Episode 110: Expect the Unexpected (Cheddar) at Trader Joe's
Inside Trader Joe's
This episode of 'Show: Inside Trader Joe's' explores the origin and cultural significance of Trader Joe's Unexpected Cheddar, a product that has
Key takeaways
- Unexpected Cheddar was created by pushing beyond traditional cheese standards, embracing creativity over uniformity.
- Wisconsin's certification for master cheesemakers ensures high quality but also fosters innovation through rigorous training and permission to fail.
Main topics
- Origin of Unexpected Cheddar
- Wisconsin cheese culture and master cheesemaking certification
Notable quotes
We're just super big on creativity too. I've been given permission to fail 95% of the time.
Conclusion
Unexpected Cheddar exemplifies how tradition and innovation can coexist in food production. Its enduring popularity
Transcript preview
Speaker 4 (0:00) I'm so excited. I just can't hide it anymore. I'm just gonna say it. I'm a proud cheesehead. You're Speaker 3 (0:06) a Green Bay Packers fan? Speaker 4 (0:08) Well, sometimes, but I'm really a bigger fan of cheese. Speaker 3 (0:12) Oh, okay. I have a hard time picturing you in one of those cheesehead hats. Speaker 4 (0:15) Oh, you mean the ones invented by Ralph Bruno? You know, he made the original cheesehead out of yellow seat cushion foam. And he thought, hey, people from Illinois always call us people from Wisconsin cheeseheads. Like, it's a bad thing. So why not be a proud cheesehead? Wear it proudly. And the first one was worn to a Milwaukee Brewers game against the Chicago White Sox in 1987. And it just totally caught on from there. Wow. Speaker 3 (0:40) Thanks so much for sharing. You know, we've actually been selling Wisconsin cheese in our stores since even before that. Speaker 4 (0:48) Oh, smooth segue. Well done. Let's go inside Trader Joe's. Speaker 3 (1:01) I'm Tara Miller, director of words and phrases and clauses. And Speaker 4 (1:04) I'm Matt Sloan, the culture and innovation guy at Trader Joe's. And sorry to say, this is going to be another cheesy podcast, but really nothing unexpected about that. But Speaker 3 (1:14) hey, unexpected cheddar? I don't think anyone at Trader Joe's expected just how popular that would become. Speaker 4 (1:20) And now we have shredded unexpected cheddar, unexpected cheddar snackers, spreadable unexpected cheddar, unexpected cheddar cheese spread with hatched chilies. Buffalo blue unexpected cheddar spread. Unexpected cheddar chicken sausage. Unexpected cheddar egg bites. Unexpected cheddar broccoli soup. Okay, Speaker 3 (1:39) okay, okay. You sound like Bubba Gump talking about shrimp. We get it. And right now we're on the road in Wisconsin, the birthplace of unexpected cheddar. Oh Speaker 4 (1:48) yeah, just take the next exit right there for the unexpected cheddar birthplace monument. Speaker 3 (1:53) Well, there ought to be one, right? We're actually headed to the town of Plymouth, Wisconsin, known as the cheese capital of the world. Speaker 4 (2:00) And that's over by Sheboygan, don't you know? And Speaker 3 (2:02) that's where we're going to learn the story behind Trader Joe's unexpected cheddar. Speaker 3 (2:09) Matt, we are in Wisconsin. But Speaker 4 (2:11) more importantly, we're around a table that has been expertly set with cheeses, about which we'll talk in a bit. Tell Speaker 3 (2:18) us who you are and what you do here that helps bring cheese to Trader Joe's. Speaker 5 (2:23) I have a very exciting job, so my name is Bert, and I'm the fourth generation leader of my family's cheese business here in Wisconsin. Speaker 3 (2:31) Fantastic. Speaker 2 (2:32) I'm Pam. I'm a master cheesemaker. Speaker 3 (2:34) Also here, our trusty cheese expert from our mothership in Boston. Kim, welcome. Thank you. I understand that Wisconsin is the only state that has a certification for a master cheesemaker, and that's an official title. You're not just saying, I'm really good at this, I'm a master cheesemaker. Speaker 4 (2:52) It's the only state. Yes. Speaker 2 (2:53) So what does that mean? I'm Speaker 4 (2:55) a Speaker 2 (2:55) certified master cheesemaker, as are three other people here. We're in Wisconsin. We take dairy very seriously. Our license plate... cries it out loud and proud, America's Dairyland. To become a Master Cheesemaker, first you need to become a licensed cheesemaker, which typically takes two-ish years or more. After being licensed for 10 years, you are eligible to apply to the Master Cheesemaker program. Some people apply and are accepted, some are not. If you're fortunate