Monday morning we headed out to taste some Amish cheese. Our first stop was in Millersburg, Ohio at Guggisberg Cheese Chalet. Alfred Guggisberg, the founder of Guggisberg Cheese, took an interest in cheese making at a very young age. He was only 16 when he began to study the art of cheese making in the high pastures of the Alps in the home land of Switzerland. He went on to attend the famous Swiss Federal "Molkereishulle" (cheese maker's institute) to further improve upon his craft. Upon completing his schooling, Alfred spent a number of years making cheese throughout Europe and parts of Africa before coming in the United States in 1947 in search of a new challenge. It didn't take long, with his high standards of quality, for Alfred to earn a reputation as an exceptional cheese maker. As a result of his abilities, local Amish farmers, in search of a cheese maker to provide a market for their milk, lured Alfred to the Doughty Valley in Charm, Ohio. The operation that Alfred took over, known then as Doughty Valley Cheese, evolved and became Guggisberg Cheese in 1950.
In the 1960's, after having sufficient time to experiment with local milk, Alfred was able to develop a new style of Swiss. The main differences with this cheese were that it featured smaller "eyes" (holes) and a creamier taste. Alfred's wife, Margaret Guggisberg, christened the new cheese "Baby Swiss" after she saw a wheel of it next to the much larger wheel of traditional Emmental Swiss. In 1968 Guggisberg Baby Swiss Cheese was launched and Alfred's cheese house began producing larger quantities of Baby wheels for the local community.
We were disappointed there was not a tour and you had to ask for tastes of specific cheeses. They had a video of cheesemaking, which you can see on it's website. We bought some Baby Swiss on the advise of a clerk, but nothing else.
From there we moved on to Heini's Cheese Chalet in Millerburg, Ohio. Heini's Cheese Chalet is an actual cheese producing plant operating in the heart of Holmes County, Ohio. Home of the world's largest Amish Community. The facility was built in the late 1800's and was purchased by the Dauwalder family from Switzerland in 1935. John (Hans) Dauwalder, trained as a master cheesemaker in Switzerland, and came to the United States in the 1920's. In 1962, the grandson of John, Peter and his wife Nancy, purchased Bunker Hill Cheese Factory. Today it is one of the premier cheese retailers east of the Mississippi River, and one of the most successful wholesale manufacturers serving throughout North America. This family business continues to be the primary outlet for the Amish farms in the region. Amish farmers still provide their milk to the factory in traditional milk cans, the same manner as their forefathers did.
We had a great tour here. There was a 100 foot viewing corridor to view the cheese making process. We were told that Heini's only use milk from hand milked cows. Why I don't know, but it sounded good. There also was free samples of over 50 varieties of natural cheese.
We bought lots of different types of cheese here from Fire Hot Pepper Cheese to Sharp Cheddar. When you can taste a lot you buy a lot, because you know what you are buying. We also got Hot & Sharp German Mustard, can you tell someone who travels with me, likes spicy food. We ended another wonderful day with lunch in Millersburg, at a local favorite, Boyd's Restaurant downtown.s We of course had pie.
On the way home we stopped at Walmart. Yes, Millersburg has a Walmart doesn't every town. I had just asked Bob if he thought the Amish shopped at Walmart. He didn't need to answer, as we drove into the parking lot we saw buggy parking.
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