On Thursday, Aug. 9, Chef Jason Dunn of Lewis Station Winery in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, proved that sometimes bigger can be better, as he and four assistants built a Caprese salad that broke the U.S. record for size. The 32-ft.-long version, made with fresh Wisconsin ingredients, included 35 pounds of Crave Brothers Farmstead Classics Fresh Mozzarella. The previous Caprese salad record-holder was a 24-ft.-long version, made in San Diego.
Lewis Station Winery’s giant Caprese salad also featured 34 quarts of locally sourced tomatoes, three pounds of locally grown basil (four different types), two quarts of olive oil, and one quart of balsamic vinegar.
The 150 salad-lovers attending the event enjoyed $10 servings of “The Mother of All Caprese Salads,” each paired with a glass of rosé wine. A portion of the evening’s proceeds was donated to Club 55 at Lake Mills Senior Center.
Chef Dunn says the idea for the creating the giant salad arose out of a conversation he had with cheese maker George Crave last year.
“I really love to work with Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese,” he said. “George and I threw the idea around because we have such beautiful tomatoes here in August, and we enjoy serving Crave Brothers Fresh Mozzarella weekly on our menu.”
Crave, a licensed cheesemaker, oversees the making of all Crave Bros. cheeses.
“Caprese salad is such a good way to use our fresh mozzarella that we thought it would be fun to do it in a big way,” he said.
Crave Bros. Farmstead Cheese is sustainably produced in the family’s own farmstead cheese-making facility that practices water conservation, recycling and uses 100 percent green power. An anaerobic biodigester produces enough electricity to power the farm, the cheese-making plant and more than 300 local homes.
The Caprese salad featured several varieties of Crave Brothers Fresh Mozzarella, including perline size small mozzarella balls, Marinated Fresh Mozzarella, and Fresh Mozzarella Medallions.
Crave Bros. mozzarella also is available in 8-oz. and 1-lb. balls, 1-lb. logs, and containers of small mozzarella balls in four sizes—pearl, cherry, golf ball and egg sizes. At the recent 2018 Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Products Contest, Crave Brothers Farmstead Classics Marinated Mozzarella won a first-place award, and also took first-place honors in the 2018 World Cheese Championships. Like other Crave Bros. cheese, its fresh mozzarella is made with milk from the family’s own dairy herd.
Keep reading:
Wisconsin Wins Big At Annual American Cheese Society Competition
U.S. Cheese Market Evolving With Shifting Consumer Perspectives
