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MONTFORT, Wis. — Wisconsin is staking claim to one of the world’s oldest, most distinctive styles of cheese, and this town — barely big enough to be on the map — is home to a world champion.

Wisconsin dominates domestic production of blue-veined cheeses, which get their character and flavor from mold cultures intentionally coaxed during aging. No other state comes close to either producing the same amount, or having the same number of blue cheese plants, according to John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.

“There’s no middle-of-the-road with blue-veined cheeses,” said Tim Pehl, plant manager for Montfort’s Wisconsin Farmers Union Specialty Cheese Co., on Highway 18 north of Platteville. “You either like it or you don’t.

“I wouldn’t have picked up a piece of blue until I started making it. But now I can’t get enough of it. I crumble it over steak on the grill with sauteed morels and onions or put it on burgers. I also like it on salads to add a little tang and a lot of flavor.”

Accolades for Wisconsin’s blue-veined cheeses are pouring in as baby boomers eagerly snap up more of the tangy cheese to add bold flavor to steaks, chicken and pasta. Restaurant chains are embracing blue cheeses, as well. And low-carb dieters crumble blue-veined cheeses over bitter salad greens — at times pushing demand beyond domestic supply.

And the cheeses are winning awards.

The gold medal Gorgonzola in the 2006 World Championship Cheese Contest was Montforte brand Gorgonzola made here by the Wisconsin Farmers Union plant. A Gorgonzola made by Salemville Cheese Co-Op in Cambria, an Amish community venture, took the bronze in the same contest.

And last year, North Hendren Cheese Cooperative of Willard earned top honors for blue-veined cheese in the 2005 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest. *** Twenty years ago, four cheese plants in Wisconsin produced blue-veined cheeses. Ten years later, that number had doubled; those eight plants produced 30 million pounds of blue, or 82 percent of the total U.S. blue-veined cheese production, according to the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.

Today, a dozen Wisconsin plants produce blue-veined cheeses, including both creamy (Italian style) and crumbly (American style) Gorgonzola, and Danish-style blue. Several of those plants opened within the last five or six years.

Wisconsin’s blue-veined cheese production now is estimated at close to 50 million pounds, based on an average growth of 4 percent to 5 percent annually, according to Dominique Delugeau, vice president of sales for DCI Cheese in Richfield. DCI has a stake in blue-veined cheeses produced at three Wisconsin plants.

“If a cheese plant makes blue, that’s about all they can make,” noted Dave Leonhardi, director of cheese education and events for the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

That’s because the liquid mold that is imported from France and stirred into blue-veined cheeses as they are being made in vats is volatile, and could spread to other types of cheeses being made in the same plant.

One reason Wisconsin has so many blue-veined cheese plants is because many of the state’s plants are smaller and can more easily specialize in one cheese style, Leonhardi said. *** Roughly 65 percent to 70 percent of blue-veined cheese production still goes into salad dressing, but this is down from 80 percent not long ago, Leonhardi said. As the volume of blue-veined cheeses produced in the U.S. has grown, so have uses for blue-veined cheeses, he said.

Consumers now top baked potatoes with blue cheese and use it as a seasoning or spice in a wide array of recipes.

Some people even put blue cheese over ice cream to give it a savory or salty twist, like adding peanuts, Leonhardi said.

“It’s a known fact that people’s palates look for more intense flavors as they get older,” Umhoefer said, explaining the growing appeal for blue-veined cheeses among baby boomers. “Also, as people travel more, they begin to appreciate and develop a better understanding for European cheeses,” he added.

The Montfort cheese plant, which produced 48,000 pounds of blue-veined cheese weekly five years ago, now produces close to 84,000 pounds weekly during peak production, Pehl said. About 90 percent of that is labeled blue cheese, while 10 percent is Italian-style Gorgonzola, which gets its smoothness from a high fat content.

Sales of its Montforte Gorgonzola have increased since word got out about the world championship, Pehl said.

