The holiday season is upon us and it’s a chance to be merry with friends and family. That often takes the shape of a fun Christmas party, and have I got the perfect recipe for you to add to your holiday festivities: Tillamook Christmas Packages.

Are you ready?

Grate ½ pound Tillamook Cheese and blend with enough grapefruit juice so that it will blend easily with 1 cup of whipped cream. Season with paprika and salt to suit your taste. Soak 1 tablespoon of granulated gelatin in an additional 3 tablespoons grapefruit juice for 5 minutes, then melt over hot water, and add carefully to the cream and cheese mixture. Add finely chopped nuts, candied cherries, and any other desired candied fruit to suit your taste; put into a loaf pan and set in the refrigerator, or pack in ice and salt. When ready to serve cut into oblong pieces, place on a lettuce leaf and decorate with pimento stars as you would decorate a Christmas package. Affix a Christmas tag to each serving and use this as a place card. Pass French dressing separately.

This lovely recipe was in our 1934 edition of “Prize Winning Tillamook Whole Milk Cheese Recipes.” It was submitted by Mrs. Lee of Portland, Ore. Unfortunately, photos weren’t included in the recipe pamphlets at that time; you’ll just have to use your imagination.

By Chandra

Once cheesemaking was introduced to Tillamook County, the floodgates opened and little creameries were quickly constructed all around the county. This primarily was because the roads weren’t all that good and it took a long time to transport milk from one side of the county to the other by way of horse and wagon. It was easier for a farmer to take his few cans of milk to a local creamery.

One such creamery was the Tillamook Creamery. It was located about a mile south of town, which today is 12^th and Main in the city of Tillamook. In 1903, the president of the Tillamook Creamery had the idea of hire a young lawyer as a bookkeeper and salesman. That was a brilliant decision, because the young lawyer was none other than Carl Haberlach, the man who suggested organizing the local creameries into a cooperative.

In this photo, taken around 1900, the man with the hat holding a plug of cheese (front, right) was a young Fred Christiansen. Fred learned to make cheese from Peter McIntosh, and after a time as cheesemaker, went on to very long and successful career as cheese inspector. (I’ll tell you his tale later.)

The Tillamook Creamery wasn’t the first creamery in the county but it was one of the larger ones. In 1949, its board of directors agreed to merge their cheesemaking operations with three other local creameries, plus the Tillamook County Creamery Association, and build a new, centrally-located plant in Tillamook.

By Chandra

At the time of its construction, the 1949 Tillamook cheesemaking plant was considered state of the art. During the dedication ceremony, a few individuals took some time out to reminisce about how cheese used to be made. Standing left to right is Harold Sutton, the new plant’s head cheesemaker; Frank Owens, TCCA’s vice president; George Lawson, TCCA’s secretary-manager; and Merle Jensen, the plant’s superintendent. The four men are comparing an old cheese kettle with the modern cheese vats behind them in the cheesemaking room. Well, they were modern for 1949 at least, but they don’t quite compare to the cheese vats you can see today in our cheesemaking room. The cheese vats today can hold about four times more milk.

By Chandra

Tillamook has a long history of cheesemakers. Each of them played a role in helping to establish Tillamook County as cheddar country, even if not all of the earliest attempts were successful or the cheesemakers were particularly good. We’ll give those folks an “A” for effort. It didn’t take long, though, before we were on the right track and making some tasty cheddar cheese.

The handsome bunch in this photo was all Tillamook cheesemakers. It is dated 1948 and they were photographed while attending a cheesemakers banquet. They probably needed a break, considering all the hard work they put into making Tillamook Cheese! In 1948, the Tillamook County Creamery Association was still a cooperative of creameries, and each creamery had its own staff of talented cheesemakers making award-winning cheddars. In fact, a 1949 article stated that with 15 creameries and 24 licensed cheesemakers, Tillamook County had about half of all of the cheesemakers in the state of Oregon.

We continued to have little creameries operating around the county, each with their own cheesemaker, all the way up until 1968. That’s when the few remaining creameries consolidated their milk supply into the centrally-located plant and there was a single cheesemaker overseeing the entire cheesemaking operation.

By Chandra

Doesn’t a product that is attractively displayed in the store catch your attention? At least enough to make you look twice. Well, we like our products to look nice in the store, too. There are bunches of photos in the archives showing large, small, simple and creative displays of Tillamook cheese in stores throughout the decades.

In this particular photo, the deli department manager, Joe Vellutini, shows off his display of Tillamook Cheese in the Stonestown Supermarket in San Francisco. This photo is from the late 1950s to early 1960s.

By Chandra

Our booth located in the domed exhibit hall showcasing Tillamook Cheddar Cheeses at the 1932 Tillamook County Fair. It’s not too far from where our ice cream booth is today!

It’s county fair time! In Tillamook, it’s a time for pronto pups, ice cream cones, exhibits, horse races, Pig-n-Ford races and thrills on the midway.

The Tillamook County Fair was established in 1891. In 1921, land and money was acquired to build a permanent home for the fair. One of the first buildings erected was the domed exhibit hall, which is still a feature of the fairgrounds today.

We don’t know exactly how long TCCA has been involved with the fair, but we’ve certainly had a long relationship of supporting and participating in the annual event. Through the years, dairy farmers would show their cows, and cheese contests were held where all of the local creameries would submit their best cheddars. Dairy farmers still show their cows, but the cheese contest was no longer needed once all of the cheesemaking consolidated in the central plant in 1968.

