Workers at Henning Cheese add jalapeños to a batch of pepper Jack cheese in the production area of the 112-year-old business near in Kiel in southwestern Manitowoc County. Henning’s aged cheddar placed in the top 20 of the World Championship Cheese Contest in 2024 and is entered in this year’s event that begins Tuesday at Monona Terrace in Madison.
Kerry Henning, a master cheesemaker in cheddar, Monterey Jack and Colby, shows off the 11 entries in this year’s World Championship Cheese Contest, including a wheel of tomato basil. The entries from Henning Cheese also include an aged cheddar and another cheddar with black garlic and peppercorn. Henning also will submit a 12-pound wheel of cheddar with onion and chive that won its category and was a top 20 finisher at the 2025 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest in Green Bay.
Kert Henning of Henning Cheese walks past a pair of 4,712-pound mammoth cheddar wheels made in January and which will be shipped this fall to a farmers market in Michigan. The wheels come with their own custom wire cutters with wooden handles.
Workers at Henning Cheese store boxes of cheese in the company’s warehouse. Henning has just begun expanding into markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Photos of founder Otto Henning, upper left, and his son, Everett Henning, middle, are seen in a small museum at Henning Cheese near Kiel. The company was established in 1914 in a cheese plant built in 1912.
It’s been 10 years since Emmi Roth took the top honors with a cheese made in Monroe. Prior to that, it was 1988 when a string cheese won.
Workers at Henning Cheese add jalapeños to a batch of pepper Jack cheese in the production area of the 112-year-old business near in Kiel in southwestern Manitowoc County. Henning’s aged cheddar placed in the top 20 of the World Championship Cheese Contest in 2024 and is entered in this year’s event that begins Tuesday at Monona Terrace in Madison.
Kerry Henning, a master cheesemaker in cheddar, Monterey Jack and Colby, shows off the 11 entries in this year’s World Championship Cheese Contest, including a wheel of tomato basil. The entries from Henning Cheese also include an aged cheddar and another cheddar with black garlic and peppercorn. Henning also will submit a 12-pound wheel of cheddar with onion and chive that won its category and was a top 20 finisher at the 2025 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest in Green Bay.
Photos of founder Otto Henning, upper left, and his son, Everett Henning, middle, are seen in a small museum at Henning Cheese near Kiel. The company was established in 1914 in a cheese plant built in 1912.
Workers at Henning Cheese store boxes of cheese in the company’s warehouse. Henning has just begun expanding into markets in Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Kert Henning of Henning Cheese walks past a pair of 4,712-pound mammoth cheddar wheels made in January and which will be shipped this fall to a farmers market in Michigan. The wheels come with their own custom wire cutters with wooden handles.