Brennan’s Country Farm Market in Brookfield recently started selling Montforte brand cheeses. (Brennan’s also has stores in Monroe, Madison and New Glarus.) Monteforte cheeses also are available at the factory or its Web site, www.wfucheese.com.

The plant in Montfort started production five years ago. Milk used to create its cheeses comes from dairy farms within a 40-mile radius, Pehl said.

Delugeau, of DCI Cheese Co., attributes the increased popularity of blue cheeses in the past three years to the explosion of use on salads and to large restaurant chains adding blue and Gorgonzola to steaks and chicken dishes. Applebee’s, TGI Friday’s and Olive Tree are among those chains promoting blue-veined cheeses in recent years.

There actually was a shortage of domestic blue cheese three years ago, when the low-carb Atkins Diet was at peak popularity, Delugeau said.

***

Gorgonzola, which has a slightly green vein, is reputedly the oldest cheese name, dating back to 879 A.D., according to an article by James Mellgren in the August 2005 issue of “The Gourmet Retailer” retail trade magazine. Gorgonzola is named for the Italian town near Milan where the cheese first was made and sold.

European countries known for cheesemaking typically offer at least one great blue cheese. England produces Stilton and Shropshire Blue; France boasts Roquefort, Bleu d’Auvergne and Forme d’Ambertpro; Spain is known for Cabrales and Valdeon; Denmark has mild, creamy Danish blue; Germany produces a soft-ripened blue called Cambozola (which combines the body of Camembert with Gorgonzola’s zesty flavor), and Ireland has Cashel Blue.

Blue cheeses, in general, are ancient. There are at least two dozen different blue cheeses produced around the world, including Danish blue, Roquefort, Stilton, and Gorgonzola, all of which are available in Wisconsin. “Many centuries ago, cheese was left to age in some moldy cave and became streaked with bluish-green mold,” notes The Cook’s Thesaurus Web site, www.foodsubs.com. It may have been an accident, but it became a goldmine when some intrepid soul realized the mold that had permeated the cheese actually “transformed into something mysterious and delicious,” the Mellgren article notes.

Blue cheese is created by the same group of mold spores that produce penicillin, Mellgren writes. “The ones most frequently used (to make blue-veined cheeses) are Pinicillium glaucum or Penicillium roqueforti, the latter named for the famous French Roquefort from which the strain was isolated,” Mellgren writes.

Bread acts as a host for this cheese mold, but it is not the same grayish mold found in bread that is spoiling, Pehl said.

The mold doesn’t actually begin to form veins in cheese until the cheese has aged roughly 25 days. Typically, blue mold spores are poured into the vat as the cheese is being made. The fresh cheese then is pierced with long needles to create passageways for the mold to spread as it interacts with the air during aging.

“Blue cheese scares people because it can be overpowering and because of their perceptions of mold,” Pehl said. “Ours is more of a table blue. It’s milder - an Americanized version of French blue, which was tamed down.”

Aging creates more of a bite, Pehl said. As the veins grow, the cheese gets tangier.

“It starts out bland and smooth,” Pehl explained. “As it ages, it gets more bite and crumble. We can sell it after 60 days, but optimum flavor is at 80-plus days. I don’t like mine until it’s 100 days old. We have a following here in town of people who take it home and age it another three months.”

The three cheese plants with which DCI has a business relationship are North Hendren Cheese Cooperative, the Amish-owned Salemville plant in Cambria and Sartori in Linden.

While most blue-veined cheese in Wisconsin is made with cow’s milk, the state also is home to a couple of blue-veined goat’s milk cheeses.

Montchevre Chevre in Blue, made in Belmont at the Montchevre cheese plant, won top honors in its class at the National Cheese Awards in 1999. The aged, crumbly blue cheese combines the sharpness of a quality blue with the tang of a great goat cheese, the company says. It’s excellent on salads, but boasts enough depth to warrant enjoying alone, or with a glass of Pinot Noir.

Carr Valley Cheese in La Valle makes a Billy Blue goat’s milk cheese, which is aged four months.