Harmony Specialty Dairy offers new cheeses

STRATFORD, Wis. — Harmony Specialty Dairy Foods and Blaser’s USA Inc. recently introduced a new Private Selection Artisan Cheese Collection “Golden Age,” a line of English-style cow’s milk cheeses using traditional handcrafted production techniques.

The Bredl family, a fifth generation Marathon County Wisconsin dairy producer, uses milk that comes solely from the family’s Harmony-Ho Dairy, to produce the “single farm cheese” that the company says ensures a consistent depth of flavor and richness in texture.

Blaser’s USA, which distributes the cheese, is preparing the Golden Age line for a nationwide launch. The flavors are available in 8-ounce exact weight and include:

• Cheshire style — a buttery and salty cheese featuring a full-bodied and tangy flavor with a lemony finish and loose crumbly texture, available in Plain or Savory infused;

• Double Gloucester style — a traditional English Cheddar-style cheese with a bold orange color and bright, eggy and somewhat sharp flavor;

• Caerphilly style — a pure white cheese that is pressed to give it a firm yet crumbly and flaky texture; it has honey notes and a fresh clean aroma and is available in Plain or Cranberry infused; and

• Abergele — The Bredl family’s own creation, a cheese with a moist, creamy texture and a mild taste with a distinctive tang, described by the company as buttery and fruity with a hint of spice, available in Plain or infused with Cranberry/Orange or Apricot/Ginger.

Harmony Specialty Dairy Foods owner and marketing manager Ralph Bredl says he and his wife Sharon drew inspiration for the cheeses from their Victorian-style home and passion for that era as well as their interest in Wales and the United Kingdom, where they have made friends over the years through foreign training programs.

“From lambing season to rolling in the fresh grass, there’s a romance that sticks with you,” Bredl says of the region.

Abergele is named after a town on the north coast of Wales on the Irish Sea where the Bredls have spent time.

“It’s one of those itty bitty towns you fall in love with,” he says. “It was a bit of a tribute to the romance of the area.

“You can’t duplicate those cheeses, we understand that,” he adds, “but we are trying to capture some of the essence of those cheeses from the UK.”

The Bredls’ cheese production company, which started in 2007, also recently introduced a line under the Harmony Specialty Dairy Foods label that includes Signature Yellow Cheddar, Jalapeño Jack, Havarti, Jalapeño Havarti, Asiago and Parmesan varieties.

CMN