Illinois farmers are risk takers. Every year they risk their livelihood when they plant in the spring. So why would a farmer want to gamble on a new business? That’s what I asked myself when I learned that the Ropp family who farm just outside Normal, were making cheese from a herd of Jersey cows.
The Ropp Jersey Cheese became the first cows milk cheese in Illinois when they began production in 2006. That takes courage when you consider that the competition from near-by Wisconsin has had a 150 year head start in the artisan cheese business. How and why did the Ropps decide to make cheese? George and I headed down-state into rural McClain Country to suburban investigate
Finding a farm address among the grand patchwork of grain fields isn’t easy. Luckily the Ropp family has been farming long enough to have a road named after them. Ropp Road led us to their little store placed near the road in front their many farm buildings.
Current owner Carol Ropp was just about to start a tour when we arrived. We joined a dozen or so farmers who’d come on a morning outing. Carol is super communicator as only a mostly-retired school teacher can be. We learned that she and her husband Ray bought this farm from his parents in 1983. Their adult son Ken, the fourth generation of Ropps to grow up on this farm, wanted to continue the tradition, but his mom and dad aren’t ready to retire yet! So in 2006 Ken decided to start a new business on the farm to support his family. He took the only training course in cheesemaking offered in this country at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and set up shop.
The first stop on Carol’s tour was the Complete Modular Cheese Plant, located in a super-sized mobile home parked behind the store. We took turns peering through its windows at two young men in white wearing hairnets overseeing the pasteurization of 200 gallons of milk in an enormous stainless steel tank. Carol told us the thick, supple liquid had the distinctive look of Jersey milk. This tank represented slightly more than one milking of the herd of 51 cows and would yield 170 pounds of cheese. A similar volume of milk from Holstein cows (that’s the white variety with large black spots) would yield only 130 pounds she proudly told us.
After the milk was heat pasteurized, vegetable-based enzymes and rennet would be added to induce its separation into cheese curds and liquid whey. I asked Carol after the tour why all Ropp cheese is “cheddared”. She explained that this process involves pressing the last remaining liquid from the cheese and cutting it into small pieces so salt and flavorings can be added easily.
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We followed Carol into the barn to see a one-day-old calf. It walked tentatively around the small enclosure trying out it’s long delicate legs. Every few minutes it spontaneously kicked up its heels delighted with its new quarters, then teetered back into balance.
A dozen four-month-old calves live in pens in the yard. They are separated to prevent the spread of disease which can occur in very young animals as easily as it does in children. These young are a rich caramel brown and about the size of a very large dog. Their walk is still a bit unsteady as they come toward us, their large, brown eyes full of curiosity. It’s easy to see how a strong bond forms between a farmer and such lovely animals.
Back in the shop after the tour, it was time to try to select from among the more than two dozen flavored Ropp cheeses My favorite was the creamy, unflavored curd we had sampled before the tour. The bestsellers turn out to be highly flavored varieties: Bacon Garlic Horseradish Cheddar; Tomato Basil Garlic Cheddar, Green Olive and Green Onion Cheddars.
Ropp cheeses are particularly good in sandwiches. I “Frenchify” them, of course, by melting Ropp cheese on bread that’s been soaked in eggs and beer and sauteed in butter . This savory pain perdu makes a particularly nice quick lunch or light supper with a green Here’s a link to the recipe:
http://www.chezm.com/welcome-to-recipes/59-uncategorized/485-bread-cheese-gratin
Ropp Jersey Cheese is sold at many farmers markets in norther Illinois. You can also order at their website: http://www.roppcheese.com
