Many of you have asked where in the world I've been.

All I know is that after 7 plus years of blogging and a different lappy, which I don’t like, I seem to have lost my blogging fervor.

Someday, when you least expect it, I will post again.

For those of you still waiting I say thank you.

Meanwhile, I am rather prolific on twitter. Find me: @KeethaB
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Eclectic Company - Waitin' on a New Adventure!!
.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Cuttin' The Cheese

.

I made another trip to the cheese factory the other day. This time they WERE making cheese and I can show you a few pictures. These pictures were taken through the glass window, so what looks like the old "double exposed" pictures of yesteryear is actually caused by reflections on the glass.

To begin making cheese, the long vats that you see in the picture are filled with milk. Next agents are added which make the milk gel - - - kind of like jello.


Next wire forms pass through the gelled cheese cutting it into strips, and then again across to further cut it down into short sections.

At this point the liquid portion, called whey, begins to separate away from the solid portion, called curds.


Next large paddles stir the curd to help separate it from the whey.

When that is finished, the curd is ready to be placed in a form to be pressed and aged into cheese - - - the longer it is aged, the sharper it becomes.

I personally like mild cheese the best - - - the milder the better. In fact, just give me the curds.

In the entryway of the factory there are some dairy product antiques.


Here we have two different styles of butter churns. You have probably seen the style on the left, but the one on the right works with a crank which has paddles attached on the inside. I think that might be a little easier than the other model - - - but both would require quite a bit of elbow grease!


Here we have a milk separator which pulled cream off of the unhomogenized milk. The separator is the contraption that looks like some sort of a mechanical cow.

In the foreground on the left is a crock - - - possibly for butter or milk or cream. That would be A LOT of butter or cream!


The two wooden objects are cheese round storage bins. The larger one, shown here, is quite rare. It was made specially to house Swiss cheese. When you lift the lid off the top you can see that it has space to stack up about 5 large Swiss rounds.

.

11 comments:

Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville said...

You had me at CHEESE.


YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM


I like it all.

podso said...

This reminds me of when we visited a cheese factory in Wisconsin--maybe the same place you did! I remember we bought some curds as we left. We used to love to make cottage cheese when the kids were young--the same principle. And when we added that sour vinegar to the boiling milk the curds just rose to the top. I'm sure they told you all the uses for whey.

"Little Miss Muffit sat on a tuffet eating her curds and whey ..."

Anonymous said...

What an interesting post. I am not a big fan of cheese but my husband absolutely loves any kind of cheese and Swiss is his favorite. I really enjoyed the antique items - very rare indeed.

Anonymous said...

Your post title sure caught my eye!

Thanks for the pictures. Did you buy any cheese and take it home? Nothing like fresh!

When I was a kid, we'd go to Buffalo to the WONDERBREAD plant and came home with a fresh baked loaf wrapped in that fun bubble paper. It never made it home actually, because I ate it on the bus. Oh, darn.

Hmmmm, this makes me want a grilled cheese sammie!

Jan

Nancy said...

I wrote a comment & have no idea where it went, so if I appear twice, please delete this :-). Did you try the Hot Rods? If you like mild cheese, Farmers Cheese is good ... love this place!

Brenda said...

Next to a choclate factory, I think it would be fun to do a cheese factory!
I tried making butter with my oldest daughter when we were doing a unit study on Laura Ingalls. Of course I had to buy the cream at the store...didn't start all the way back from the cow. We put it in a jar and began shaking and shaking and shaking. I thought what's up with this, isn't it supposed to be turning into butter sometime? We opened the jar only to find a nice jar of whipped cream! How was I to know the difference between regular cream and whipping cream? Sheesh! Anyhow, we added a little sugar and vanilla and had a yummy topping for dessert that night! Now that I think of it, I don't think we ever ended up making butter!

Brenda said...

Of course that had nothing to do with cheese. Just reminded me when I saw the butter churn!

Anonymous said...

Did they make blu cheese, its my favorite

Kristin - The Goat said...

I've been wanting to make butter, too and I had to laugh at Brenda's comment. I can see myself doing the exact same thing LOL

What fun to see cheese being made. I'm so glad you went back when they were making the big stuff (you know, the big cheese LOL)

Curds, yummy curds.

Unknown said...

I love cheese curds! I love cheese! Yum. Now I want some for lunch! You cheesy thing, you!

Debby@Just Breathe said...

Thank you Keetha, that was fun! I have a few of those old crocks from my husbands Nana.