Stew Leonard's Goes For Record With 3,000-Pound Cheese Carving

NORWALK, CT — Stew Leonard's, the "World's Largest Dairy Store," can now add "World’s Largest Cheese Carving" to its list of accomplishments. Carved from a 4,000-pound block of cheddar cheese, the edible sculpture depicts the store's famous customer service rock at its entrance, reminding guests that "the customer is always right" is written in stone.

Weighing in at 3,462 pounds, the sculpture was made by cheese carver Sara Kaufmann. Her goal was to break the current world record for largest cheese sculpture, which currently weighs 1,500 pounds.

The cheddar was provided by Henning's Wisconsin Cheese, a family-owned company that makes "mammoth wheels" of cheese.

"We were able to order a 4,000-pound wheel of cheddar from [Henning's], and it was delivered to our store in East Meadow, New York, in November," Director of Public Relations Meghan Bell said in an interview with Patch. "The cheese is actually a world-champion gold medal winner...It is a delicious cheese. I can understand why it has won awards."

The sculpture was on display at the store's Norwalk location Monday. When it arrived over the weekend, the store's warehouse workers handled it "very carefully," wearing kid gloves as they wrapped and secured the cheese carving before putting it on a pallet.

The sculpture is no longer on display, however customers will soon have the opportunity to eat a piece of history.

"We're actually waiting for the proper tools to arrive so we can cut it, and then it's going to be for sale at all six of our stores," Bell said. "It's not available just yet, but i would imagine in the next few days it'll be out there."

Stews Leonard's has locations in Norwalk, Danbury and Newington, as well as three New York stores.

The store is submitting the carving to the Guiness Book of World Records for their consideration for "World’s Largest Cheese Carving."

"There’s really a lot of preparation involved," Bell said. "We had a camera on the cheese for the entire time it was being carved, dozens of witnesses had to be there to actually watch the carving...we had a surveyor come at the end to measure the cheese, we had the scale calibrated before we weighed the cheese. It was quite an education."

Both Stew Leonard Jr. and Kaufmann were in attendance for the final weigh-in, however the intent of creating the sculpture was not just to break a record.

"I think it just reinforces that we are a dairy store at our heart, and also that we are a lot of fun. This was such a cool project to be involved in," Bell said. "I think it’s great for the shoppers and it’s great for us here at Stew's, because we really enjoy working with local artisans like Sara Kaufmann and also supporting other family-owned businesses like Henning's."

To sign up for Norwalk breaking news alerts and more, click here.

Photos courtesy of Stew Leonard's