During my family’s recent vacation to Oregon this summer, we stopped by the world-famous Tillamook Cheese Factory for a tour. Visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory was a dream come true, because I come from a long line of ‘cheese lovers’ in my family and Tillamook is our favorite brand. Especially their extra sharp cheddar cheese!
The Tillamook Cheese Factory offers FREE self guided tours to the public.
Tillamook Cheese Making Process
The cheese making process is actually quite interesting! Tillamook been using the same well-aged cheddar recipe for over a century. Milk leaves the farm and arrives at their cheese factories within one hour, and within 24 hours the milk will be turned into cheese. The cheese is aged anywhere between 60 days to 3 years. On a daily basis, overall the factory makes close to 171,000 lbs. of cheese!
Tillamook Cheese Factory Tour
At the start of the tour, the cheese factory had a variety of cheese samples for us to enjoy. Of course, we had to conduct our own taste test! And the winners were? My kids liked the mild cheddar cheese the best and I favored the sharp cheddar cheese, naturally.
After sampling the cheese, we moved upstairs to watch the cheese making process in action. During the tour, we saw how the cheese was packaged, cut and prepared to be shipped to thousands of stores across the country. It was fascinating to watch how they did it!
Upstairs is also where you can purchase a scoop of Tillamook ice cream. To make the ice cream, the factory starts with fresh, high-quality milk, as well as fresh cream. Then comes their key ingredient – AIR! What makes Tillamook’s ice cream extra special is its extra creaminess, and the level of creaminess is determined by ‘overrun’, or the amount of air added to ice cream. Less air means more ice cream in every container, and more really creamy ice cream means more yummy. We sure thought so!
At the end of the tour, we visited the gift shop. Here I viewed a wide variety of Tillamook merchandise and Northwest goodies like smoked salmon, marionberry jam, and other Oregon favorites.
Tillamook Cheese Factory Hours
The Tillamook Cheese Factory is located at 4175 Highway 101 North, Tillamook, OR 97141. They factory is open daily year-round from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Labor Day through mid-June / 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Mid-June through Labor Day. Summer is the busiest season.
To learn more about the Tillamook Cheese Factory, please visit their website.
Happy Field Tripping!
Jilleen
Disclosure: This post is for informational purposes only. All points of view and opinions are my own.