Driftless is a fresh, spreadable sheep's milk cheese made by Hidden Springs Creamery near Westby, Wisconsin.
The name covers a line of flavors rather than one recipe. The versions range from Natural to Habanero Honey, and the flavor section below shows which source lists which.
In This Article
What Is Driftless Cheese?
Cheese.com files Driftless as a fresh soft, artisan cheese that is white and rindless, with a creamy, dense and spreadable texture. It also lists the cheese as vegetarian and names Hidden Springs as the producer.
Hidden Springs presents the Natural version as its lead Driftless cheese and describes it as "light and fresh".
Culture magazine's cheese library adds the method: soft curds are hand-ladled into mesh bags to drain. The same entry gives the milk as sheep's milk and the region as southwest Wisconsin.
Is Driftless Cheese Goat Cheese or Ricotta?
Driftless is a sheep's milk cheese, not goat's milk.
Cheese.com files Driftless as a fresh soft cheese, not ricotta. The Viroqua Food Co-op reports that owner Amy Forgues is exploring ricotta made from whey, which would be a different product from the curd-drained Driftless.
The nearest comparison any source draws is Cheese.com's remark that the pumpkin version is reminiscent of fluffy ricotta paired with cream cheese, which describes how that one flavor eats rather than what the cheese is.
Who Makes Driftless Cheese?
Hidden Springs Creamery is a farmstead sheep cheese producer in the Driftless hills near Westby, with 74 acres and two herds of about 300 sheep each, according to the Viroqua Food Co-op.
Brenda Jensen started the creamery with 50 sheep in 2006, according to a 2018 Hidden Springs press release. In the same release she calls Driftless a cheese she "simply made up 12 years ago".
The same release says the Jensens milked more than 750 sheep by 2018, which is more than the roughly 600 that the Co-op's two herds of about 300 add up to.
That spring, the release says, Jensen "once again swept an entire category at the World Championship Cheese Contest" with her fresh Driftless sheep milk cheeses. It also says she has earned more than 80 awards for her sheep milk and mixed-milk cheeses since launching the creamery, and calls Driftless "a perennial winner".
Amy Forgues became the owner in April 2023, according to Saxelby Cheesemongers. The Co-op says Jensen stayed nearby to guide her while she became a Wisconsin-certified cheesemaker.
Saxelby adds that head cheesemaker Jose Rigoberto Campos and herdsman Jonas Miller, each with about ten years at Hidden Springs, stayed on, and the Co-op says the Forgues family intends to keep making the same award-winning cheeses.
Saxelby reported in 2023 that Forgues was working toward getting the farm's soil certified organic, with more focus on pasture grazing. Neither the Hidden Springs product pages nor Cheese.com calls the cheese organic, and Cheese.com uses the word only for the basil in the Basil & Olive Oil version.
The creamery's other cheeses include Ocooch and Wischago, which Saxelby calls a Midwest take on Manchego.
Its Bohemian Blue is "a dynamic, sweet-meets-savory take on Roquefort", in Saxelby's words.
What Does Driftless Taste Like?
Four sources describe the texture, and their wording splits between "light" and "dense".
Cheese.com holds both ideas together: the cheese is "light, creamy and spreadable", and the richness of sheep's milk provides "the necessary creaminess and density".
Saxelby gives a milk-side reason for the density: sheep's milk contains more fat than goat's or cow's milk, which gives cheese, yogurt and ice cream a dense richness. Owner Amy Forgues tells Saxelby that the milk's "protein and components are so high it feels almost foolproof."
Since the sources describe Driftless as a fresh cheese, that density comes from the milk's richness and not from ageing, which fits Cheese.com's pairing of "light" with "density".
| Source | Texture | Flavor and aroma |
|---|---|---|
| Cheese.com | Creamy, dense and spreadable | Creamy, fruity, garlicky, herbaceous, salty, subtle, sweet, tangy, woody; aroma fresh, grassy, lactic, rich, sweet |
| Culture magazine | Moist and tangy, very creamy and dense | Bright and lactic, with notes of grass and hay |
| Hidden Springs store (Natural) | Creamy and spreadable, light and fresh | Not described |
| Hidden Springs press release, 2018 | Wonderfully light, creamy and spreadable | Not described |
Cheese.com's flavor list draws on the flavored versions too: its notes describe cranberries, garlic and lavender, which it says tastes of "sweet, fresh-cut wood", and that lines up with the fruity, garlicky and woody entries.
Culture's description matches Cheese.com's bright, lactic, grass-and-hay words for the Original, which points to the plain cheese.
Which Driftless Flavors Does Hidden Springs Make?
