A Google search tells us that there are not a lot of cheese making museums in the world. This is certainly the only one we've yet come across in our travels. On display they have a lot of the paraphernalia once used to produce cheese, including the original steam boiler, made in Leeds, England in 1909.
BTW, this is also a great place to get an ice cream while in town.
Museum Tour
Building the factory - Have you heard of the great depression? No one had any money at all so in 1939 a group of men were trying to bring some economic development to Glenwood and put cash into people's pockets. They came up with the idea of building a cheese factory. The men had do decide where to build the factory. They looked at Hill Spring and by Cochrane Lake because of the water source but hey chose Glenwood because Glenwood had electricity through Calgary Power. The factory opened its doors on July 18, 1941.
Ned Davidson' Desk - First Cheese maker was Ned Davidson. His Dad ran a cheese factory in Mt. View and as a little boy Ned would stand on a crate and help his Dad make cheese. Ned would be at the chesses factory at 5:00 every morning and would work until 10:00 at night. He always liked to plant sweet peas on the South side of the building. Ned retired in 1984 after 43 years of making award-winning cheese at the factory.
Cream Separator — was used to separate the cream from the milk.
Scale, Cans and Dump Tank - The milk in the area was nearest in composition and characteristics to milk found in the Swiss Alps. It was brought to the factory in cans. First the cans would be weighed. The milk would then be tested, tasted (because it had to taste good) and then dumped into the tank. Whatever grasses the cows would eat would affect the taste of the milk and then affect the taste of the cheese. For example if a cow ate stink weed the milk would taste bad and so would the cheese.
Boiler - The milk was poured into a big vat where it was heated by the boiler. The boiler was run by coal and produced the steam to run the equipment. It cost the UID Board $500.00 to by the boiler. When there was enough pressure built up by the boiler a steam a whistle would sound. The whistle was so loud that it could be heard from one end of the UID to the other. The chickens tried to fly away and the horses tried to run away too. In fact the chickens were so upset by the whistle that they stopped laying eggs and the factory had to turn the whistle off. It was only blown on special occasions.
Lab - Bacteria and Rennet - As the chesses was heated a bacteria or starter culture was added which turns the sugar in the milk to lactic acid. Then something called rennet was added. Rennet is found in the stomach lining of young cud-chewing animals like calves. The rennet helps form the curd. Color of cheese - What color do you think cheese is? Cheese is white. To make the cheese the yellow orange that we are familiar with a vegetable dye is added.
Scales - Weighing just the right amount of starter, rennet and color, was very important in making a good hatch of cheese. Shoes Worn by cheese makers, like the steel-toed boots that people wear today to protect their feet. They kept feet warm and dry in the winter and cool in the summer. The floors of the factory were wet so it helped keep the cheese makers feet dry too. Mr. Davidson would sometimes take old tires and cut the up and nail them to the bottom of his shoes so he would have more traction.
Cheese Cutter - Plug - While the cheese was aging it would need to be tested. This plug was used to put into the cheese round and take out a small bit that would be tasted to see if the cheese was good.
Rakes - Rakes were used to stir the curd in the vat. If the curd wasn't stirred it would clump together. It also helped to free of some of the whey.
Whey - As the curds form and milky substance called whey was taken off. Have you heard of Little Miss Moffat eating her curds and whey? The closest thing we have to curds and whey is cottage cheese. The curds were tiny and the whey is a milky substance. Of course in cottage cheese only a little whey is remaining. The whey used to be spread on farmer's fields or fed to pigs. At one time they spread the whey on the roads in Glenwood to control the dust. The whey smelled like stinky feet and you wouldn't want to be on the roads when the whey was spread or for a few days after. Today the whey is dried into powder and it is used in many things, such as some ice creams. It is also a popular protein to put into shakes and smoothies.
As the curd formed it was cut and stacked on top of each other and the pressure pushed out more whey.
Curd Sample - The kids in Glenwood would go to the factory and ask for curds. Ned would bring them out a handful of curds on a piece of wax paper. You can buy curds today but you will know it is a fresh curd because a fresh curd squeaks when you eat it.
Curd Miller and bucket - The curd was then cut into small pieces and salted. The processed curd carried in a bucket and poured through a curd funnel into the hoops. Hoops and Press - The curd was placed into the hoops, which was then pressed into rounds. Cheese cloth helped to drain any remaining whey as the curds were pressed.
Paraffin Wax - The rounds were then taken and dipped into wax. The wax formed a coating around the cheese that helped preserve it as it aged. They were then taken and placed on shelves to dry and age. The rounds needed to be turned over every day so they would dry. They had to be turned carefully so the wax wouldn't crack. The rounds weighed 90 pounds so they were very heavy.
Awards — The Glenwood Cheese Factory made award-winning cheese for over 30 years. It was first in the province for quality cheese and workmanship for many years. It also won awards for Ideal Cheese Factory and in 1953 it was excluded from the competition for 2 years because they had won seven years in a row. In 1961 the factory had won for so many years that they were given a trophy to keep permanently. The interesting thing was that most cheese makers would make a special batch of exhibition cheese for these competitions. Ned never made a special vat of exhibition cheese. He would just go into the curing room, select a cheese right off the shelf that that met the criteria and that had scored high at the time of the first grading and sent it to the show. His cheese always won.
Conclusion - The factory was eventually sold to a larger company. Then a whey dryer and milk silos were added to the factory in order to dry the whey for sale and to store more milk. Then years later the cheese making equipment was removed. The Glenwood cheese factory now dries milk.
From the Plaque at the Museum