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fcrriiiWl-irriSiiifc HtmM^tmkru^^^,- ., Mawena, N.Y. Observer, Tuesday, Octobers, 1987 Page 9 Cream, Cottage And Chedder Make For Big Profits $ <* 9 & EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article on New York SUte cheese Industry has been reprinted from the September Issue of \Business New York\ put out by The Business Council of New York State, Inc., from Albany. BY CALVERT L. ASHER Fact: \Philadelphia\ brand cream cheese isn't manufactured in the City of Brotherly Love. It's a New York State product and is turned out in what is considered the nation's largest and most modern cream cheese plant in Lowville in Lewis County. Fact: Coon cheese, a derivative of Cheddar, was first made in that same Northern New York city, and is named not for raccoons in- habiting the-rural wilds, but for its discoverer, Edward Coon, a Lewis County farmer who gave the cheese its distinctive dark rind by curing it at a slightly higher temperature than regular cheddar. Fact: Limburger, the first fancy foreign variety of cheese to be made successfully in the United States, was produced initially in the Empire State in the late 1880s. Fact: Since World War II, the state's Italian cheese production (mozzarella, romano, ricotta and provolone) has skyrocketed from a mere 12 million pounds a year to over 260 million pounds, ranking New York as the second largest manufacturer of these tasty favorites in the U.S„ exceeded by Wisconsin. Fact: New York State is the country's second largest producer of cottage cheese with a dollar volume of more than $90 million yearly, trailing California, the leader, by' only a few million dollars. • Fact; New York State cheddar Is . considered a premier product among discriminating cheese lovers, placing the state fifth in production nationwide. Fact: New York State cheese is as familiar overseas as it is in this nation's supermarkets. Today, New York ranks fourth among all states in the use of milk for manufactured dairy products, according to the New York State Department of Agriculture'and Market's latest reports, and is also among the leading producers of American cheese and other soft cheeses, butter, ice cream, evaporated milk and condensed milk products. Only Wisconsin, Minnesota and Missouri, in the heart of the dairy belt, surpass New York. . New York ranks first in.the na- tion in the yearly .production of cream cheese, turning out 30 per- cent of all that is made, or more than 83 million pounds. Much of : that is manufactured in Kraft In- c.'s- state-of-the-art automated.. cream cheese plant in Lowville, . which employs 325 workers. Kraft, the largest cream cheese producer Louisville Voter Registration Voter Registration Day will be r held on Oct. 10, from noon until 9 i p.m. for i^sidents^ln the town of Louisville. Those residents will register at ; St. Paul's Lutheran Church, corner • of Route 37 and 56. Anyone who has moved from • their residence or anyone reaching . the. age of 18 by Election Day may register to vote In this year's elec- , tion. in the state, also has a bulk cheese (hard cheese) plant in Canton, N.Y., with 120 employees, the Lowville facility Is the company's largest cream cheese plant, ac- cording to Scott Horn, a spokesman at Kraft headquarters in Glenview, n. Other sources say it is the largest such plant in the U.S. and perhaps the world. Cream cheese originated in Chester in Orange County. The Empire Cheese Co. plant in Southern Edmeston, Otsego Coun- ty, was the first serious manufac- turer of cream cheese In 1872, and sold it under the \Philadelphia\ brand, in honor not of someplace In Pennsylvania but of a Jefferson County dairy community. Its suc- cessor, Phoenix Cheese Co., con- tinued distributing \Philadelphia\ cream cheese until it merged with Kraft in 1928, and the dairy product giantkept the brand name. But cream cheese Is only a small part of the more than 600 million pounds, of cheese .shipped by the state, with an estimated annual retail value of $1.5 billion, ac- cording to authoritative sources. The industry, with a payroll of $52 million, provides employment for 2,400 at its 34 manufacturing plants and processors. Historians are sure the Greeks and Romans were enjoying cheese by at least 1000 BC. And it Is believ- ed the staple was first discovered by accident many centuries earlier by a simple herdsman in what Is now the Middle East. As he grazed his livestock, he carried goat's milk In a pouch made from calf's stomach. After miles of travel, the enzymes In the container, stimulated by the hot sun and the movement of the animal oh which he rode, caused the goat's milk to separate into curdand whey, which is the process still known as coagulation, or thickening. When _,the herdsman stopped, for a refreshing drink of milk, be instead found the first cheese and enjoyed its taste.-Since then, cheese has become - a universally accepted treat. Cheesem'aklhg came to New York State In the early 17th Cen- tury, when Dutch colonists settled New Amsterdam and brought dairy cattle to the New World. But it took a dairyman from Rome, N.Y. to first apply mass pro- duction techniques to cbeesemak- 1 Williams founded the first cheese factory in the U.S. in Rome in 1861. The machinery and equip- ment that be invented were the forerunners of improved versions still in use today. By 1864, Rome became the largest center In the world for the <, production and marketing of cheese. Other cheese factories soon sprung up all over Central New York as the demand, for Empire State cheese grew. By 1870, two- thirds of all the cheese produced in New York State was sold to England, and London cheese buyers were a common sight on the streets of Rome, Utlca and other upstate cities. The cheese manufacturers in Central New York formed their own association and were influen- tial in getting legislation passed to halt adulterating milk by diluting it with water. That era of cbeesemaking in Rome will be permanently etched upon the. minds of