The Shullsburg Creamery Viewing Hall
Whether you live in the historic town of Shullsburg or just here for a visit, make sure a stop to the Shullsburg Creamery is on your list! Not only can you shop for delicious eats in our Cheese Store, but you can see cheesemaking in action in our viewing hall, which gives you front-row access to our production floor to witness traditional cheesemaking techniques in action.
Created in 2015 during the refurbishment of the Creamery, the viewing hall delights several thousands of visitors yearly. Here, on the west side of Main Street, you can get a glimpse of the entire cheesemaking process. At first, you will observe the towering stainless steel vats being filled with milk and the cheesemaker sprinkling in cultures and rennet. Once the vat has been set to a yogurt-like consistency, you’ll get to witness the cheesemaker using a wire harp to hand-cut the mixture into curd-sized pieces. You’ll then notice the vat being heated up and stirred gently until the desired consistency is reached.
If you happen to be strolling by the viewing hall once cooking is complete, make sure you stop to see the cheesemaker pump the curd and whey onto the finishing table, where the curd is then pushed to the outside edges of the table and the whey is drained off. After this, the fun really begins. The cheesemaker begins to cut, flip and stack the curd masses to push out excess whey. The cheesemaking team then mills the large slabs of cheese into small curd pieces and salts it several times.
If you happen to be a bystander at this point in the journey, you will really enjoy observing the “hooping” process, where the curd is placed into forms or hoops and pressed for several hours into various formats, like wheels, blocks and horns. Once this pressing process is complete, the cheese is de-molded and packaged to be stored for a short period of time to allow the flavor to develop. The next time you see it, it will be on the shelf in its final size at the store waiting for you to buy!
“It’s always good to see where your food comes from and how it’s made,” notes Rob Frie, Shullsburg Creamery General Manager. “It’s a great way to educate the public who really may not understand what happens during the cheesemaking process, and what better fun than to see how it’s done and then stop by the Cheese Store and sample or buy some.”
And when you approach the Cheese Store’s checkout counter, you might be helped by Regina Soddy, who has been a clerk at the Cheese Store for the last 6 years. Just steps away from the production floor where it all begins, Regina handles the final step in a cheese’s journey, where cheese is purchased to be enjoyed.
“We have a huge history,” notes Regina of the historic city, the 3rd oldest in the state of Wisconsin. Regina and her family are part of that history, and she enjoys sharing Shullsburg’s story with her patrons. “When you’re from this area, you have relatives that were part of that history,” says Regina, whose grandparents and great-grandparents were cheesemakers.
So make that trip to Shullsburg Creamery, check out the viewing hall (production runs Monday – Friday and the most action can be seen between 7:00 am and 2:00 pm) and then head over to the retail side and pay a visit to Regina and the many other dedicated employees of the Creamery. And don’t forget to buy some cheese for the ride home!