But no worries, the fun never stopped. In the early 1970s an ice cream booth was established. Since then Tillamook Ice Cream cones have been available to all fairgoers. Just steps inside the main exhibit hall you can belly-up to the booth and order one or two scoops of our delicious ice cream. Today, we partner with 4-H to staff our ice cream booth. They keep all of the proceeds from the sales and we all get to have some fun.

In 2010, USA Today named the Tillamook County Fair one of the top 10 blue-ribbon county fairs. Stop by for some fun at the Tillamook County Fair, Aug. 10-13!

By Chandra

A vintage Tillamook Cheese advertisement from 1942

Here’s something brand new to the archives. Well, it’s old, but new to me! Thanks to the generous contribution of one of our fans, this 1942 ad that ran in Sunset magazine is now a part of TCCA’s archives. In addition to educating the consumer as to what made Tillamook unique and how it came by its “rich, racy flavor,” we also often shared recipe ideas. I’m not so sure about trying the salad mold, but the frankfurter sandwiches may be worth a shot!

By Chandra

Vintage Tillamook Ice Cream cartons

Way back when, in the mid-1930s, a committee of the Tillamook Country Creamery Association (TCCA) board of directors recommended that Tillamook experiment with making ice cream. The committee felt that a small-scale could easily meet any local demand, and the expansion of ice cream production would depend on the success of local sales.

Unfortunately, our archives are lacking in details about what happened after that recommendation. Did we make ice cream or not? We do know that by 1947 ice cream was made locally in small amounts. But it wasn’t until 1949, when the new plant was constructed, that Tillamook really dived into making the sweet treat on a larger scale.

We started with Frosty 4, a 4 percent butter fat ice milk, which came in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry ripple and chocolate ripple; Tillamook Maid, a 10.5 percent butterfat ice cream; and a few novelty items like sundae cups. Tillamook Ice Cream was sold all around town, up into Clatsop County and south to Lincoln County.

In 1972, we began a half-gallon line of premium ice cream in a selection of flavors. With a big marketing push, our ice cream made its way into the Portland market. Being able to enjoy an ice cream cone at an outlet such as the Oregon Zoo gave people outside of Tillamook an opportunity to taste our ice cream and, hopefully, fall in love with it.

Filling Tillamook Ice Cream cartons

Another avenue for making devotees of Tillamook Ice Cream was through our Visitors Center (the Tillamook Cheese Factory). When we expanded the Visitors Center in 1979, a dipping counter was added that could hold 16-tubs of ice cream. Sales grew immensely, prompting the dipping counter to move three different times to accommodate the growing demand before settling in its current spot. Today, the downstairs dipping counters can hold 80 tubs of ice cream!

Stop by the Tillamook Cheese Factory and enjoy an ice cream in honor of National Ice Cream Month!

By Chandra

A vintage Tillamook Ice Cream truck

July 9 marks the 27th anniversary since former president Ronald Regan signed a proclamation stating that July is Ice Cream Month. He proclaimed that “ice cream is a nutritious and wholesome food, enjoyed by over 90 percent of the people in the United States.” July also happens to be the month when the most ice cream is consumed in the United States. Coincidence? I think not!

I consider the history of ice cream to be shaded by legends and stories. There are different references and stories about when, where and who first made ice cream. One story even includes Roman Emperor Nero. I think it makes ice cream seem old and mysterious. And it is! The process of turning milk, with some added cream and sugar, into a frozen, sweet concoction that comes in an assortment of flavors is amazing! And so very delicious. Yummm…

Our own history with ice cream is a little mysterious, too. By mysterious I mean lacking in historical information. Unfortunately it is one of the areas in our archives with holes in it. What our history says is that sometime in the 1930s, a committee of board members recommended to the entire board of directors to consider making ice cream. In their report the committee expressed, “We do not think it wise to attempt this on a large scale, but to begin with as more or less of an experiment perhaps.” Look where that experiment is today!

Stay tuned for more Tillamook Ice Cream history. Until then, enjoy a bowl of ice cream in celebration of Ice Cream Month. I know I will!

By Chandra

Historical photo: A float in the Tillamook June Dairy Parade

June is Dairy Month! And since Tillamook County is a proud dairy community, the county is gearing up for fun and festivities and celebrating with the June Dairy Parade on Saturday, June 25.

The national June Dairy Month promotion got started in 1937. But it appears that Tillamook was so proud of its dairy industry that the first local dairy celebration was held in the 1920s, so says an old-timer who watched the parade as a young lad. I don’t know what happened in all the years after that first parade, but the beginning of the annual celebration as we know it today kicked off in 1957.

Tillamook’s first June Dairy Month celebration had a number of activities, including a cow milking contest for the local mayors. Bob Ely, who was festival chairman and a TCCA employee, stated that “a good time was had by all,” even though the parade was delayed by rain. Nowadays the parade is held rain or shine. What’s a little rain?

By 1961 the event had turned into a festival. Four mayors competed in the cow milking contest; the Lions and Kiwanis groups held a tug-of-war contest; there were milk drinking and ice cream eating contests for fifth and sixth grade boys; two dances were held and, of course, the fourth annual June Dairy Parade, which concluded with the coronation of the Tillamook County Dairy Princess.

In 2003, TCCA began sponsoring the parade in an effort to keep the tradition active in the community. Today, Tillamook County’s June Dairy Parade is one of Oregon’s largest parades, averaging about 150 entries.

The 2011 parade will be Saturday, June 25, at 11 a.m. Come and join the fun!

By Chandra