Monroe
- Producer
- Emmi Roth
- Country
- United States
- Region
- Wisconsin
- Weight
- 1.6 lbs
- Website
- www.emmiroth.com
- Milk
- Cow
- Treatment
- Pasteurised
- Classification
- Semi Soft
- Rennet
- Animal
- Rind
- Washed
- Style
- Washed-Rind
Roth wades into soft-ripened territory for the first time with this fudgy and luscious stunner. Named for the company’s hometown in Wisconsin, Monroe is hand-smeared with a culture-rich brine and turned daily during over a month of aging, rendering it pink-orange and tacky with an oozing paste.
The Roth family cheesemaking venture began in 1865 in Uster, Switzerland, then a small town just outside Zurich. By the end of the century the family decided to bring their expertise in European cheeses to America. By the early 1900s, Otto Roth had established a successful business that soon became one of the largest importers of European specialty cheeses in North America, laying the foundation for what today forms Roth Käse USA.
In 1991, convinced there was a future for making great cheeses in America, Fermo Jaeckle, a former executive with Otto Roth & Co., joined with his cousins, Felix and Ulrich Roth, to further extend their Swiss roots and cheesemaking expertise into the rolling hills of Green County, Wisconsin.
In 2009, Roth Käse USA merged with Emmi Swiss dairy cooperative to form Emmi Roth. Today, Emmi Roth’s expansive portfolio displays a unique marriage of cheeses from two different worlds with very similar traditions and local values: Roth cheeses from Wisconsin and Emmi’s full range of traditional varieties imported from Switzerland.
Known locally as Little Switzerland for its source of high quality milk, Roth’s home of Green County Wisconsin is particularly well-suited to cheesemaking. It was in the Green County town of Monroe, this cheese’s namesake, that Roth Käse USA was established, initially with a view towards making authentic Alpine-style cheeses.
After 25 years of producing washed rind cheeses, Roth developed the Monroe cheese to showcase its expertise. For the first two weeks, Monroe is brine-washed in a Brevibacterium linens brine daily, then every few days thereafter during a 30-day aging process, which takes place in the Roth cellars.
The cheese is in limited production, as each wheel is hand-smeared, but it's still made quite an impression on the cheese world; at the 2018 World Cheese Championship, newly-released Monroe secured a bronze medal in its category.
Tasting Notes
This savory stunner yields notes of toasted bread and butter and hints of bright citrus.
Pairings
Monroe’s creamy interior and toasty notes make it well suited to a fruity IPA or a chardonnay.
