WAKKER’S CREAMY CHEESES ARE TRADITIONAL FARMSTEAD GOUDA STYLE CHEESES, MADE BY JOHANNES AND HIS FAMILY TEAM, WIFE OLGA, DAUGHTER IULIIA AND SON IN LAW SERGII. JOHANNES STEMS FROM A LONG TRADITION OF DUTCH DAIRY FARMERS. HE WAS BORN AND SPENT HIS EARLY FORMING YEARS, ON HIS GRANDMOTHER’S FARMSTEAD IN AALSMEER, LOCATED NEAR AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND. JOHANNES AND FAMILY DECIDED TO COME TO WISCONSIN TO PURSUE HIS DREAM OF OWNING A DAIRY FARM. THEY STARTED WITH A SMALL OPERATION IN 1988, DOWN IN GREEN COUNTY. LATER IN 1995, THE WAKKERS MOVED TO KEWAUNEE TO BE ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH THE CHANGING DAIRY INDUSTRY. IN 2010, WHILE VISITING FAMILY OVERSEES, JOHANNES’S MOM SHOWED HIM AN OLD PHOTOGRAPH FROM BEFORE WORLD WAR 1, DEPICTING HIS GRANDMOTHER STANDING NEXT TO A DOG CART, USED TO SELL THE FAMILY’S DAIRY PRODUCTS DOOR TO DOOR. SEEING THIS PICTURE, JOHANNES DEVELOPED THE DESIRE TO PICK UP ON THAT TRADITION AS WELL. THAT DREAM CAME FINALLY TO FRUITION IN FALL 2015. WAKKER’S CREAMY CHEESES ARE MADE WITH RAW JERSEY / HOLSTEIN MILK FROM OUR FARM WAKKER’S DAIRY. THE WHEELS ARE RIPENED ON WOODEN PLANKS AT 55 DEGREES F AND 85 RELATIVE HUMIDITY, LIKE IT IS STILL DONE ON DUTCH FARMSTEADS TODAY. ALL CHEESE MAKING EQUIPMENT WAS SHIPPED IN FROM THE NETHERLANDS. INGREDIENTS USED IN OUR CHEESE ARE SOURCED FROM HOLLAND AS WELL. THE RESULT OF THIS MIX OF DUTCH INGREDIENTS AND LOCAL MILK IS A UNIQUE GOUDA CHEESES WITH A WISCONSIN TWIST, OR AS CONNOISSEURS SAY A WISCONSIN TERROIR.