ASHWAUBENON, Wis. (WFRV) – It’s the Super Bowl for cheese producers at the Resch Expo the next two days as the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association hosts their 21st U.S. Cheese Championship.

113 classes of cheeses are being judged out of about 2,200 entries total.

The 42 judges are factoring in presentation, smell, texture, and of course, taste into their scores.

One of the judges, Terry Lensmire of Lensmire Dairy Consulting, says, “I want to break the chees down in my mouth. I Workaround different areas because I get different tastes and sensations within my mouth. Is there any acid, whey taint, or flavor that shouldn’t be there in the cheese? That’s what I’m looking for.”

Retired Weyauwega cheesemaker Dan Stearns made cheddar in the contest many times, even winning 2nd place overall one year.

He says, “It helps you with marketing your product because you’re customers out there, the Krafts and the Sargentos, they’re aware of this contest, and they see whose got the good quality cheese, so they’re going to be seeking you out.”

From 9 a.m.-3 p.m. from February 21-22, anyone can try samples of the cheeses for free.

De Pere native Raymond Diederich was there trying some cubes. He says, “You get to try them and find out what’s out there. You got to try something different, and this is a good opportunity to do that.”

The winners in each class and the overall winner will be announced on the WCMA website at 2 p.m. Thursday.