and you're accepted, there's another three-year apprenticeship. The cheeses which you want to be certified for, they get evaluated, and then at the very end, there's a very extensive test. It's take home, they give you four weeks, that sounds great, until you actually see it and then you realize why you had four weeks to do it. Are Speaker 4 (3:40) you being tested, if you will, on like basic cheeses or is this an opportunity for creative flair? Speaker 2 (3:46) A little bit of both. There's some rules around it. For example, one of my first certifications is an open heart and the cheese that I used for that was unexpected cheddar. So I couldn't become certified for unexpected cheddar because that's not a standard of identity kind of cheese. So Speaker 4 (4:03) open hard cheese. What other kinds of cheeses that we might know by name are part of that grouping or that category? Speaker 2 (4:13) Cheddar is a hard cheese because it's under 39 % moisture, but cheddar is a known variety. When we have contests, there's a scorecard for what cheddar should be. and unexpected cheddar is unexpected. It doesn't meet that scorecard. So Speaker 4 (4:29) it doesn't pass that test. Speaker 2 (4:31) It doesn't pass that test. Sorry, Speaker 4 (4:34) cheese, that's like tough. I mean, and Speaker 2 (4:36) that's a really neat thing. My maternal grandfather was a very good cheesemaker. He made cheddars, as did many people in Wisconsin at that time. Wisconsin had the first grading standards for cheddar and other cheeses because... Back then it was a wild west. Like one of his struggles was he was controlling steam with a wood-fired boiler. We have dual-loop temperature control. Speaker 4 (4:58) Very different. The tools are much improved. Speaker 2 (5:01) So back in his day, it took a lot of skill. What happened out of that is Ketter became very uniform. It kind of weeded out creativity too. And we're all about... innovation and being creative. So we made a cheddar that's very unexpected, right? It's not the flavors you expect. Speaker 4 (5:20) I'm curious if Wisconsin is so focused on standards and maintaining those standards, what does a place like England have to say? Because like, doesn't cheddar come from England at some point? Speaker 2 (5:32) Yes. And I would say Wisconsin was very focused on standards back when It was sort of a anything goes kind of place. But right now, Wisconsin leads the nation in artisan keys and creativity. Where I work, we're just super big on creativity too. I've been here since January of 2005. And I'm doing my orientation and I'm going around to the plants and a person take me around is like, okay, Pam, we want you to try things. If one thing out of 20 works, we're taking that. That's a win. I still look back and I marvel because I've been given permission to fail 95 % of the time. Who does that? Well, a company that's very focused on creativity and innovation does that. Speaker 3 (6:15) It's a really appropriate thing for a company that has a long-term relationship with Trader Joe's because it's kind of what we do. I mean, we hope we don't fail 95 % of the time, but we understand that not every product that comes into our stores is going to live forever and be a huge hit. But getting back to Unexpected Cheddar, it's so popular that it was one of the initial inductees into our product hall of fame. It was winning so many of our customer choice awards. that we're like, okay, we have to stop. We have to let other cheeses have a chance because as long as Unexpected Cheddar was in the running, it won every single year, which was great. And so now we have it memorialized on our website in the Hall of Fame. It has its own plaque. It's a little cheesy in one way, but it's a real indication of how much love there is for this product that is not typical. And that spirit of creativity of coming up with something slightly new in a category that's very established really makes a difference. So kudos to everybody involved in Unexpected Cheddar because it's fantastic. Speaker 5 (7:17) The parallel I always like to draw is that you think of German brewing, you know, some of the best in the world. You can have the same beer at a different brewer and taste very similar and it's amazing. But you didn't see any craft brewing coming out of there, any innovation. And when you think of cheese, there's over 2,000 cheese varieties in the world. And so it's a real challenge to say, okay, let's take something and do it differently and better and more unique. Essentially, that's how Unexpected Cheddar was born. Speaker 4 (7:44)