Plain

Cheesemaking in the Cedar Grove Cheese Factory begins at 10 P.M., when 100,000 pounds of milk arrive. By late the next morning, that will become 10,000 pounds of cheddar cheese.

–Tim

Not long ago, there were close to a hundred cheese factories in Dane County, but now there are actually zero, zip, none, nada. We had to drive OUT of Dane County to find one.

–Erika

The Cedar Grove Cheese Factory is 102 years old. In the early 1900s, it was just a basement, and upstairs is where the cheese maker lived.

To make cheese, there are two things you have to learn: Science and the Art of Cheese. Here are the basic steps:

1. Heat milk to high temperature. The pasteurizer does that.
2. Put the milk into a vat.
3. Add bacteria for flavor.
4. Put enzymes to make the milk thicken.
5. Cut cheese into cubes with a machine called a harp.

Cheeses are all made differently, so a factory will probably make only one or two kinds of cheese.

–Emily

The Cheese Factory
by Alice

Hummm
Machines
they stir
the milk
to make
the cheese
splash
they spray
the fogged-
up window
then off
we’re sent
with orange
cheese curd
skeak skeak!
skeak skeak!
is the noise
they make
in my