Life on Earth

Last month I spent a day witnessing the making of cheese. The story ran in yesterday’s Detroit Free Press. Basically, the process I saw was a few hundred gallons of milk slowly being stirred into a curd, poured into forms and then pressed into wheels that will become what was voted last year as the “best of show” at the American Cheese Society’s annual competition. Basically, making it the best cheese in the country. Not bad for a company with three employees.

The Leelanau Cheese Company is located in Suttons Bay, Michigan. The owners, John and Anne Hoyt make their artisan raclette in large batches that are aged around 8 months. The Free Press’s Sylvia Rector did a nice job describing the process, but also captured the uniqueness of the Hoyt’s mission–fine cheese, made right, from the cow to the plate.

See more pictures, and read her article online at: It’s the best cheese in America

Below, John Hoyt squeezes excess whey and water out of a fresh wheel of cheese. The cheese will sit with weights on top of it for another 12 hours before being placed in a cellar for 8-10 months.