Tillamook cheesemakers pose with a cheese inspector and milk inspector in 1931.

Here’s another golden oldie from our archive in honor of our Monterey Jack and Colby Jack cheeses winning Best of Class in their categories at the 2011 U.S. Championship Cheese Contest®. Can you tell that we are proud?

In this photo, four of the cheesemakers from across the county posed with the awards they won for their cheese in 1931. Left to right: Alfred Long, Red Clover Creamery; Floyd Culbertson, Maple Leaf Creamery Association; Norman Christensen, Tillamook Creamery; and Hugh Barber, Holstein Creamery. Pictured with the cheesemakers are Fred Christiansen, cheese inspector, and Guy Ford, milk inspector.

In the 1930s alone, cheesemakers in the Tillamook area won at least 81 awards, none of which were less than a second place. At that time, it seems like you could enter just about any state fair, even if you didn’t live there.  Awards came from all over the western half of the country, including the Arizona State Fair, California State Fair, Colorado State Fair, Los Angeles County Fair, Midland Empire Fair, Montana State Fair, National Dairy Exposition, Oregon State Fair, Pacific International Show, Pacific Slope Dairy Products Show, Spokane Interstate Fair and Livestock Show, Washington State Fair, Western Washington Fair, and the Wyoming State Fair. Just to name a few.

We are proud of our tradition and that our cheesemakers continue to excel at making some of the best cheese in the country.

By Chandra

In this photo, TCCA management, cheesemakers, and lab technicians sample the Antarctica cheese in 1958.

Even explorers need some comforts of home when they are on a great expedition. While packing for one of his expeditions to Little America on Antarctica in the 1940s, Admiral Richard Byrd tossed in some cheese, Tillamook Cheese to be exact. The history I found doesn’t tell why the cheese went on the trip. Maybe it was just for noshing, or perhaps it was to be used in a scientific study about how dairy products react in extreme environments. (I made that last part up.) Regardless of the reason, this particular wheel of Tillamook Cheese made quite a trip.

After the expedition, the cheese and other surplus goods were left behind. They were discovered in 1957 during an International Geophysical Year expedition. The Navy shipped all of the goods, including the cheese, to Rhode Island and then, eventually, to Chicago, where it was discovered by Alfred Rishoi, quartermaster, Food & Container Institute for the Armed Forces. It was Rishoi who thought about sending the cheese back to Tillamook.

After nearly 15 years, the chunk of cheddar returned home. According to those who sampled the cheese, it was still edible and not too sharp tasting. The cheese was made in either 1943 or 1944, but the freezing environment of the camp and shipping containers slowed the aging process.

By Chandra

We’ve won some pretty amazing awards for our cheese recently. And not to brag or anything, but we have won well over 600 awards for our cheese and dairy products throughout our 101-year history. So in honor of our Monterey Jack and Colby Jack cheeses winning Best of Class in their respective categories at the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest®, here’s a photo of one of our other award-winners.

Albert Haedinger

Albert Haedinger, one of our many cheesemakers in the 1940s-1950s, won the 1953 National Cheddar Cheese Scoring Contest, an event held by the National Dairy Congress. Albert was the first cheesemaker to receive this trophy. The following year the trophy was awarded to another TCCA cheesemaker, Donley Lommen. From 1957 to 1954, four TCCA cheesemakers won the contest’s top honor.

We always knew our cheese was really tasty and made by the best cheesemakers, then and now, but it’s nice to hear it from the experts.

By Chandra

A vintage Tillamook recipe book.

In honor of the launch of our new TV commercials, showcasing our award-winning Medium Cheddar, here are three recipes from “Prize Winning Tillamook Whole Milk Cheese Recipes.” This particular recipe booklet is from 1934. It is full of “extra-good recipes originated by Western Homemakers.”

