Many people may not know it, but the signature cheese of Detroit-style pizza is brick cheese, a variety already familiar to many in New Glarus and Green County. That’s right: the pizza style that helped make Detroit famous owes much of its character to brick, a cheese that has long been a fan favorite in this part of southern Wisconsin, where its buttery flavor and place in the region’s cheesemaking tradition have made it a familiar sight on tables, trays and sandwiches for generations.

Brick cheese was first crafted in Wisconsin in 1877 by cheesemaker John Jossi and was named for the bricks used to press the curds during production. It was also developed as a milder substitute for Limburger, giving it a place in the same washed-rind family of pungent, old-world cheeses that found a strong following among European immigrants in Wisconsin.