Guggisberg Cheese Factory
Yes, Road Trip Foodies, you can watch cheese being made through the viewing windows from 8 a.m. ’til noon Monday through Friday at the Guggisberg Cheese Factory, 5060 SR 557, Millersburg, Ohio. The company was founded in the middle of the 20th century by Alfred Guggisberg, who started to learn the art of cheesemaking in the high pastures of the Swiss Alps when he was only 16. He attended the Swiss Federal Molkereischule (cheesemakers institute), and, for a number of years, made cheese throughout Europe.
Alfred emigrated to the United States in 1947, settling in Ohio where a group of Amish farmers, in search of a cheesemaker to provide a market for their milk, convinced him to stay in the Doughty Valley. He began to experiment with the idea of a new cheese that would be more acceptable to the American palate than the traditional Swiss cheese. After years of tinkering, Alfred created a new Swiss-style cheese with a smaller wheel size, smaller “eyes” and a distinctively smooth and mild taste. In the local area, his “Baby Swiss” became an instant hit. Soon, travelers from hundreds of miles away began to drive to his store.
The rest, as they say, is history. With its second generation of Guggisberg family cheesemakers (Alfred’s son, Richard, is now the president), the company has an active mail order business as well as an on-site cheese and gift shop. If you’re rambling through northeast Ohio, it’s definitely worth a stop — especially since the original cheese factory has spun off a host of related side businesses, including a restaurant called Chalet in the Valley (featuring Swiss, Austrian and Amish cooking) and the Guggisberg Swiss Inn in Charm, Ohio, where your breakfast includes (no surprise!) Guggisberg cheese.
Watch their video on cheesemaking!
