All in the Family--Cheesemaking with the Eichtens

(Editors Note: Eichten Cheeses are all on special at the Wedge in December. If you havenÕt tried them yet, this is the time!)

Does a person wake up one morning, look in the mirror and say, "I'm going to make cheese and it's going to the best cheese anyone has ever eaten!"? Well, that's not quite the way it happened for us--it's been a long road of trials, errors, perseverance and fortitude.

For most cheesemakers, the business comes out of need. No matter where in the world the person is located, it's the need to feed your family, to produce an income, or to use the milk you are producing to feed others. And it all starts on the farm as milk from cows, sheep, goat, or even water buffalo.

Anyone who knows an innovative farmer knows it could happen because those farmers see and think into the future more than most people do. They are always trying to improve the world around them by producing food of the highest standards known to them. What good farmer doesn't find joy in producing the largest yam, biggest ear of corn, the most coffee beans or the largest quantity of milk from one cow?

My father was one of those innovative farmers always willing to try new methods and thinking about how things on the farm could be make better. In 1975, while milking the cows and listening to the radio, an announcement came over the airwaves saying that the University of Minnesota was looking for dairy farmers who were interested in a pilot program of adding value to their milk by producing cheese and selling it right from the farm.

My father Joe said right then and there that this was for him; he was quite excited about it when he came in for breakfast that morning. My mother Mary, on the other hand, was not excited. She said she was not going into this thing called cheesemaking after raising ten children and finally getting the last one into school. She felt it was her turn to do something she would like to do.

But of course, Dad continued with his thinking. He contacted the university and before we knew it Mother and Dad were going to school to learn how to make cheese. Mother was still not too excited about the whole plan, but thought she had better learn so that she would know what was going on down in the milkhouse.

In early summer 1976, the old pump house came down and a new building called the cheesehouse was made. Soon there were many batches of cheese in the aging room. But no income was coming in as all the milk was going into cheese. Up until then, Mother refused to get involved and Dad was the only cheesemaker.

Then one day, she went into the cheesehouse and realized that to prevent them from losing the farm she had better get things organized. She quit her part-time job and prepared to become a world famous cheesemaker.

Our first batches of cheese were not very good, but we relied on Mother's knowledge of good cooking and practice, practice, practice. Times were tough, as the University of Minnesota hadn't included any training on marketing. Hardly anyone in 1976 knew what Gouda cheese was, let alone wanted to buy it! This is where the rest of the family came in.

We ten children became Mom and Dad's marketing force. We carried cheese everywhere we went and had an instant party when we pulled out the cheese, cheese slicer and crackers. We told everyone we knew about Gouda cheese. We gave away tons of cheese as donations to all kinds of organizations, hoping people would try it and maybe buy some. Coupons were put in local grocery store bags and announcements in our local paper. Eventually, people started coming out to the farm to see what was really going on.

Just as people today come to us to learn good cheesemaking techniques, Mother and Dad went to the experts in Holland and spent two months there working with people right on the farm making cheese. We discussed trends as a family; and because there was a 20-year span within the children, we always had someone representing every age group. Mother would take our information and decide which way to go in the business. We knew after the first year we needed to offer more than just one cheese, so along came our first flavored cheeses-Caraway and Smoked Gouda. We also realized that we needed more than Gouda and decided to begin making Baby Swiss as well. Our first marketing break came in 1979 with an article in The New York Times written by Jane Brody, food editor, who was a summer visitor in the area. We didn't know who she was at the time, but when the article came out, requests for cheese flooded in to us. The next break came in 1981, when we started selling our cheese at the St. Paul Farmers Market. This brought us to the Twin Cities market and people began to hear about Eichten's Gouda cheese. After making cheese for eight years, Mother decided to put her knowledge of herbs and spices and years of cooking to good use by producing our first specialty, Spiced Gouda. From there, things continued to grow and grow. American bison meat came on the scene when we wanted a low-fat, natural meat to complement our all-natural cheese. Most of our specialty items have come about through family collaboration, along with trial and error. We listen carefully to our customers who continue to drive us to new heights.

As you can tell by this story, success has not come easy. It's taken time and trying over and over again. Because the Eichten name is on our cheese, we will continue to strive for the finest gourmet cheese made and continue to look to the future as any good farm person does.