Artisan cheesemaking is on the rise in Michigan, though it’s not an easy business to get into. The number of small, independent cheese producers in Michigan is expected to nearly double in the near future.
Sue Kurta is among those leading the way. As she stirs the curdling milk that will become Swiss cheese, you can see the colorful tattoos that cover her arms. They’re pictures of pineapples, a cruise ship and other upbeat things.
“It stirs for quite a long time like this and if you don’t give it a toss, it can mat together,” Kurta says.
Kurta’s business is called Boss Mouse Cheese, a memorable name that comes from an antique photo of her Aunt Julia as a child. In it, Julia wears an outsized bow in her hair that looks kind of like mouse ears.
“And so Boss Mouse to me is like BOSS -- but it’s a little mouse,” Kurta says. “And then she’s this sort of startled little Victorian girl with big mouse ears. The whole thing is so funny to me, and it’s fun to say.”
Boss Mouse is one of about 20 small, artisan cheese makers in Michigan. Most are also dairy farmers.
“For the most part, it’s people who already have milking animals and decide to go into the production side of things,” says Terry Philibeck, deputy director of the Michigan agriculture department.
Boss Mouse is one of just a few that only make cheese. Leelanau Cheese Company of Suttons Bay is another. Kurta buys her milk from Moomer’s Dairy near Traverse City. Getting milk can be a challenge for somebody that wants to open a cheesery.
“The problem with our dairy production today is that it’s in larger volumes," says Philibeck. "It’s difficult to purchase a smaller volume of milk.”
Kurta started Boss Mouse cheese as a part-time job out of her passion about two years ago. She’s full-time now and a regular at local farm markets, but also sells at upscale markets and restaurants downstate. She specializes in Montasio cheese, which is the base to which she adds flavors like Sriracha hot sauce, or the French herbs du provence.
Her cheese curds are popular and so is an experiment she tried with smoked butter.The Rachael Ray Show, a cooking show on Food Network, has ordered some of her butter.
From Wall Street to cheese
Kurta lived in New York City and was a secretary for Wall Street bankers when she took a class in how to make cheese in her kitchen. Then, in the 1990s, she took a break from her job.
“I had a really great boss I had been with for a few years -- a really good man,” she says. “I asked if I could take a leave of absence from my job, unpaid, to go live in the country in Maine and go work on a cheese farm for about three months and I did. And then I really fell in love. Then it totally sealed the deal.”
That was several years before she moved back to Michigan and started making cheese to sell.Now, she works long days purchasing milk, making cheese, packaging it, distributing it and selling it face to face to customers.
The 20 artisan cheese makers already operating in Michigan may soon have more company, as another 15 or so are trying to get licensed. That process usually takes about two years, with numerous health regulations and other hurdles.Kurta has chosen to go even further and achieved state certification as an environmentally sound operation through the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program.
She says her formula for success is simple.
“No matter how cute your logo is or how cool you are, or whatever, if your cheese, if your food isn’t good, it doesn’t matter,” she says. “So I think the first thing is make a superior product. Make the best possible cheese you know how to make. And then be really nice to people.”
Kurta sells her cheeses through the winter at the Indoor Farmers Market at Grand Traverse Commons.