4 ms·

I worked as an apprentice cheesemaker, making mostly curds, cheddars, jacks. Ask me anything! ("What's Juustoleipa?" might be a fun place to start)

soperj 5y ago
What's Juustoleipa?? Sounds Finnish.
- isaacimagine 5y ago
  > What's Juustoleipa Glad you asked! Juustolepia is a Finnish bread cheese that you can fry or bake. Unlike other cheese, it doesn't melt when you fry it: it just browns instead. Instead of using live cultures, Juustoleipa is curdled with a chemical culture (basically calcium chloride) that does not break down all the sugars in the cheese; the resulting a cheese also has a really low pH. The high natural sugar content means the cheese browns beautifully instead of melting when you fry it, which is pretty cool.
  - soperj 5y ago
    Is that kind of like Halloumi cheese?
    - isaacimagine 5y ago
      Pretty similar, but Halloumi is traditionally made with goat/sheep milk, whereas Juustoleipa is Cow or Reindeer(!) milk.
cheese_goddess 5y ago
I know about bread cheese :) So I want to ask: where was the creamery? Where did your milk come from, did the creamery have its own animals or did it buy from an independent farmer? What milk did you most often make cheese with (I assume cow's milk?). How much milk did you transform per day, on average and how many days a week did you spend on making cheese, versus tending to cheese (like aging etc)? How did you process milk before making cheese (pasteurisation, homogenisation, etc)? What was your aging space like? And what were your customers like? I think these will do for now :)
- isaacimagine 5y ago
  Wow, a lot of questions, looks like you know your stuff! I'll try my best to answer: > Where was the creamery? Heber Valley Artisan Cheese in Midway, Utah. (Wasatch Back) > Where did your milk come from, did the creamery have its own animals or did it buy from an independent farmer? We raise and milk our own cows :) > What milk did you most often make cheese with? We use cow's milk. Some of our cheeses are pasteurized, others are made with raw milk (it's is high enough quality to make into cheese w/out pasteurization, the resulting cheese is creamier, plus the low pH + heat kills off most bacteria). > How much milk did you transform per day, on average? Numbers may have changed since I left, but if memory serves: each day, we processed ~15,000 lbs (1,500 gallons) milk to produce ~1,200 lbs of cheese (50 standard 22-lbs wheels) and ~300 lbs curd. (We took out about 30% of each batch to sell as curd.) > How many days a week did you spend on making cheese? We'd usually make cheese in the mornings, clean the make room in the afternoon, then cut, package, and move around aging cheese in the evenings. 5 days a week, but sometimes Saturdays. We up our production in the summer, and decrease it in the winter. > How did you process milk before making cheese? Oh, I kinda already answered this! We make cheese with raw or pasteurized milk. We process the milk the day we make the cheese (which is usually the day after we milk the cows). > What was your aging space like? We aged in 'the cave' a basically a massive walk-in refrigerator room thing. We usually age cheese for a couple months to a few years, depending on the type of cheese it is, etc. > And what were your customers like? Very kind :) We sell cheese, milk, ice cream, etc. through in store on the farm next to the cheese factory. We are also partnered with some grocery stores (Whole Foods, Harmons, Smiths) in the area, and some wholesale distributors. Let me know if you have any more questions!
  - cheese_goddess 5y ago
    Thanks for the answers! I had a look at the Heber Valley website and it looks like heaven :) Do you still work there? Your answers kind of make it sound like you do, but don't work on the cheeses?
    - isaacimagine 5y ago
      The Wasatch back is basically my definition of heaven :P I worked there when I was younger (summer job as a teenager), but I don't work for them anymore (do SWE now).

soperj 5y ago

What's Juustoleipa?? Sounds Finnish.

isaacimagine 5y ago
> What's Juustoleipa Glad you asked! Juustolepia is a Finnish bread cheese that you can fry or bake. Unlike other cheese, it doesn't melt when you fry it: it just browns instead. Instead of using live cultures, Juustoleipa is curdled with a chemical culture (basically calcium chloride) that does not break down all the sugars in the cheese; the resulting a cheese also has a really low pH. The high natural sugar content means the cheese browns beautifully instead of melting when you fry it, which is pretty cool.
- soperj 5y ago
  Is that kind of like Halloumi cheese?
  - isaacimagine 5y ago
    Pretty similar, but Halloumi is traditionally made with goat/sheep milk, whereas Juustoleipa is Cow or Reindeer(!) milk.

cheese_goddess 5y ago

I know about bread cheese :) So I want to ask: where was the creamery? Where did your milk come from, did the creamery have its own animals or did it buy from an independent farmer? What milk did you most often make cheese with (I assume cow's milk?). How much milk did you transform per day, on average and how many days a week did you spend on making cheese, versus tending to cheese (like aging etc)? How did you process milk before making cheese (pasteurisation, homogenisation, etc)? What was your aging space like? And what were your customers like? I think these will do for now :)

isaacimagine 5y ago
Wow, a lot of questions, looks like you know your stuff! I'll try my best to answer: > Where was the creamery? Heber Valley Artisan Cheese in Midway, Utah. (Wasatch Back) > Where did your milk come from, did the creamery have its own animals or did it buy from an independent farmer? We raise and milk our own cows :) > What milk did you most often make cheese with? We use cow's milk. Some of our cheeses are pasteurized, others are made with raw milk (it's is high enough quality to make into cheese w/out pasteurization, the resulting cheese is creamier, plus the low pH + heat kills off most bacteria). > How much milk did you transform per day, on average? Numbers may have changed since I left, but if memory serves: each day, we processed ~15,000 lbs (1,500 gallons) milk to produce ~1,200 lbs of cheese (50 standard 22-lbs wheels) and ~300 lbs curd. (We took out about 30% of each batch to sell as curd.) > How many days a week did you spend on making cheese? We'd usually make cheese in the mornings, clean the make room in the afternoon, then cut, package, and move around aging cheese in the evenings. 5 days a week, but sometimes Saturdays. We up our production in the summer, and decrease it in the winter. > How did you process milk before making cheese? Oh, I kinda already answered this! We make cheese with raw or pasteurized milk. We process the milk the day we make the cheese (which is usually the day after we milk the cows). > What was your aging space like? We aged in 'the cave' a basically a massive walk-in refrigerator room thing. We usually age cheese for a couple months to a few years, depending on the type of cheese it is, etc. > And what were your customers like? Very kind :) We sell cheese, milk, ice cream, etc. through in store on the farm next to the cheese factory. We are also partnered with some grocery stores (Whole Foods, Harmons, Smiths) in the area, and some wholesale distributors. Let me know if you have any more questions!
- cheese_goddess 5y ago
  Thanks for the answers! I had a look at the Heber Valley website and it looks like heaven :) Do you still work there? Your answers kind of make it sound like you do, but don't work on the cheeses?
  - isaacimagine 5y ago
    The Wasatch back is basically my definition of heaven :P I worked there when I was younger (summer job as a teenager), but I don't work for them anymore (do SWE now).