By Stephen Perry

Hand-quarried sandstone homes with traditional wall-mounted grapevine trellises, hand-crafted baskets and brooms and a four-star golf course. Those were some of the reasons we chose Amana, Iowa for a location to meet my sister and her husband for a few days of get-away. It also fit the criteria of being relatively half way between Minnesota and Kansas.

The Amana Colonies are an interesting study in perseverance and religious ideals. In 1855, a religious communal sect, originally from Germany, established six villages along the banks of the Iowa River in east-central Iowa. A seventh was established in 1861 to give access to the railroad line making its way across the state. The Amana Colonies became one of America’s longest-lived and largest religious communal society. Homes, medical care, schooling, meals and household necessities were taken care of with all men and women assigned jobs by the village council. Men worked the fields and became craftsmen. The women were assigned the cooking and domestic tasks. All residents gathered for three meals a day at over 50 communal kitchens and attended 11 worship services each week. In 1932, due to economic and cultural pressures, the communal life was abandoned in favor of a profit-sharing corporation called the Amana Society, Inc., set up to manage the farms and larger enterprises. Now a National Historic Landmark, the colonies maintained their sense of history and hospitality.

Driving the Amana Colonies Trail that connects the communities you can feel your tensions easing. Brick, stone and clapboard homes with the grapevine trellises, well-tended vegetable and flower gardens, street lanterns, magnificent old barns and farm relics let you feel you have rolled the years back to the early 1900’s. The Amanas have a thriving arts and crafts community with shops offering handmade baskets, candles, brass and copper goods, furniture, clocks, toys, iron, pottery, glass, jewelry, brooms and quilts, along with paintings and fine art work.

We have been to the Amanas on previous trips as a stop-over between Kansas and points northeast. The last time through we ran across the Amana Colonies Golf Course and conjured up an excuse to return and play the beautiful, rolling championship quality course. Staying in the Colony Oaks condominiums overlooking the ninth hole, we treated ourselves to Amana steaks, Maytag Blue Cheese and a lot of California wine. It doesn’t get a whole lot better!

Maytag Dairy Farm’s Famous Blue Cheese

If you happen to be near Des Moines, Iowa, venture 22 miles east to Newton (Exit 164 on US 6 and I-80), and take a few minutes to search out the Maytag Blue Cheese factory, just on the north edge of town. Now, we had heard of Maytag Blue Cheese, but until our brother-in-law, Tom, introduced us to the gourmet side of designing an entire meal around blue cheese on our recent trip to Amana, Iowa, we would have figured the cheese crumbles found in the local grocery were about as good as it gets. Let me tell you, as a newly converted aficionado, Maytag will change your whole opinion of blue cheese! This highly flavorful and mildly pungent wedge is so smooth that it can be enjoyed simply on wheat crackers with a glass of wine.

Maytag, established by the son of the Maytag Appliance Company founder in the early 1900’s as a dairy farm, produced and bottled milk from their award-winning herd of Holsteins. Intrigued by Iowa State University’s new process of producing Roquefort cheese from cow’s milk rather from the traditional sheep’s milk, Fred Maytag converted the farm’s bottling plant into a cheese factory and in 1941 began producing an American Blue Cheese. Many awards and kudos later, the Maytag Dairy Farm is still producing America’s best blue cheese, by hand, in the original factory and hillside caves where the process began 67 years ago. The company has been quietly creating and selling their product, without advertising or a sales staff, and has managed to keep their family-owned company personal and friendly. Stopping in near closing hour on a Saturday morning, we were treated to a personal visit and tour of their facility by their energetic president, Verna Ver Ploeg.

It’s possible now to buy Maytag Blue Cheese through their web site, but if you are anywhere near Newton, Iowa, it’s a treat to experience the friendliness and sincerity of the Maytag employees and to see the small quality company that produces the country’s best blue cheese. You can also take home a supply to give to all of your friends and neighbors for 40 - 50% less than ordering and having it shipped. Trust me, they will be impressed!

Maytag Dairy Farm’s Famous Blue Cheese
www.maytagblue.com

Directions: Take exit 164 (Iowa 14, US 6) at Newton, 2 mi. north, turn east at intersection of F36 and Iowa 14 and follow the Maytag signs. See map here.