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All the United States Oregon Tillamook Tillamook Creamery
Gastro Obscura

Tillamook Creamery

This unassuming cheese empire in rural Oregon churns out more than 150,000 pounds of cheese each day.

Tillamook, Oregon

Added By
Matthew Taub
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A lot goes into making a little bit of cheese.   Samir S. Patel (Atlas Obscura User)
These silos process inconceivable amounts of milk.   Samir S. Patel (Atlas Obscura User)
A behind-the-scenes look at the process.   Samir S. Patel (atlas obscura user)
Cheese sculpture at entrance   katherinejhdevaney / Atlas Obscura User
  breaingram / Atlas Obscura User
Milk a (replica) cow!   Anna Minster / Atlas Obscura User
  RoadUnraveled / Atlas Obscura User
40 pound blocks of cheese almost ready for aging   sespeausi / Atlas Obscura User
100th anniversary   FraeuleinS / Atlas Obscura User
  jyackabonis / Atlas Obscura User
  jyackabonis / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Cheese cubes hang from the ceiling in this creamery’s newly renovated Visitors Center, which also features such memorabilia as a 1927 butter churner and a stamp used to authenticate packaged blocks as pure Tillamook cheese. Most impressive is the view of the factory floor, where chunks of cheese as big as milk crates roll down a conveyor belt and “Cheddar Master” vats process up to 15,000 pounds of cheese at a time.

Each day, as if to defy the stillness of the nearby Tillamook State Forest, the Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA) processes one million pounds of milk and churns out at least 170,000 pounds of cheese. The creamery is both a marvel of cheese engineering and a slice of cheese history.

Tillamook County’s first cheese factory opened in 1894, and 32 more would quickly follow suit. Undeterred by the cosmopolitan glare, a Tillamook cheese even won the grand prize at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. The local cheese-making talent consolidated in 1909 to form a co-op, which still operates today as the Tillamook Creamery and uses a cheddar recipe first developed in the 19th century.

The spirit of excellence, evidently, has not waned. In 2017, TCCA took home first place in the category of “Mature Cheddar Aged over 48 Months (All Milks)” from the American Cheese Society.

Cheese enthusiasts can check out Tillamook Creamery to see part of the cheesemaking magic in action. At the visitor center, you’ll snag a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the production and packaging process via a viewing gallery that overlooks the production floor. There’s also a classic ice cream counter, wood fired pizza oven, and of course, cheese samples.

Related Tags

Cheese Factories Dairy Ice Cream Forests World's Fair History Ecosystems

Community Contributors

Added By

matthewtaub

Edited By

FraeuleinS, Kerry Wolfe, breaingram, Anna Minster...

  • FraeuleinS
  • Kerry Wolfe
  • breaingram
  • Anna Minster
  • RoadUnraveled
  • jyackabonis
  • katherinejhdevaney
  • sespeausi

Published

July 25, 2018

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Sources
  • https://www.oregonlive.com/O/index.ssf/2009/07/tillamook_the_town_that_cheese.html
  • http://www.oldwayscheese.org/blog/2017/8/2/american-cheese-society-2017-competition-winners
  • https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/tillamookcityoregon/PST045217
  • http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/tillamook/2015/07/dairy_done_right_landscape.html
Tillamook Creamery
4185 N Highway 101
Tillamook, Oregon
United States
45.483706, -123.844235
Visit Website
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Photo of Tillamook

Tillamook

Oregon

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