Pleasant Ridge Gruy�re

Earlier this week, I purchased some cave-aged Gruy�re from Switzerland, and I thought I had entered cheese nirvana. But this morning I treated myself to a small hunk of Pleasant Ridge Reserve, a Gruy�re-type cheese made just west of Madison in Dodgeville by the Uplands Cheese Company. It is one of Wisconsin's best specialty cheeses, and it reminded me that there's no place like home.

Gruy�re is a valley (and also a village) in Switzerland. You can read the official history of Gruy�re cheese here (if you read German) or a political history in English here. Gruy�re is different from that most famous Swiss cheese, Emmental, in that it uses cow's milk with higher fat content. This, of course, results in a sweeter cheese.

By the way, if you want to see real happy cows -- not the phoney, talking, wannabe-happy-cows from California -- check out the Uplands Cheese Company's wesbite.