SEVENTY YEARS AGO

On October 11, 1941, the first wheels of Maytag Blue Cheese were formed and put to age in our caves. In the past 70 years, not much has changed - Our truck is newer and our cheese makers are older - We still make each wheel by hand and age it in our caves twice as long as most other blue cheese. Today, the Tradition Continues.

The History of Maytag Blue Cheese

In 1941, Maytag Dairy Farms began producing world famous Blue Cheese in the heartland of America with milk from a prize winning herd of Holstein cattle. This herd of show cattle was established in 1919 by E.H. Maytag, the son of the founder of the famous appliance firm. During the 1930’s, the Maytag Holsteins gained fame in competition across the North American continent.

Fred Maytag II, who succeeded his father in 1940, heard about a new process for making Blue Cheese developed by Iowa State University. This process is still in use today. It is a time consuming method of hand making cheese in small batches, using fresh sweet milk from Iowa dairy farms. Each batch of cheese is monitored carefully during the long months of aging in our curing caves. Only when the peak of flavor is reached, do we sell our cheese.

The ownership of Maytag Dairy Farms is now in the third and fourth generations of the Maytag family, with the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of E.H. Maytag providing the leadership. In the tradition of E.H. Maytag’s original group of Grand Champion dairy cattle, we strive to make the best cheese we can – possibly the best in the world.