visitors to the Erie Canal Village in that city this fall, when the New York State Museum of Cheese is opened there. With a $175,000 funding from the state, the $500,000 museum attrac- tion will feature the reconstructed Weeks and Merry Cheese plant (circa i860) from Verona, N.Y., ac- cording to Jacqueline Herber, Erie Canal Village director. She added that the contributions of Jesse Williams to the Industry will be highlighted. Cbeesemaking In the state had some setbacks In the early 1900s. Where once dairy farmers were able to use up their surplus milk by selling it to cheesemakers, the burgeoning population In New York brought on a heavy demand for fluid milk and cheese manufactur- ing came to a virtual standstill. . The Depression years of the 1930s saw another Increase In surplus fluid milk for the dairy farmer. Milk sales supped along with the general economy and the cheese business suffered too. It was the vision of one man who stimulated cheese production again during those years, at least In the Mohawk Valley. Frank J. Basloe, a Herkimer real estate developer and Insurance man, concerned by the plight of many of his farmer clients, tried to revive their home , cheddaring operations. He sought help from then Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt in starting up another cheddar cheese industry. While in Albany, he also filed with the Secretary of State the name \The Original Herkimer,\- a tiUe Uiat eventuaUy-evolvedV into The Original Herkimer County Cheese Co., headed by Basloe's son,' Sheldon. Today, the Original Herkimer label ; is prominent na- tionally. Besides traditional ched- dar, the company markets The Original Herkimer Chutter, a soft cheese in several flavorings which Basloe formulated. More recently, the Basloes developed Chudge, an extra creamy and smoothy fudge product that is a combination of their cheddar and traditional fudge formulations. The company also produces cheese .nutballs with a six-month shelf life for super- market sales, and recently ven- tured into a line of gelatin and whipped topping parfalts. The New York State Cheese Manufacturers Association is the Industry's trade organization. It is headed by Jeff Yancey of Heluva Good Cheese Co. in Sodus. Yancey recently succeeded John Lavezzo, president of McCadam Cheese Co., Heuvelton. Technical adviser to the associa- tion is Prof. David Bandler of Cor- nell University. Yancey's firm delivers its ched- dar and washed curd to/a primary core of supermarkets lnJ4 states. It also conducts a national mail order business and vends its pro- ducts overseas as well. Sixty percent of all milk produc- tog American cities, the tidy kit- ed in the »Ute goes Into cheese and chehs of the nation'* other manufactured dairy pro- ducts. There Is one significant reason for the worldwide accep- tance of New York State cheese, say the experts. It's the quality of Empire State milk, which is rich in limestone content derived from the grass feed available to dairy herds. As a result, New York State cheese has become haute cuisine for the posh restaurants of gUtter- homemakers...a touch of elegance for gourmet galas, intimate cocktail parties and country dub gatherings. At the same time, tt of- fers piquant variety to the wage earner's brown bag, the schoolboy's lunch box and the even- ing menu. So say \cheese\ — New York State cheese — and smile approv- ingly. AUSrOFTK RJWI MORE 5& POUCYOWNERS THAN VK HAVE. For years. A.M. Best Co. has been recognized as the life insurance industry's performance rating authority. Recently, in their annual review of.: dividends paid on life insurancepolicies (20- year net cost for a $10.000 policy issued to a 35-year-old-male),* they reported what they have every year since the study began. „ Northwestern Mutual Life makes more money- •- for its policyowners. It's that kind of performance that's given our policyowners the best overall protection and value per premium dollar in the past 'Bests tin if it . December 19MK. 1*0-Year bmdend Cnaipanwms When you're planning for your future, call Jim George or Jim Guimond - 400 Main St., Masaena 769-3444 The Quiet Company.'Where actions speak _. _. louder than words. .' -- CLEAN RUGS LAST LONGER Look Lovelier! Bfj*«Grtast, grim, mud, soot, _. silver fjth,- moths - these and othtr substances' art constantly at war with your rugs and carpets. Most do-it-yoursaif nig cleaning products remove only the surface dirt and leave up to 15% of the grease down in the \roots\ of your carpet. r ••w A rug must be cleaned at least once a year to ke^ep It \healthy.\ Otherwise it becomes so impregated with grime that some of its beauty Is lost forever. Our expert methods to prolong the life and beauty of your rug are bas- ed on BC Carpet Cleaning's Methods. ^-^ That's why there's nothing as ^^ fresh and new-looking as a carpet which has been cleaned by professionals with, special equip- ment designed to get out ALL the grease. A professionally cleaned rug feels more springy when you walk on It -because the \life\ of the pile has been restored. WE LIGHT OP YOUR LIFE AND BRING WARMTH TO YOUR HOME BC Carptf OMning 49 years-of Quality Service Who owns your electric utility? You do, along with all the other citizens of this community. Public power is all about people. It works for you. Locally owned and controlled utilities — like the one that serves our town — aren't in business to -make a.profit fowmtside investors. Public power systems like ours are here to pro- vide an essential service at reasonable cost. Benefits produced at home stay at home. From small towns to big cities across America, citizens served by public power have a piece of the action. People power. That's what public power is all about. THE POWER IS YOURS :-r-rrrr--7.7i-l.^\ Public Power Week October 4 10, 1987 MASSENA ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT 71 EAST HATFIELD STREET, MASSENA, NY 13662 (315)764-0253 Your Locally Owned Non-Pro fit Electric Utility wmmmmmmmmmm mmm, AU ui «itiimmm**mmytswmmmmm!l0m*!!ailttf mmmmm.
