Your favorite cheeses.

When most people think of Wisconsin, they inevitably think of cheese -- yes, among other things, but I'd bet the most consistent association is cheese, even for the Wisconsin born-and-bred. I recount a real conversation from class a few months ago:

Prof: What's one major natural resource Wisconsin lacks?
Class: ...
Prof: Natural gas. There are no natural gas basins beneath the state of Wisconsin.
Prof: Alright. But what's one resource Wisconsin has that no one else does?
Class: ...
Prof: Come on guys...
Class: (unanimously) ...cheese?

(At which point everyone broke out in laughter. The real answer was water...Madison alone sits on the edge of 5 lakes, not to mention state borders on Lake Michigan and Superior).

So, in honor of the great product of my current state of residence, my current top 5 favorite cheeses:

1. Smoked Gouda
2. Mozzarella
3. Harvati (cream-style)
4. Camembert or Brie
5. Muenster

Most interesting cheeses of 2011:

1. Juustoleipä, aka 'bread cheese' (love this post just bc they mention Wegmans AND Carr Valley)
2. Stilton (tasted a bit like cheesecake, imo)

Some cheeses I would like to try:

1. Gruyère
2. Cave Aged Marisa
3. Cardona

What are YOUR top 5 favorite cheeses?

[UPDATE: Cardona is fantastic (goat cheese)!]