Oaxacan Style String Cheese

Cesar Luis learned the art of making cheese from his grandmother when he was a young boy in Oaxaca, Mexico. Longing for the taste of home, he dreamed of making cheese himself. He trained, became a licensed cheese maker, worked at a dairy and then a cheese factory. Eventually he realized there was no nearby facility to make his product. However, thanks to Dave and Chris Roelli, Cesar now makes his Queso Oaxaca, Queso Fresco and Queso Quesadilla at their plant in Shullsburg, once a week by making a three-hour drive from his home.

Oaxaca cheese is a string cheese. Cesar makes it the traditional way, pulling it by hand. Wearing three layers of gloves in order to handle the over 100 degree cheese ropes, he pulls the fifty pound ropes through this fingers into thinner and thinner strings. This his wife, Heydi, cuts and forms rope balls tied into a knot - the traditional shape of hand-stretched, Oaxacan-style string cheese.

1st Place - Mozzarella Types - Brick, Scamorza, String Cheese (All Milks) - 2010 ACS competition

Farm / Company: Cesar's Cheese

Cheesemaker: Cesar Luis

Proprietor:

Affineur:

City, State: Random Lake, WI

Region: Midwest

Country: USA

Milk Type: Cow

Milk Treatment: Pasteurized

Rennet: Traditional

Rind: None