{"id":34247,"date":"2018-05-18T11:45:05","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T15:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?p=34247"},"modified":"2021-08-24T15:50:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T19:50:56","slug":"little-house-on-the-prairie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/","title":{"rendered":"Little House on the Prairie and Cheesemaking in America\u2019s Dairyland"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you grew up reading Little House on the Prairie<\/i> or watching its adaptation on TV, the name is likely to trigger some serious nostalgia. Laura Ingalls Wilder a.k.a. \u201cAmerica\u2019s favorite pioneer girl\u201d found fame chronicling her family\u2019s migration across the Midwest in the late 19<\/span>th<\/span> century. Tales of sweeping plains, Native American encounters, and hostilities borne in one-room schoolhouses place the series in a past I\u2019d long forgotten\u2014until I dove back into the books searching for cheese.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reopening the pages, I was transported back to the woods of Wisconsin, where the family tapped maple trees in spring and picked pumpkins in fall. At the tiny age of four, Wilder was already helping her \u201cMa\u201d and sister make food for the family. Back in the 1870s the people of Wisconsin\u2014now world-famous for their wedges and wheels\u2014were already churning out cheeses. In fact, Wilder devotes eight pages to describing the process.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cheesemaking happened only in summer when cow\u2019s milk was plentiful. The rennet (a coagulant used to curdle milk) was produced from one calf\u2019s stomach and split amongst multiple neighbors (\u201cwaste not, want not!\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\n

Cows were milked twice daily. The evening\u2019s milk was left overnight, and the cream was skimmed off the top to make butter. Ma sometimes used grated carrot to color that butter yellow\u2014especially during the winter, when the cream came out whiter. The remaining milk was added to the morning\u2019s fresh milking. Ma would add a mix of water and rennet to the milk. As the curds formed, she\u2019d separate them from the whey, mixing in salt. Like a true Wisconsinite, Wilder recalls those curds squeaking between her teeth.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cheesemaker<\/p>\n

Ma placed the curds in a wooden hoop covered in cloth and used a heavy rock to squeeze out whey. Every morning she took a new cheese wheel out of the hoop, trimmed it smooth, and covered it with a fresh cloth before rubbing it down with butter. As wheels aged, she\u2019d repeat the process, flipping them to ensure even rind development. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wilder\u2019s family relied on this cheese throughout the winter when food was scarce; as a result, it probably never aged past one year. It was probably similar to a young gouda style<\/a> with a natural rind\u2014a recipe passed down from mother to daughter, each woman making their own version. <\/span><\/p>\n

Cheese lovers interested in DIY dairy can still follow Ma\u2019s example of simple home cheesemaking. It doesn\u2019t get any more local and seasonal than the <\/span>Little House<\/span><\/i> method\u2014so <\/span>here\u2019s<\/span><\/a> a good recipe if you\u2019d like to make your gouda at home.  <\/span><\/p>\n

