We went into the big city of West Jefferson, NC Thursday to the Ashe County Cheese Factory!
Watching the process of making the cheese was very interesting. Even with the machines doing some of the work, the workers themselves had to work hard! You had to be strong and have some stamina to do this job!
Here’s the general process:
The wheel forms are then pressed together to form the wheels. The wheels set for 2 hours then are removed from the forms and placed in the “aging” room for the appropriate amount of time. Then the cheese wheels are waxed. They are sold as whole wheels or cut into wedges and sold in the local store.
It was very interesting to watch. We were there about 90 minutes watching the process.