Making cheese is an art, as well as a science.
FROM THE FARM
At Pearl Valley Cheese, we start with high-quality milk from about 50 small family-owned farms within 50 miles of the plant. These farms milk 30 to 40 cows on average.
The milk is delivered on tanker trucks and pumped into silos for holding. It then goes through a separator and a pasteurizer. The separator removes some cream to make lower-fat cheeses. For example, Swiss cheese is made with part-skim milk. The cream is sold to another factory to make our Amish Country Roll Butter.
We use a High-Temperature, Short-Time (HTST) pasteurizer, heating the milk to at least 161°F for 15 seconds, then cooling it down. This process kills harmful bacteria, making the milk safe for cheese-making.
CURDS AND WHEY
The milk is pumped into one of our four stainless steel vats called Double-" O”s. Each holds 35,000 lbs of milk, enough to make about 3,500 lbs of cheese. The cheesemaker adds annatto coloring (if making colored cheese), starter cultures, and rennet.
The starter cultures are live bacteria that give different cheeses their flavors, textures, and, in the case of Swiss cheese, holes. Rennet contains an enzyme that breaks down milk proteins to form a gel. This gel is cut into small pieces to form curds and whey. The curds become the cheese, and the whey, a yellow liquid containing water, lactose, and some proteins, is sold to a company that makes products for nutritional drinks, infant formula, and milk replacers for calves.
CHEESE
For Colby-type cheeses, the curds and whey are pumped to a long table with a center drain. The whey is drained off, and salt is added. The curds are then moved to presses. The next morning, the cheese is removed from the presses and packaged. Colby cheese is best aged for a couple of weeks in the cooler to develop flavor and texture.
For Swiss-type cheeses, the curds and whey are pumped directly from the vats to the presses. The whey is pumped off, and the curds are pressed overnight to become long blocks of cheese. The next morning, the cheese is cut into 200-pound blocks and placed in a saltwater brine for a day to absorb salt. The cheese is then packaged and placed in a cooler, then moved to a warm room for curing. During this time, the starter cultures grow and generate gas, forming the characteristic holes. After the holes develop, the cheese is aged a little longer in the cooler before being cut and packaged.
Come See Us!
Stop by our retail store in Fresno, Ohio, to take advantage of our in-store specials, try free samples, and learn more about the local dairy industry's cheese-making process through our free factory tours every Wednesday morning at 9:30.