstead cheeses of superior
quality.
On October 11, 1941, the first wheels of Maytag Blue Cheese, made by hand from whole, unpasteurized, rich Iowa milk, were formed and put to age in
limestone caves on the Maytag farm property. Not much has changed since then, although the cheese truck is newer and Maytag’s cheesemakers are older!
Today, they still make each wheel by hand, aging it in their caves twice as long as most other blue cheeses. After all, why change a good thing?
The dairy, unlike the appliance name, is still owned by the Maytag family, and collects milk from a local dairy cooperative, rather than raising its own
cows. Maytag cheese makers, however, are still hand-making the same cheese that they created in the early 1940s. Maytag Blue’s popularity has taken off
with the growing interest in American artisan cheeses, and this wonderful, relatively mild blue cheese is featured on menus and in gourmet shops across
the country. Cheese experts have called it “the greatest American Blue Cheese, and among the greatest in the world!” Try some for yourself. It is perfect
for blue cheese novices and for those who just can’t eat enough of the stuff.
Maytag Blue is a creamy blue cheese, tending toward the salty side (as with all great blue cheeses), with subtle overtones of pepper and fruit. It is best
kept refrigerated, and then brought to room temperature just before serving to allow its rich bouquet to develop and its zesty flavors to come to the fore.
This spectacular all-American cheese is ideal with fruit, particularly with tart apples or ripe autumn and winter pears. It is equally at home crumbled
over a special salad or served atop a sizzling steak—though some would see these as a waste of such a treasure, because it is so delicious in and of itself.
It goes well with most wines, from a flinty French white, to a spicy German Gewürztraminer, to a really good Rosé—and it will more than hold its own
with a big, noble red or an ancient Port.
This auction is for eight 8-ounce wedges of this mouth-watering delicacy from America’s beautiful heartland—a total of FOUR POUNDS! Because
this cheese freezes well, and suffers but little in texture when gently thawed to room temperature, the fortunate winning bidder can try some right out of the
box, and pop some into the freezer for that special future party. To protect the integrity of the cheese, the donor will ship it overnight to the winner when
the heat of summer has abated, and cooler weather will protect every savory tidbit.
Retail value over $50
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