The books remind me how important dairy was in the survival of the farming families who built American cheese traditions. Nothing sums up milk\u2019s nourishing quality better than a song that \u201cPa\u201d sang about \u201cOld Grimes,\u201d a man who, according to legend, became gaunt and thin because his stingy wife skimmed the milk. \u201cIf she hadn\u2019t skimmed all the milk a little cream would have run off in the whey,\u201d explains Pa to Wilder. \u201cAnd Old Grimes might have staggered along.\u201d Instead, he blew away with the wind. So the next time you\u2019re laboring over a vat of curds or diving into a decadent cheese, think of Old Grimes\u2014and the Little House family\u2014and cut yourself slack for eating some fat. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve scoured the famed children\u2019s book for all the cheesy details your teacher never showed you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":22833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26354],"tags":[3591,2087,178,3590,3592,3589,2636,978],"coauthors":[2513],"class_list":["post-34247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-americas-dairyland","tag-cheese","tag-cheesemaking","tag-laura-ingalls-wilder","tag-literature","tag-little-house-on-the-prairie","tag-midwest","tag-wisconsin"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLittle House on the Prairie and Cheesemaking in America\u2019s Dairyland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We\u2019ve scoured the famed children\u2019s book for all the cheesy details your teacher never showed you\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Little House on the Prairie and Cheesemaking in America\u2019s Dairyland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019ve scoured the famed children\u2019s book for all the cheesy details your teacher never showed you\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"culture: the word on cheese\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-18T15:45:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-24T19:50:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BeemsterGouda_ftr.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"368\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Virginia White\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Virginia White\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/\",\"name\":\"Little House on the Prairie and Cheesemaking in America\u2019s Dairyland\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BeemsterGouda_ftr.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-18T15:45:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-24T19:50:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/18a19786c271f5fee1dc394391670c81\"},\"description\":\"We\u2019ve scoured the famed children\u2019s book for all the cheesy details your teacher never showed you\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BeemsterGouda_ftr.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BeemsterGouda_ftr.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":368},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/category\/stories\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Little House on the Prairie and Cheesemaking in America\u2019s Dairyland\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/\",\"name\":\"culture: the word on cheese\",\"description\":\"Culture, America's magazine for cheese lovers, delivers stories about cheeses, cheesemakers, travel to gorgeous cheese regions, and practical tips on buying, presenting, and cooking with cheese.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/18a19786c271f5fee1dc394391670c81\",\"name\":\"Erika Kubick\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/b30bd983f28ed6a17e023e5a5d0c56c4\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Anon-Cheese-Watercolor-500x500-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Anon-Cheese-Watercolor-500x500-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Erika Kubick\"},\"description\":\"Erika Kubick is a monger-turned-preacher devoted to turning on the next generation of cheese connoisseurs with seductive recipes, pairings, and enlightenment through her blog, Cheese Sex Death\u2014 a modern guide for cheese lovers.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/author\/erika-kubick\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Little House on the Prairie and Cheesemaking in America\u2019s Dairyland","description":"We\u2019ve scoured the famed children\u2019s book for all the cheesy details your teacher never showed you","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Little House on the Prairie and Cheesemaking in America\u2019s Dairyland","og_description":"We\u2019ve scoured the famed children\u2019s book for all the cheesy details your teacher never showed you","og_url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/","og_site_name":"culture: the word on cheese","article_published_time":"2018-05-18T15:45:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-08-24T19:50:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":368,"url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BeemsterGouda_ftr.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Virginia White","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Virginia White","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/","name":"Little House on the Prairie and Cheesemaking in America\u2019s Dairyland","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BeemsterGouda_ftr.jpg","datePublished":"2018-05-18T15:45:05+00:00","dateModified":"2021-08-24T19:50:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/18a19786c271f5fee1dc394391670c81"},"description":"We\u2019ve scoured the famed children\u2019s book for all the cheesy details your teacher never showed you","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BeemsterGouda_ftr.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/BeemsterGouda_ftr.jpg","width":750,"height":368},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/little-house-on-the-prairie\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/category\/stories\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Little House on the Prairie and Cheesemaking in America\u2019s Dairyland"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#website","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/","name":"culture: the word on cheese","description":"Culture, America's magazine for cheese lovers, delivers stories about cheeses, cheesemakers, travel to gorgeous cheese regions, and practical tips on buying, presenting, and cooking with cheese.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/18a19786c271f5fee1dc394391670c81","name":"Erika Kubick","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/b30bd983f28ed6a17e023e5a5d0c56c4","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Anon-Cheese-Watercolor-500x500-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Anon-Cheese-Watercolor-500x500-96x96.jpg","caption":"Erika Kubick"},"description":"Erika Kubick is a monger-turned-preacher devoted to turning on the next generation of cheese connoisseurs with seductive recipes, pairings, and enlightenment through her blog, Cheese Sex Death\u2014 a modern guide for cheese lovers.","url":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/author\/erika-kubick\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/97"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34247"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developer83.wordpress-developer.us\/culturecheesemag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=34247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}