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Young’s churning out new cheeses

Photos: Young's Dairy makes cheese

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Barbara Perenic/Stuart Young cools colby cheese curds with water to help separate the curds from the whey at Young's Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs on Tuesday, July 14, 2009. Young's recently rolled out their first batch of cheese called Jersey Jack and is now producing one 200-lb. batch of cheese four days a week, creating multiple varieties including colby and cheddar from the same home-based milk from that goes into their popular ice cream.

Staff photo by Barbara Perenic Barbara Perenic/Stuart Young cools colby cheese curds with water to help separate the curds from the whey at Young's Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs on Tuesday, July 14, 2009. Young's recently rolled out their first batch of cheese called Jersey Jack and is now producing one 200-lb. batch of cheese four days a week, creating multiple varieties including colby and cheddar from the same home-based milk from that goes into their popular ice cream.

By Elaine Morris Roberts, Staff Writer Updated 2:21 PM Wednesday, July 15, 2009

SPRINGFIELD — Clark County’s most-visited ice cream spot may soon be known as the cheese capital of Ohio — if the Young family has anything to say about it.

After more than a year in the planning stages, the first batch of Jersey Jack cheese was produced last week at Young’s Jersey Dairy.

Jersey Jack (similar to Monterey Jack), Pepper Jack and Colby are currently being produced. Cheddar will be available next week.

“We have been under the tutelage of a gentleman from the Netherlands, where we bought our equipment,” said Dan Young, co-owner of the working dairy farm, dairy store and restaurants at 6880 Springfield Xenia Road.

Stuart Young, co-owner and Dan’s cousin, and longtime employee Mike Randall — he’s been making ice cream there since 1984 — spent time at the Artisan Cheese Institute at the University of Vermont to learn their new skills.

Cheese-making is an art, not a science because there are so many variables, Stuart Young said. Differences in breeds of cow, the cows’ diets, temperatures and the variable butterfat in milk can all impact the final product.

The cheese makers at Young’s will keep tight control over the entire process, from feeding and housing the cows to hand-stirring each batch.

The process is physical and time consuming.

Stuart Young milks the cows before 6 a.m., then pumps about 1,800 pounds of milk into the processing vat where the entire production process takes place.

After many steps including milk pasteurization, curdling and salting, the curds are pressed into hoops — large rectangular molds that hold about 20 pounds each.

Nearly every step requires Stuart Young to be leaning over the vat, stirring the product multiple times.

By 3 p.m. or so, about 200 pounds of cheese has been pressed into hoops.

Young’s produces cheese four days per week and expects to make about 40,000 pounds the first year, Dan Young said.

In about six months, 25 percent of that cheese will find its way into Young’s restaurants; the remainder will be for sale at the dairy store.

On Tuesday, July 14, Stuart Young was making the first batch of aged Colby that will be kept in the cooler until it’s unveiled in November.

“One down,” Stuart Young said as he pressed the first 20 pounds of curd into a hoop, “only 180 pounds to go.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0371 or elroberts@coxohio.com.

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