For many artists carving is an enjoyable and creative hobby, while for others it is a profession.

Materials used by carvers vary from soft wood, like balsa, to a hard stone, such as granite or marble.

One of the more unusual items used for carving is cheese.  

Yes, cheese.

Perhaps you have heard of cheese carving, but it was certainly a new art form for the two of us. We came across this unusual activity during a June trip to Wisconsin at a time when the state was celebrating National Dairy Month. The dairy business is a big deal in Wisconsin, which prides itself on being referred to as “The Dairy State.”  

One of the special events scheduled the first weekend in June is the annual Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival that takes place in the village of Little Chute.

The festival includes a variety of family activities, many of which are kind of “cheesy.”  

For example, there is a Big Cheese Breakfast, a Big Cheese parade, the Cheddar Chase (one-mile walk/run), a Cheese Jam (music), the cheese cake contest, a cheese curd eating contest, free cheese tasting, and, yes, cheese carving.  

Cheese Carving at the Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival

The festival’s cheese carving is presented as a demonstration rather than a contest.

Each carver starts with a 40-pound block of cheese, although on this day an exception was made for the youngest two entrants, the Krieski twins, who shared a 40-pound block by splitting it in half.

The demonstration specifies medium-aged cheddar cheese that has stability, but is soft enough for detailed carving. Festival goers are welcome to approach the cheese carvers, talk with them, and eat scraps of cheese surrounding the carvings.

Six carvers were at tables sheltered by a tent on the beautiful Saturday afternoon of our visit. One participant, Darren Honnold, was carving cheese for the first time. Darren said he had experience sculpting snow and ice, but found carving cheese to be quite different.

On the other end of the spectrum, Troy Landwehr has carved cheese in each of the 27 annual Great Wisconsin Cheese Festivals.

The Michelangelo

of Cheese Carving

In 1988, when Troy Landwehr was just 11 years old, Little Chute was organizing its first Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival.

One of the events planned was a cheese-carving demonstration and interested people were invited to apply. To bolster recruiting, an experienced cheese carver visited Troy’s school and presented a one-hour lesson on the basics of cheese carving. The 11-year-old decided this was something he wanted to try; plus he could turn it into a 4-H project.

Twenty-seven years later, he is not only still carving cheese at the Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival, he has turned cheese carving into a part-time job.

Troy has traveled around the U.S. and abroad to carve his creations. He averages three to four carving demonstrations most months; but for this June, being National Dairy Month, he had eight events on his schedule.

He said his favorite location for carving is grocery stores where shoppers are able to easily approach his table and carry on a conversation.  

The majority of Troy’s carvings are from 40-pound blocks of cheddar cheese, but he has worked on several projects that were much larger. He carved the Lincoln Memorial from a 640-pound block, the Statue of Liberty from a 1,200-pound block, and a scene representing the signing of the Declaration of Independence from a 2,000-pound block of cheese.

Following completion of a carving, he sprays the finished project with Pam (a non-stick spray) to keep the cheese from drying out and cracking for up to seven days.

Asked if he is the country’s most famous cheese carver, he answered, “Infamous, maybe, I don’t know about famous.”  

An Expert’s

Advice for Future Cheese Carvers

When asked what advice he would give to someone who wanted to learn his craft, Troy offered these suggestions:

1) Practice with a potato or bar of soap.

2) Do your homework by locating images of what it is you might want to carve.

3) Draw the image in a manner similar to 3-D mapping.

4) Acquire the correct tools. Troy typically uses wide clay tools, but his favorite instrument is a dull kitchen paring knife.

5) Most of all, enjoy the experience.

 

Troy’s Other Job

Carving cheese isn’t an ideal way to get rich, even if you are the best in the business, so it isn’t surprising that Troy has a regular job as the owner and winemaker of Kerrigan Brothers Winery.

The business is named after his uncles because, he said, they were known to drink a lot. Troy entered the wine business by making fruit wine in his basement, and it wasn’t until 2000 that he opened his first winery.

In 2008, he moved the business to a new building located on 10 acres where he plans to grow his own raspberries, apples, and several other varieties of fruit.  

Kerrigan Brothers Winery produces several fruit wines including: blackberry, cranberry, pineapple; and combinations such as apple-peach, apple-raspberry and blueberry-cherry.

He has just started producing a chardonnay with the name Kiss Me Chardonnay.

The winery is about 30 miles south of Green Bay, just off U.S. Highway 41, near Freedom, Wis.

From Valdosta, you can hop on U.S. Highway 41, and cruise north for a little more than 1,000 miles to visit the winery and meet Troy.

The Village of

Little Chute

Little Chute, home for the annual Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival, is located in northeast Wisconsin, approximately 25 miles southwest of Green Bay.

The village was established in 1848 by Dutch settlers. The town has about 11,000 citizens and its centerpiece is an authentic, fully functioning windmill. The 100-foot-tall structure was constructed in the Netherlands and shipped in pieces to Little Chute where it was reconstructed. This monument to the town’s Dutch heritage is open seasonally for tours.

David and Kay Scott are authors of “Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges” (Globe Pequot). They live in Valdosta.

    

Additional Information

Information of the festival is available from Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival, Little Chute Village Hall, 108 W. Main St., Little Chute, WI 54140; or call (920) 788-7380.

The village of Little Chute is a member of the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau, 3433 West College Ave., Appleton, WI 54914; or call (800) 236-6673.

Troy Landwehr can be reached at Kerrigan Brothers Winery, N2797 State Highway 55, Freedom, WI 54130; or call (920) 788-1423.