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Maytag Blue Cheese hails from Newton, Iowa, in central Iowa. The cheese is made from cow's milk, with a vegetarian Rennet and Penicillium roqueforti mould added. It's made in 4 pound (1.8 kg) cylinders that have long holes punched in them with needles to allow air to get inside to help the mould to develop. It's then aged in vaults beneath Newton for about 6 months.

This is a mild blue cheese with a bit of a lemony tang to it. The texture is moist and crumbly.

It takes about 100 pounds (45 kg) of milk to make 10 pounds (4.5 kg) of the cheese.

The company turns out about 600 wheels of cheese a day.

Equivalents
1 cup, crumbled = 1/4 pound = 115g

History
Maytag Blue Cheese was created by Frederick L. Maytag II and his brother Robert Maytag in Iowa. The first batch was produced on 11 Oct 1941.

Their grandfather, Frederick, had invented the washing machine. Their father, E.H. (Elmer Henry) Maytag, had started working at their grandfather's company in 1902 and become the Maytag president in 1926. E.H. had started a dairy farm as a hobby in 1919, raising Holstein cows. During the 1920s and 1930s, E.H. sold bottled milk and cream from that farm for delivery. He died in 1940.

Frederick II and Robert wanted to turn the dairy into more than just a hobby business, and so were looking for a product that could turn a definite profit.

In 1941, food scientists at Iowa State University developed a process for making blue cheese from homogenized milk (as opposed to Roquefort, which is made with unpasteurized sheep's milk.) The university had patented the process, but the Maytag brothers struck a deal with the university to use it.

The two brothers originally used the milk from their father's herd for the cheese, but now the milk comes from neighbouring herds.

Later, Frederick's son (Frederick III, aka Fritz) would go on to start the Anchor Steam Brewery.

In Newton, there was a Maytag appliance factory. Nearby is the Maytag Blue Cheese factory just outside Newton, a quarter of a mile (400 metres) from the appliance factory. When Maytag was bought out by Whirlpool, the appliance factory in Newton was shut down. And, though owned by Maytag family members, the cheese factory never had a business connection with the appliance business. As of 2009, the cheese factory is still a family owned small business.

Acknowlegements

See Also:

Bleu d'Causses, Guler Cheese

Other entries for:

Blue Cheeses
Beenleigh Blue Cheese, Bleu d'Auvergne, Bleu d'Causses, Bleu de Basque, Bleu de Gex, Bleu de Termignon, Blue Wensleydale, Buffalo Blue Cheese, Byland Blue Cheese, Cabrales Blue Cheese, Cambozola Cheese, Canterbury Blue Cheese, Caradon Blue Cheese, Cashel Blue Cheese, Cornish Blue Cheese, Crème de Saint Agur Cheese, Danish Blue Cheese, Devon Blue Cheese, Dorset Blue Vinney, Dunsyre Blue Cheese, Exmoor Blue Cheese, Fourme d'Ambert Cheese, Fourme de Montbrison Cheese, Gorgonzola Cheese, Guler Cheese, Harbourne Blue Cheese, Lanark Blue Cheese, Maytag Blue Cheese, Mrs Bells Blue Cheese, Oxford Blue Cheese, Penicillium Glaucum, Penicillium Roqueforti, Point Reyes Blue Cheese, Roquefort Cheese, Saint Agur Cheese, Shropshire Blue, Somerset Blue Cheese, Stilton, Strathdon Blue Cheese, Troo Bloo You Cheese, Valdeón Cheese

Other entries for:

Semi-Firm Cheeses
Appenzeller Cheese (Quarter Fat), Ardrahan Cheese, Asadero Cheese, Botton Cheese, Brunost Cheese, Buxlow Paigle, Caerphilly Cheese, Cantal Cheese, Carrigaline Farmhouse Cheese, Cheshire Cheese, Chèvre, Chihuahua Cheese, Cotherstone Cheese, Criollo Cheese, Danbo Cheese, Danish Fontina Cheese, Edam Cheese, Farmer's Cheese, Fontal Cheese, Gaperon Cheese, Grimbister Cheese, Huntsman Cheese, Jalapeño Cheese, Leerdammer Cheese, Liederkranz Cheese, Livarot Cheese, Maasdam Cheese, Manchego Cheese (Mexican), Monterey Jack Cheese, Morbier Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, Pavé d'Auge Cheese, Pavé d'Isigny Cheese, Pavé de Berry Cheese, Penyston Cheese, Quartirolo Cheese, Queso con Loroco, Ricotta Salata Cheese, Tetilla Cheese, Vacherin Fribourgeois, Wensleydale Cheese

Other entries for:

Cheese
Affinage, American Cheeses, Casu Marzu, Cheese Rinds, Creamery, Double/Triple-Cream Cheese, Extra-Hard Cheeses, Firm Cheeses, Goat's Milk Cheeses, Mexican Cheeses, Pate (of a Cheese), Processed Cheese, Queso Fundido, Rennet, Sheep's Milk Cheeses, Skim-Milk Cheeses, Smear-Ripened Cheeses, Soft Cheeses, Surface-Ripened Cheeses, Sweet Curd Cheeses, The Crumblies, Truckle, Washed-Curd Cheeses, Washed-Rind Cheeses, Yak Cheese, Yeel Cheese

Other entries for:

Dairy
Butterfat, Butter, Milk, Nondairy Topping