The recipe might call for honey, whiskey, rosemary, or even ground coffee -- then wrap that around some cheddar cheese, and enjoy.
The cheesemakers at the Beehive Cheese Company have resorted to such mad-scientist tactics, and it has brought them some great rewards.
Why would they experiment on cheese like that?
"Just because we can," said Tim Welsh, co-founder of Beehive in Uintah.
The company is an artisan cheese factory, which means that instead of creating large batches of curds, employees produce small, 20-pound cheese wheels.
"We are actually using our hands during the process, rather than just pumping it through a machine and looking at numbers as cheese is pumped out the other end," Welsh said.
The smaller operation, Welsh said, allows them to experiment with rubbing ingredients onto the cheese or soaking it in liquids like beer or whiskey. It's not a new concept but rather a revival of the preindustrial dairy business. Small creameries and family dairy farms used to supply the local markets, before the urbanization period of the 20th century when operations were enlarged and streamlined into large, central facilities.
"So you get to the '70s, '80s -- and all of the sudden -- no more local creameries, no more local breweries, no more small dairy farms," Welsh said.
IT guys
The Beehive Cheese Company has been involved in the artisan cheese business only since 2006 -- and Welsh and partners had zero cheese experience on their resumes.
Instead, they came from software and information technology backgrounds. It was Donald McMahon, director of the Western Dairy Center at Utah State University, and the rest of the dairy program that got them started.
"Utah State basically taught us how to make cheese," Welsh said.
The university designed their factory and gave them a unique cheddar cheese recipe. The university is a land-grant institution, which means that it helps research, teach and build agriculture businesses in Northern Utah.
That cheddar cheese recipe is the base for all of the company's products. McMahon said that's been the key to success.
"You can't have a good artisan cheese business if all you are making is bad cheese," he said.
The company gets its milk from the Wadeland South Dairy in Farr West. When a fresh milk shipment comes in from Wadeland, it is immediately pumped into the factory and workers spend the next 12 hours turning that into cheese.
After aging the small wheels long enough for the appropriate bacteria to grow, the cheesemakers can start playing with the recipe.
Their most notable product, and the very first artisan cheese, Barely Buzzed, came about because Welsh's brother was a coffee roaster and had additional coffee beans left over one day.
"One day I said, 'Hey, let's grind it up and rub it on some cheese,' " Welsh said. They took that first batch to a cheese show and the reviews quickly came back, "And they said, 'Whoa, this is a good cheese.' "
Barely Buzzed has captured numerous gold medal awards, from such organizations as the American Cheese Society and at the Annual World Cheese Awards.
Portions of that first wheel still reside in their cold storage. And Beehive Cheese has been sold in Hong Kong, Mexico and across the United States.
Cheese demand
McMahon has noticed an increased demand for artisan cheese in local markets. He thinks it's part of an attitude change.
"Part of it may be as Utah becomes more cosmopolitan, I think there is more interest in that," McMahon said.
He started to notice the uptick in popularity five years ago. Now the demand has risen enough that the Western Dairy Center is holding its first-ever artisan cheese workshop this week for existing cheese factories and prospective new businesses across the United States.
The workshop will explore the entire business in what McMahon describes as a "holistic" manner -- everything from the animal nutrition, cheese production and even how to market the product, since McMahon said "it's easier to make cheese than it is to sell it."
At the end of the workshop, success stories will be offered from artisan cheesemakers like Welsh and the Beehive Cheese Company.
"They have done extraordinary well and I think any artisan cheesemaker would wish to have the success that they are having in that short amount of time," McMahon said.
BEEHIVE CHEESES
Some examples of the company's cheeses:
SBlt Barely Buzzed -- Cheddar cheese rubbed with roasted ground coffee, lavender, butterscotch and caramel. $22.99/pound.
SBlt SeaHive -- Cheddar cheese rubbed with honey and sea salt. Both the honey and the sea salt come from local businesses. $17.99/pound.
SBlt Promontory -- Aged cheddar with several rubbing styles available: Cajun, Apple Walnut, Habanero, Caraway, and Rosemary. $15.99/pound.
SBlt Uintah Jack -- Low-moisture aged cheddar, sometimes available with jalapeño or habanero. $15.99/pound.
SBlt Aggiano -- A Parmesan cheese with hints of pineapple and butterscotch. $ 19.99/pound.
The ever-popular Squeaky Bee Curds cost $5.50 for eight ounces.
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