To start, a lovely soup…

“Walker House” Cheese Soup, submitted by Mrs. Hansen of Bellingham, WA
3 cups boiling water
1 heaping cup grated Tillamook Cheese
1 clove garlic
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Grate the cheese, pour boiling water over cheese, toss in garlic and take out after a few minutes, when soup is flavored to suit. Let come almost to a boiling point, and then add the slightly beaten eggs. Stir with a fork until the eggs are cooked and look something like noodles. Add the butter, and serve at once with croutons – little toasted cubes of bread. This hearty soup can be made in three minutes. 

How about something to serve with that soup?

Tillie Pop-Ups, submitted by Mrs. Jones of Portland, OR
Break 3 eggs into a bowl, add 1-1/8 cups milk and ¼ teaspoon salt, and beat thoroughly. Add 1½ cups flour and beat at least 3 minutes longer, then add ½ cup grated Tillamook Cheese. Have heavy muffin or pop-over pans very hot and well greased. Fill about half full with the mixture, drop a little more grated cheese over the top, and put into a hot oven (450 degrees), decreasing the heat after 15 minutes to 350 degrees, and continuing to bake for 30 minutes longer.

And for dessert, something sweet (I think.)

Maids of Honor, submitted by Mrs. Cohoon of Tacoma, WA
Bake good pastry tartlets and fill with this cream: Mix 2 cups grated Tillamook Cheese with 2 tablespoons cream, the beaten yolks of 2 eggs, ½ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons melted butter and the grated rind and juice of 1 lemon; lastly, fold in the 2 egg whites, beaten stiff. Sprinkle chopped almonds over top and bake in a pastry shells in a moderate oven (375 degrees) for 20 minutes.

Mrs. Cahoon added a note at the end of her recipe that these were her favorite “tea table dainties” in England.

Bon appétit!

By Chandra

Three-of-the-Day

“Three-of-the-day, including Man-Styled Cheese Baked Eggs, cauliflower with cheese sauce in a veggie bouquet and cheese mushroom soup.” Looks pretty tasty, huh? In the 1950s, we often provided a menu idea for the month in our advertising or at the point-of-purchase in the grocery store. This was a menu idea for November in the mid-1950s. I personally am curious about what may be in the “Man-Styled Cheese Baked Eggs.”

By Chandra

Hugh Barber

The Holstein Creamery was one of the many small little creameries that dotted the Tillamook Valley. It was established in late 1917, at which time it became a member creamery of the Tillamook County Creamery Association.

In this photo from 1938, Hugh Barber, head cheesemaker at the Holstein Creamery, accepts a load of milk from one of the dairy farmers. All of the milk was weighed and tested before it was sent to one of the cheese vats. Tacked by the door was a tally sheet showing the pounds of milk received, which is how a farmer was, and still is, paid for their milk.

The second cheesemaker standing by the vat is monitoring the filling of the vat and the beginning of the cheesemaking process.

The Holstein Creamery was located on Third Street in Tillamook, just east of the fairgrounds. At one point it burned down, a common occurrence at creameries since hot fires were needed to create the steam used to heat the milk. The Holstein Creamery was rebuilt and operated until its owners, along with three other local creameries, merged and created the Tillamook Cheese & Dairy Association. Together with TCCA, the two groups built the new, centrally-located plant, which is still a part of our operating plant today.

The Holstein Creamery was torn down a few years ago.

By Chandra

Merriman Foland

Many of the pioneers who moved to the Tillamook Valley brought with them a cow or two to provide their family with fresh milk and butter. A few even made their own version of cheese called “Dutch cheese” or what was probably also called pot cheese. According to all accounts, it was similar to cottage cheese.

Surrounded by a generous supply of milk, a few folks attempted to make a harder cheese, like cheddar. It really was the product of choice since it was easier to store and transport. Butter would often turn rancid before it could reach the markets. But cheese, especially a cheese like cheddar, could survive a journey on a trading vessel.

A man by the name of Merriman Foland left New York after fighting with the Union Army during the Civil War. After serving time as a prisoner of war, he moved to California and spent time working at a dairy learning to make cheese. In 1878, he packed his belongings and moved to Beaver, Oregon, with his wife.

