Tillamook Cheese Factory, Oregon

Tillamook County Creamery Association

Whilst driving down the Oregon coast we’d started to prepare sandwiches on route, as whilst it’s fun eating in the occasional diner or fast food joint, it’s not healthy to do so too often. In addition to a selection of meats and pickles I’d found some Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese. Whilst American Sharp cheese is about as weak as a Red Leicester in the UK, and a world apart from a Sharp English Farmhouse Cheddar, Tillamook is a whole lot better than the usual shrink-wrapped American burger cheese.

Not having heard of a place called Tillamook , I was quite pleased to happen across the Tillamook Valley, home to the cheese factory.

Inside Tillamook Cheese Factory

Tillamook Cheese Factory

A supposedly brief visit to the shop somehow expanded to involve a whole factory tour. We learnt how the climate in Oregon is perfect for dairy farming, which has been an industry here since the mid-1800s. Tillamook Daily Farmers’ Co-operative was set up in 1909 and is still the supplier for the cheese factory.

After seeing where the milk comes from, there’s a lesson in cheese making, starting from the basics and ending in a view over the modern cheese factory.

Packaging the cheese

Not entirely sure…

The penultimate stage is the tasting room, where there are a variety of cheeses to sample. The cheddars are good in their own way, but I felt the more interesting ones were the flavoured cheeses such as Pepper Jack or the smoked varieties.

The final stop, as always, is the exit through the gift shop. Here it’s possible to buy cheese (of course!), cold meats, pickles and all 38 flavours of the apparently famed Tillamook Ice Cream. There’s also a fudge shop and a selection of cold sausages.

Clutching a 2ft long pepperoni and a large box of fudge we continued on our way down the Oregon coast. The further we drove the more fudge we ate and the worse the sugar high became.

Tillamook Ice Cream

Tillamook County Creamery

The Tillamook cheese factory and tour is at 4175 Highway 101 North, and open from 8am to 6pm.

Is there anywhere in the UK making what a European would consider strong cheese?

Hopefully related posts:

Portland’s Historic Columbia River Highway – Oregon Spectacular stops along the Oregon Coast Highway Multnomah Falls, near Portland, Oregon The Bloody History of Battle Rock City Park – Port Orford, Oregon