Touring Tillamook Creamery in Tillamook, Oregon

Eric and I see Tillamook Cheeses in grocery stores across America.  

Let's go see how the company 

makes their cheese.

The Creamery is open

for self-guided tours.

Eric & I with Flower, Tillamook's

Award-Winning Show Cow.

We walk upstairs, beneath

large blocks of Cheese

to the public observation

area.

The Cheesemaking Process

starts with cows.

Lots & lots of cows.

The first and most important steps in Cheesemaking has been automated.  The first viewing windows are filled with tanks...

Milk from Dairy Cooperatives is

pumped into pre cleaned tanks.

The additives the Cheesemaker

uses determines the type of 

Cheese being produced.

The Cheese choice for this batch is say Cheddar.  The Cheesemaster adds Annatto, a natural dye to color the milk, at a specific time during the vat fill.  Later, Starter Culture (good bacteria) is added to help the natural sugars in the milk create Lactic Acid.  When the milk vat is full, Rennet is added to make the Milk Gel.  The vat is heated and chemistry does its job.

When the Milk Gels, blades inside the tank start to cut through the thickened mixture, releasing Whey from the thickened Curds.

The Whey has been drained away and the Curds are stretched and flipped in a machine to create solidified Curd.  Next...

Salt is added to the Curd to

draw out more Whey & to

slow the production of

Lactic Acid.

The reduced level of moisture in Cheddar Cheese helps it age better.  The newly created Cheese is then  compressed into large blocks and vacuum-sealed.  They are sent to storage areas for differing lengths of time.  

After being aged for a specific period of time, the blocks are returned to the production floor to be... 

... cut to precisely cut & weighed

bricks for packaging.

The precisely weighed Cheese

bricks, in plastic sleeves, go to

the Blue Octopus for vacuum 

sealing.

The freshly wrapped bricks

come down the conveyor

belt & are put into bins.

The newly packaged cheese is run through machines to check for any metal contaminants.  The checked Cheeses are ready to be shipped to grocery stores all over the US.

Eric and I have one more stop to make before leaving...

The Gift Shop to buy 

postcards.

We got a pleasant surprise on our way out the door...  samples of Smoked Pepper White Cheddar Cheese.  It will be fun trying a new Tillamook Cheddar flavor.

Eric and I skip the line at the Ice Cream Serving Area.  Tillamook Ice Cream is available at most grocery stores.