Cheese Factory Tour

It was raining again when we woke up.  We had a mission today to find a cheese factory that provided tours.  There are fewer factories in Wisconsin than ever.  Many have closed or been purchased by larger companies and closed.

Looking online I found a few that had stores to purchase cheese but only one that provided tours by appointment.

We drove to the Nasonville Dairy hoping to be able to take the tour they offered.  The Nasonville Dairy doesn’t sell cheese under their name but sells to a “middle-man” who packages the cheese under their own names. 

We asked about a tour and and employee phoned someone in the factory asking if they would do a tour.  He did and what an interesting tour.  Of course we all had to wear these stylish bonnets on our heads.
  They get milk from local dairies that range in size from 6-5000 cows.  They are subject to strict government guidelines that require them to test each truckload of milk as it comes into the factory.  It is the responsibility of the dairy farmer to tell the dairy if his cows were treated with antibiotics.  If the dairy’s testing shows antibiotics in a sample of the delivery truck’s 4500 gallons of milk the farmer is billed for the entire load.  The dairy cannot use any of the milk for cheese.

They produce all kinds of cheese, including at least 9 different pizza cheese.  Some restaurants want a cheese that strings, others want cheese that melts but doesn’t brown, others want the cheese to melt but brown and still others want the cheese to have a spring to it.  They were making yellow cheese the day we were there.

We were shown the entire process from the milk truck delivery to packaging and storage of the new cheese.  There were fresh curds and we were all treated to some of them.  Yummmmmmm!

We went back into the store and purchased some cheese to take home and enjoy.

We went into Marshfield after the tour. It was past lunch and we were all hungry.  We spotted a family restaurant along main street and decided to stop.   They had quite a menu.  Anything you might want.  I decided on the senior meal of liver and onions.  The kids had chicken fingers as usual and Denny chose a burger. 

We all got our meals and WOW there was a lot of food on our plates.  I had two huge pieces of liver with mashed potatoes and green beans.  I couldn’t believe it.  I told the waitress that I expected a smaller portion in a senior meal.  She said, everyone expects that  but they just reduce the price for seniors not the portion size.

It was a wonderful meal.  Those chicken fingers were the best I have ever had. 

We called Diana and asked if it was alright if we brought some chicken home for dinner.  She agreed so we stopped at the grocery store and I ran in to pick up the chicken and a few other things. 

The kids were anxious to get out of the truck but were able to stay excited for the night of games we had planned.

After our meal of fried and roasted chicken we played scrabble and turkey track dominos.  It was great fun.

A visit to a dairy farm and games will be part of tomorrow’s adventure.