Dante Sheepmilk Cheese, Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative

This product—purchased in a “local foods” store in Decorah, Iowa—is a sheep milk cheese produced by the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative. The logo appears to be inspired by Auguste Rodin’s sculpture of a man in thought [Dante, to become the later sculpture The Thinker and seated on the top center of Rodin’s Gates of Hell] with his head replaced by a sheep. About Dante, cheese.com writes, “Dante is a soft cheese made using pasteurized sheep’s milk, made by the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Cooperative (WSDC), Bruce, Wisconsin, US.  The cheese is aged for a minimum of 6 months. Dante is nutty and rich in flavour, firm and slightly dry in texture. It can be eaten with fruits or pastas and it pairs well with red wines, white wines.”

The cooperative would later produce a sister cheese, called Dante Lamb (label pictured above) in 2013. The label features a similar logo.

Contributed by Ruth Caldwell (Luther College)

Related Sighting

Dante’s Fine Foods (Cambridge, New Zealand)