With his acquired knowledge and all the milk, he decided he was going to make cheese. He was so sure he remembered the recipe. Well, he didn’t. His first batch of cheese was a disaster. Some of the cheese rounds  were so swollen with trapped gasses that they rolled right off the shelves. Other rounds exploded! The entire batch was inedible.

“I must not have remembered very well how they made them cheeses in California,” he remarked to a friend.

Merriman was a workaholic and he kept working at that recipe until he made an edible batch of cheese. He didn’t have an opportunity to get much further than that. Shortly after his triumph, he died in 1893.

But 1893 was a turning point in Tillamook County’s history of cheesemaking. It was a year that forever set us on the path as being cheddar country. More on that later…

By Chandra

Construction of our first centrally-located plant, 1949.

As the county grew and roads improved, there was no longer the need for all of the little creameries dotting the Tillamook Valley to continue to receive milk and make cheese. The smooth, paved roads made it easier for the farmers to travel greater distances to deliver their milk. Many of the creameries began to consolidate their operations or shut down.

In 1948, four of the TCCA’s member creameries decided to make cheese as a single operation and together they formed the Tillamook Cheese and Dairy Association. This new association, in partnership with the already existing TCCA, constructed a large plant north of the city of Tillamook.

On Nov. 2, 1949, the entire county celebrated the dedication of the new, centrally-located plant. It was large and modern. An expansive wall of glass windows let the sunlight shine on the stainless steel cheese vats in the cheesemaking room. There was a warehouse, ice plant, whey condenser, milk bottling room, packaging department, laboratory for testing the quality of milk and cheese, and a production area for making cottage cheese, butter and ice cream.

There were also many innovative ideas, such as the triple-deck storage system in the warehouse to utilize all of the available floor-to-ceiling space, and a new machine allowing TCCA to replace the traditional glass milk bottles with paper cartons. There also was a continuous belt conveyor installed to move the full cans of milk into the plant. 

It’s undergone a few expansions since then, but hidden within the walls of today’s plant still exists the original footprint of the 1949 plant.

By Chandra

John Wyss, Perrin and Adam Schmelzer operated the power curd mill at Beaver Creamery. Addie Bunn stands in the background.

Steam was very important for making cheese in the smaller creameries. When the creameries were running, boilers were constantly being fed wood to keep the fire high in order to generate the steam needed to heat the vats during the cheesemaking process.

But steam had other uses, too. Once the cheesemaking process became mechanized, steam was used to run some of the equipment. The best example is of the early power curd mills. This photo shows the first power curd mill for the Beaver Creamery, and possible for the county (circa 1910). The mill was used to cut the slabs of curd into small, uniform pieces, which were then salted and pressed into hoops.

By Chandra

Bohren Farm

Have you ever wondered about the big painted quilt blocks displayed on local barns and businesses in Tillamook County? They’re part of the Tillamook County Quilt Trail, the first quilt trail on the West coast.

The trail is a partnership between a coalition of local citizens and businesses to identify historic barns and other buildings in Tillamook County, enhance them with large painted wooden quilt blocks, share the history of the dairy farms and quilts through a self-guided tour for visitors, and to celebrate Tillamook’s rural heritage.

The barn pictured here is called the Bohren Farm and is displaying a pattern block called Lone Star. Here is the description posted in the Tillamook County Quilt Trail map:

Bohren Farm - One of the earliest owners was Peter Morgan. He also was part-owner of the sailing ship Morning Star, whose replica sits in front of the Cheese Factory. Tom Hyder later purchased the farm. Tom grew barley on the farm and made moonshine. In 1949, Gottlieb Bohren and his sons bought the farm from Tom Bohren, a Swiss immigrant, who had lived on the farm next door. During a remodel of the barn, hundreds of whiskey bottles were found under the floorboards of the barn. The original farm house was just north of the barn, but blew down in the 1950s. Gottlieb’s brother Albert was in the house at the time but came out ok. The Obrist family bought this farm from the Bohrens in the mid-1990s, because they felt the need to expand their home dairy, located on Trask River Road, when all three of their sons decided to return home and work with their father, Richard Obrist. (Lone Star)

By Heidi