The dairy state

When you visit a place it's good to take advantage of that region's unique qualities. Take Wisconsin, for example. The minute you drive your rental car out of the airport you're experiencing the dairy state's unusual way of de-cing its roads. Is there any other place that sprays cheese on its highways in winter?

Well, to be more accurate it's actually a cheese by-product: the brine left over from making mozzarella, when tossed on pavement, causes the salt to adhere. Wisconsin is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars by using far less salt than in the past, plus the cheese makers don't have to dispose of all that brine. Pretty cool, eh?

Speaking of cheese makers, we always try to visit one. I favor the mild brick from Widmer's Dairy in tiny Theresa, Wisconsin. (That's pronounced Teh-reh-sa, not Teh-ree-sa.)

We picked up two kinds of brick (on sale) and some fresh cheddar cheese curds. Divine.

Chocolate is also a dairy product.

The same day we went to Widmer's dairy we also visited Hughes Chocolate in Oshkosh. Here, when they say "Oysters" they don't mean oysters. They mean little round chocolates rolled in crushed peanuts. I ate mine before realizing I should have taken a picture.

The endearing thing about Hughes is that it produces its chocolate in the basement of an old house, and on a cold winter day there's a window open in order to cool the chocolate bunnies.

Didn't I just read that including fat in one's diet isn't the big no-no that it used to be? That article was perfectly timed for our trip to the dairy state. I'm going back for more.