Rare 15-year cheddar cheese ready for its debut

MINERAL POINT — A lot has happened for Tony and Julie Hook in the last 15 years.

They’ve quit making cheese for distributors and gone entirely to their own Hook’s Cheese brand. They’ve seen local farmers they work with retire or move on to other careers. They’ve seen their children get married and the birth of their first grandchild.

And during those 15 years, more than 1,000 pounds of cheese sat wrapped in plastic in a cooler set at 38 degrees in their factory, its flavors deepening and its texture changing to add that crystal-like crunch that old cheddars acquire.

This weekend, Hook’s Cheese will debut a rare 15-year cheddar, something that has been piquing the interest of many cheese fans.

“It’s very unusual to keep a cheese that long,” said Mark Johnson of the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research. “The oldest I’ve seen commonly is six to eight years. Fifteen-year cheeses, those are pretty rare.”

The Hooks’ factory is open to the public just one day a week -- on Friday. The cheese will be for sale there on Friday and at the Dane County Farmers’ Market at Monona Terrace on Saturday. It will sell for $35.95 a pound, more at specialty shops. (Their one-year cheddar sells for $5.25 a pound at the Farmers’ Market.)

“It’s like a good Scotch, the people that like it and know it are willing to pay the price,” said Ken Monteleone, owner of Fromagination, which will sell the cheese.

Monteleone’s Capitol Square cheese shop also sells Hook’s 10- and 12-year cheddars.

“We get people who say, ‘Why is it so expensive?’” Monteleone said, “and we say, ‘If you put your money in the bank 15 years ago, what kind of return would you expect?’ That kind of shuts them up.”

Hook’s Cheese has carved a niche with its aged cheddars, running from one year to 12 years. Other companies, including Carr Valley of La Valle, Forgotten Valley in South Wayne and Widmer’s Cheese Cellar in Theresa, also sell 10-year cheddars.

Cheese can age indefinitely if kept in proper conditions, Johnson said. It’s just a matter of getting a return on the investment. He said the oldest he has tried was an 18-year cheddar in Washington state.

Hook’s 10-year cheddar has been a popular cheese for restaurants and specialty shops throughout the U.S. In 2005, he decided to keep some 10-year cheddar longer to try for 12- and 15-year cheeses.

A couple times each year, Hook tasted the cheddar to see how it was aging.

“It’s not just putting it back in the corner and letting it sit there,” he said.

Very early in a cheese’s life, Hook knows if it’s going to age well or not.

“I can tell if there’s any sort of off flavors, they’ll come out before five years,” he said. “By then, if something tastes great, it’s probably going to get better.”

The Hooks will sell 1,200 pounds of the 15-year cheddar in this first batch. Another batch will be available in three months; Hook declined to say how big that batch will be.

He also couldn’t say just how old he’d go with his cheeses.

“I’d like to hold a block or two to 20 years, but if everything sells out, I might not be able to,” he said. “I might hide one, though. Who knows?”