New York Cheese Production

When most people think of New York, they usually picture sky scrapers, busy streets, elaborate Broadway productions, traffic, and fashion. They usually don't think about agriculture. However, just because the average person doesn't usually think about the state of New York and the agriculture industry in the same sentence, that doesn't mean that agriculture isn't a very important part of New York’s economy. The production of New York cheese plays a vital role in the states agriculture.

Even though the state doesn't really promote it, they have a thriving dairy industry. New York’s dairy farmers are responsible for making the state the third biggest producer of milk in the United States. Milk is such an important part of New York’s economic stability that in 1981, the state government officially declared that milk was the states official beverage. While a great deal of that milk stays in its natural form and is used for drinking and household cooking. A great deal of it is also turned into the excellent cheese the state has become famous for producing. Approximately ½ of all of New York's milk is set aside for the production of butter, cheese, ice cream, and other processed products.

The milk that is set aside for making cheese has rennet added as well as an acid (often vinegar) and is then allowed to sour. When the milk has soured the manufactures can separate the cheese curds from the whey. The type of cheese the producer wishes to make will determine how much rennet is added to the cheese and how much acid is used. When the producer is making a hard cheese like Cheddar they usually mix in a greater amount of rennet. If the producer wants a fresh batch of soft cheese they will use more acid and less rennet.

The next step in the production of New York cheese is pouring the cheese into a moist gel. If the cheese is going to be hard, it will have to spend some time in the gel; however this is one of the final stages of soft cheese. When making a batch of soft cheese the producers just has to salt it, drain it, package it, and start marketing it. The high turnover rate of soft cheese is why some of New York’s cheese producers prefer to make soft cheese over hard cheeses which are a little more time consuming.

In the case of hard cheeses, the producer needs to force even more of the whey from the cheese. To do this the cheese is put into an oven and baked at 35–55 °C which helps dry the cheese. The cheese is salted which both gives the cheese flavor and also helps prevent it from spoiling.

The aging process is a very important step of cheese production. Cheese that hasn't been properly aged will not only taste strongly of salt, but it will also have a rubbery texture. As the cheese ages, it develops a robust flavor and the texture gradually changes from rubbery to the dry texture we are familiar with. The amount of time the cheese ages depends on what kind of cheese it is.

-Written by Lilly Babineau