Cada Dia Cheese Tour

Today we went to Cada Dia Cheese farm and went on a little tour.  This is a small, family owned and operated cheese making business right here in Prineville.  

The farm is located in the north west part of town in a beautiful area of hay fields and pastures.

The house itself is really not too impressive from the first look.  The place is truly a work in progress.  Part of the house has been built using the straw bale practice.  The owner, Pat Sullivan, has the bales in place now and just needs to do the plaster.

  

At the back of the house is the milking parlor.  This is where the cows walk in to be milked.

The first room we entered after walking past the milking parlor was the wash up room.

Then we entered the room where the actual cheese making process begins.  

Here the curds and whey are being stirred and separated.

The curds are put into a form and pressed.  After about 24 hours or so the cheese is taken out of the molds and coated with a wax.  This is the owner, Pat Sullivan, waxing the newest cheddars.

There are two cheese rooms.  This is the cheddar room where the cheddar cheeses are being aged.

And in another room the camemberts are ripening.  The very new wheels are on the right and the older ones are on the left.

And of course the final stop was the "tasting room".  This was probably my personal favorite!!  We tasted saffron feta, chive cheddar, parmesan, "Christmas cheddar" (cheddar with chives and red pepper flakes), and triple cream camembert.

The young helper is a neighbor apprentice.  She was very sweet.

A few of the Jersey cows out in the pasture.

This is obviously far from the "modern" dairy farm one might think of when you think of a now-a-days-dairy farm.  But this is very close to how cheese was made hundreds of years ago.  

Let it be known that we bought a parmesan, triple cream camembert, and chive cheddar.  

YUM!