'Fighting the forces of nature every day': Pagel's Ponderosa Farmstead cheesemaker revels in the challenge

Cheesemaker Ben Shibler can’t pass up a good cheese curd. He’s never met a cheese he won’t try. Mozzarella whips are always a temptation, and he’ll splurge for a good aged cheese.

After nearly two decades of cheesemaking in the Green Bay area, he still sees cheese as an endless opportunity for learning. As head cheesemaker at Pagel’s Ponderosa Farmstead and Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese, he has created an array of award-winning cheeses.

This year, Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese received a number of top honors at the World Dairy Expo, including placing first and third for mozzarella string. In the flavored cheese curd category, Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese placed second with ranch curds and third with its garlic and dill. The 2022 World Dairy Expo runs Oct. 2 through Oct. 7 at the Alliant Energy Center, 1919 Alliant Energy Center Way, Madison.

Shibler and his team work at the on-farm creamery envisioned by John Pagel at Ponderosa Farmstead, N4893 County C, Kewaunee. Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese retail store is located at 124 Main St., Luxemburg.

Getting started

I’ve grown up within 30 minutes of Green Bay my entire life, a Wisconsinite cheesehead. I’ve been in dairy since my first job baling hay for the neighbors at 11 …

I got a degree in forestry and wildlife management. The job market was atrocious that year, and I didn’t want to live at home forever.

There are cheese plants everywhere within an hour of Green Bay. The cheese industry in this area has a reputation for paying well. It is hard work, and they compensate you for it. I got hired at a plant about 20 minutes from where I grew up …

A year later, I landed my first plant manager job at the same company. I was good at it and liked it. Before you knew it, I stayed with cheese and stopped looking for a job with my degree. Now, 18 years later, I’ve been operations manager at Ponderosa Dairy, the legal name is Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese, and head cheesemaker since 2016.

Mastering mozzarella

I’m studying to be a master cheesemaker in mozzarella. It is a three-year process from the time you are accepted to the program, once you’ve been a licensed cheesemaker for 10 years. I’m scheduled to graduate in April 2023. I have one class left to take.

You can’t pick any old cheese; it has to be a cheese you can prove you have been making for at least five years.

First cheese he made

Mozzarella. I got hired at a plant that made mozzarella and provolone. I did those for about a year, then blue cheese and gorgonzola and taleggio, then a couple years mascarpone, ricotta and a little more provolone and mozzarella depending on where the plant was running.

Now at Ron’s the past six and a half years I’ve been doing cheddar, Colby jack, mozzarella, some French raclette, pecorino, parmesan. The last six years have been really fun, getting into some cool stuff.

Why he loves making cheese

I’ve never been the sit-down, studious type. I like to do things with my hands. Cheesemaking fits well with that.

It is not as routine as people think. You're fighting the forces of nature every day. We're taking milk, bacteria and bringing it to different temperatures and concentrations. We’re trying to manipulate it to turn into a cheddar or provolone or whatever, and Mother Nature likes to flex her muscles. You need to adjust on the fly every day. It is part of the skill of cheesemaking.

What he eats in a day

I easily eat over a pound of cheese a day during a shift. We make some of the best cheese curds in the world, we have the awards to prove it. The mozzarella whips, those are snack products, so it is almost too easy.

Can’t live without

The one thing I can’t get enough of is the mozzarella whips. We have a hot pepper jalapeño cheese whip. It is the most addicting thing, a slightly salty snack with that pepper spice note. Oh boy are those good. Then our snow cheddar, our version of a traditional cheddar with some alpine cultures and a nutty sweetness like a parmesan or asiago, that’s pretty addicting when it hits year three or four.

Milk makes the cheese

We’re actually a farmstead cheese operation. … The cheese plant is in the same building as the milking parlor. We don’t transport our milk. It is pumped right into the cheese vats. We’re one of the few places around set up like that.

In six hours or less, I can take something from cow to countertop. The milk I am using for curds and mozzarella whips, it is still in the cow when we turn the lights on and I am putting on my uniform. About 6.5 hours after the cow is milked, I have salted curds ready for retail.

That is on the Pagel’s Ponderosa, a 100% family-owned dairy farm in Kewaunee. We bought Ron’s Cheese, and that facility is in Luxemburg. The cheese we make is transported to them, where they package it. All of it is owned by the Pagel family.

By the number

Each vat gives us 1,000 pounds (of cheese). We run one to three vats per day. We have two big vats and one small one for experiments. That’s what we use when we’re making a change, so we haven’t screwed up the entire production run.

We make anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 pounds per week. Besides me, there are three other employees in the production plant.

The word on curd

Curds have definitely been the unsung hero for a long time, a hidden gem and best-kept secret. Modern times and technology have helped curds out, too, and the fact we can get better shelf life now with what we know. … I’ve met few people who have had a curd and not thought it was amazing.

Curd he craves

My favorite curd is not flavored, about 10 minutes right out of the vat. There are a handful of people on the planet who get to experience that flavor profile before it gets in the package. It is still good in the package, but it changes fairly quickly. It is unrefrigerated that first day, and you can’t beat that squeak, flavor and texture.

Evolving appetites

There is definitely a shift in what people want. Commodity cheese, like Kraft slices, will always be there because of people and families on a budget. Since I started, artisan cheeses have become much more popular. There is more being made, more being sold, and more pressure to come up with the next thing that has never been done before.

What he wants you to know

The World Dairy Expo and some of the other contests, it is a good opportunity for small people like us.

If you do win an award, it is a good opportunity for some great exposure and to show people you don't have to be a multimillion-dollar company with a huge research and development budget to be the best. … A small group of people that are passionate and study and research their trade can be just as good as any corporation.

What he still wants to learn

There is so much to cheesemaking I haven’t even touched on. … There are so many varieties of cheese and cultures and ways you can adjust your recipes. The possibilities are almost endless. There are almost over 400 cheeses produced in the state of Wisconsin. You could spend a lifetime and not even learn half of it. I want to learn as much as I can.

Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the everyday relationship that local notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email psullivan@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Pagel's Ponderosa cheesemaker loves the challenge, wins world awards