Wisconsin Cheese Country

Swiss immigrants settled Green County from the 1840s and brought alpine cheesemaking with them, and the county became the centre of American Swiss and Limburger production - New Glarus still calls itself Little Switzerland and keeps the architecture and the festivals. Wisconsin is the only state that requires a licence to make cheese commercially, with a master cheesemaker programme modelled on European practice. The Chalet Cheese Cooperative near Monroe is the last plant in the United States still making Limburger, a washed-rind cheese with a smell that has kept it a minority interest. The Historic Cheesemaking Center in Monroe explains the trade, and several plants run viewing windows.

What to look for

• The last American Limburger plant - Chalet Cheese near Monroe.
• Swiss settlement from the 1840s - New Glarus keeps the architecture.
• A state cheesemaker licensing system - unique in the country.
• Viewing windows at working plants - and a cheesemaking museum.

When to go

May to October. A full day.

Before you go

Working plants have limited or no public access and early hours. Limburger is genuinely pungent and not to most tastes. Distances between towns need a car. Winter reduces most of it.

Nearby

New Glarus is north; Madison is beyond.