The lineup depends on the source. Cheese.com lists seven versions and Culture names six flavored versions plus Natural, while the Hidden Springs store listed seven on 2026-10-01.
| Version | Cheese.com | Culture magazine | Hidden Springs store |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural | Listed as Original | Named in the serving ideas | Listed |
| Basil & Olive Oil | Listed | Listed | Listed |
| Cranberry & Cinnamon | Listed | Listed | Listed |
| Honey & Lavender | Listed | Listed | Listed |
| Maple | Listed | Listed | Listed as Maple Cream |
| Tomato & Garlic | Listed | Listed | Not listed |
| Pumpkin (seasonal) | Listed | Listed | Not listed |
| Garlic & Herb | Not listed | Not listed | Listed |
| Habanero Honey | Not listed | Not listed | Listed |
The Co-op says Hidden Springs recently introduced Garlic and Herb, which is on the store list but not on the Cheese.com or Culture lists.
The 2018 press release says three flavored versions, Cranberry, Honey and Lavender, and Sundried Tomato, took first, second and third place at the World Championship Cheese Contest that March.
Sundried Tomato is the one name no current list uses. Tomato & Garlic is the nearest listed version.
Which Driftless Flavor Should You Buy?
Cheese.com describes the flavored versions by what goes into them, and the ingredients split into sweet and savory. The sweet group is Cranberry and Cinnamon, Maple and Honey & Lavender, with the maple made with "100 % natural maple syrup from a neighbouring Amish farmer" and the honey coming from a Driftless-area beekeeper.
The savory group is Basil & Olive Oil and Tomato & Garlic, the first blended with extra virgin olive oil, organic basil and sea salt and the second with "well balanced and flavourful tomato and garlic".
Garlic & Herb and Habanero Honey are on the store list but not on the Cheese.com or Culture lists.
Availability narrows the choice. Cheese.com marks Pumpkin as seasonal, and the store listed neither Pumpkin nor Tomato & Garlic on 2026-10-01, which leaves Basil & Olive Oil and Garlic & Herb as its savory-named versions and Cranberries & Cinnamon, Maple Cream and Honey Lavender as its sweet ones.
How Do You Use Driftless Cheese?
Culture magazine reports founder Brenda Jensen's serving ideas, and each one matches a flavor to a food.
| Use | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Natural | Jensen dips carrots in it. |
| Cranberry | Spread it on graham crackers. |
| Pumpkin | Add it to molasses cookies. |
| Honey and Lavender | Eat it with a spoon. |
The same entry says Jensen mixes the Basil & Olive Oil or Tomato & Garlic version with warm pasta.
The best-documented restaurant use is the Firefly Avocado Toast at Firefly Coffeehouse & Artisan Cheese in Oregon, Wisconsin. It uses two pieces of Madison Sourdough bread, fresh avocado and "a healthy dose of Driftless cheese", according to the 2018 press release.
The cafe added the toast after Jensen's contest sweep, and the release says it sold well enough that she often made special "emergency cheese" deliveries.
Where Can You Buy Driftless, and What Does It Cost?
The Hidden Springs web store is the only seller among the cited sources with a Driftless page. On 2026-10-01 its collection page showed all seven Driftless versions as in stock, and its Natural page had an Add to cart button.
At $7.00 for the 5 oz Natural container, the price works out to $1.40 an ounce, and the $50 minimum takes eight containers of Driftless alone because seven come to $49.
Outside the store, Jensen said in 2018 that Driftless was featured in "specialty shops across the nation".
Go by the label on the container for how long an opened tub keeps.
The CDC's general rule for perishable food, dairy included, is to refrigerate it within 2 hours, or within 1 hour when it is exposed to temperatures above 90°F, and to keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below. A bowl of Driftless served as a dip falls under that same limit.
Is Driftless Cheese Safe During Pregnancy?
Cheese.com and Culture magazine both say Driftless is made from pasteurized sheep's milk, which matters in pregnancy because the CDC lists soft cheese made from unpasteurized milk as riskier.
The NHS says pasteurised soft cheeses such as cottage cheese, cream cheese, mozzarella, feta, ricotta and mascarpone are safe to eat. Driftless is a pasteurized, rindless soft cheese, so it fits that group on paper, though the match is indirect.
The CDC's safer list covers cottage cheese, cream cheese, string cheese, mozzarella and feta, all made with pasteurized milk, plus pasteurized soft cheeses heated to an internal temperature of 165°F or until steaming hot.
The CDC's riskier list includes any queso fresco-type cheese, pasteurized or not, such as queso blanco, requesón, "or similar fresh, soft cheeses". Driftless is a fresh soft cheese, so a pregnant reader who wants a firm answer should ask a clinician.
SOURCES & REFERENCES
What Else Should You Know About Driftless Cheese?
Yes. Cheese.com and Culture magazine both name pasteurized sheep's milk.
Cheese.com lists it as vegetarian, and Culture magazine gives the rennet as microbial.
Hidden Springs Creamery makes it near Westby, Wisconsin.
