As a one-time
bacteriologist, I have always been interested in the biology and practical uses
for bacteria and fungi. Everything from wine to penicillin can be produced by
these amazing microscopic creatures. When I lived in the Midwest, I took some
tours of breweries and learned more about beer than I could have from reading
textbooks. (Yes, I enjoyed sampling the
beer, too.) So, when we reached the Tillamook cheese factory in Oregon, I
wanted to take the tour and find out exactly what organisms are used in the
cheese-making process, and how the procedure is managed.
The factory
turned out to be gigantic, surrounded by a huge parking lot for myriad visitors.
No dairy cows were on site, though many thousands of milk-producing animals
must be required to supply the factory with enough milk for the 170,000 pounds
of cheese churned out daily. We saw a stream of milk trucks coming in the back
way, and cheese-laden trucks leaving from another gate. Somewhere in that
building, we surely could find the details of what happens in the interlude
between milk and cheese.
Just reaching the
front door was difficult, because of the mob of tourists entering and leaving. Inside
the entrance, past the café and gift shop, a sign directed us toward a
self-guided tour. A couple of benches faced a large screen where we expected to
see an introductory video. It turned out to be a puff piece about how happy
dairy farmers (and their cows) are to be providing the raw ingredient for
Tillamook cheese. If they are required not to use antibiotics, to avoid
pesticides and fertilizers in their fields, or to be organic in other ways, the
video did not mention it. Some posters on the walls promised to give us some
information before the tour, but turned out to be a history of the Tillamook
area. Though of some historical interest, they had nothing to do with the
cheese-making that had lured us to the factory.
Following the
signs to the tour, we stood in a lengthy line, then passed a long row of free samples
of cheese. They were standard Tillamook cheeses—mild, sharp, and extra-sharp
Cheddars—that can be bought in any supermarket. Nevertheless, visitors happily
speared as many as possible of the sample cubes with the toothpicks that were
(thankfully) provided.
Next, we entered
a shop where we could buy cheese, crackers, and so on. Again, the cheese was
standard Tillamook grocery-store stuff: better than cheaper brands, but nothing
special. The prices were perhaps $2/lb. less than we would pay at our local
Safeway store. We bought two pounds of the extra-sharp Cheddar, as we do eat a
lot of cheese and would put it to good use.
Finally, we moved
on to an observation deck overlooking two large divisions of the factory. In
one huge area we could see the lids of steel vats within which cheese was presumably
being made. No humans could be seen, and there was absolutely no information
provided about the process. In the other area, we saw large blocks of cheese carried
on a conveyor belt, and workers slicing off the edges of the blocks. The large
blocks were then cut into smaller blocks and packaged in their familiar plastic
wrappings. The events in this area were so obvious that we didn’t mind the lack of
explanation.
Before going back
to the entrance, we stopped to buy a dish of ice cream. It was delicious,
though no more so (and no less expensive) than we could have enjoyed in any
good ice cream shop where the environment would be less hectic. Like the cheese
shop, this area was extremely crowded with people, some of whom weighed two or
three hundred pounds on the hoof and were stuffing themselves with ice cream. This
place is an obesity crisis. And that was all. We had wasted more than an hour fighting
crowds and buying some cheese and ice cream without learning a thing about how
the foods were made.
I love Oregon in
general. The coastal scenery is possibly the most beautiful of any in the
United States, and we are fortunate in living near enough for a quick visit. But,
every state has some places to avoid, and the Tillamook Factory is one. For
anyone seeking the facts about cheese, some smaller companies are likely to
give real tours, and to produce higher quality cheese as well.
