I C2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Juna 27,1981
Shenk’s cup cheese is a well-known local tradition, and
many market regulars anticipate their visit to Shenk’s stand
to pick up cup cheese, ball cheese or schmierkase.
Only Lancaster producer
Shenk maintains local tradition with cup cheese
BY SALLY BAIR'
Staff Correspondent
With the focus on dairy products
during the month of June, one’s
thoughts naturally turn to creamy
ice cream, tangy yogurt, swiss
cheese, Cheddar cheese and a host
of other well-known dairy foods.
Cup cheese may not be the first
food to enter your thoughts, but it
is a popular local product that has
a long tradition, especially among
people with Amish or Mennonite
heritage.
Shenk’s Cheese Company, New
Danville, is the only local producer
of cup cheese, a change from a few
years ago when there was active
competition in the market
Forthe uninitiated, cup cheese is
a cultured, semi-softcheese,
traditionally made in farm homes
from the'excess skim milk.
Elsie Graybill, who with her
brother Robert Shenk own Shenk’s,
remembers that her father Clayton
H. had a small milk route for which
the family churned butter. From
the excess skim milk they made
cup cheese by heating a can of milk
on top of the cook stove. Then the
children would help rub the curd
through a sieve to get it fine, and it
would be placed in big bowls on the
cook stove to ripen. They used a #lO
skillet to heat the cheese, and
would sell it at market for 10 cents
a cup.
Eventually Clayton sold the milk *
route and went into cup cheese -
making in a bigger way. It was into
a partnership in 1947, with Clayton
H. and children Paul, Robert S.
and Elsie, sharing in the business.
Though the principal of cheese
making remains the same, the
business has changed to meet the
demands of increased business and
government regulations. Modern,
gleaming stainless steel equip
ment has replaced the skillet and
the wood stove.
Today Shenks purchase skim
milk directly from Greens Dairy
and cut out the step of separating
the milk. Bob Shenk explains that
it takes about 100 pounds of skim
milk to produce 6% pounds of curd
- the first step m the process.
The skim milk is heated in vats
which hold 10,000 pounds of milk
each, to a temperature of about 86
degrees. The culture is added and
allowed to set 6 to 7 hours. The
curds are broken up and heated to
110 degrees. The whey is then
drained and the curd is dipped out
and pressed.
After it is dry, the curd is
pulverized to the size of nee
grains, and stored in stainless steel
pans for aging. The length of aging
depends upon whether it will be
marketed as mild, medium, or
sharp cup cheese, with sharp being
aged several weeks.
The pulverized curds are stored
Bob Shenk empties curds as one step in the process of
making ball cheese. The curds will be hand rolled and covered
with soda before the aging process which gives it its
characteristic appearance and flavor.
This vat holds about 10,000 pounds of skim milk, heating it
to the proper temperature to begin the process of making
curds for cup cheese and ball cheese.
wmes^ead
Grace v ink offers a customer change after 40 varieties of jams, jellies and relishes,
she has chosen a selection from the more than
wies
in a temperature-controlled room,
where they naturally get warm as
any organic matter will. The room
is kept cool to prevent over-heating
and developing off flavors.
The curds are then agitated to
break them up. Salt is added and it
is mixed and stirred three or more
times. In several days it ripens to a
yellowish hum. This is broken up
and put in a steam jacketed cooker
with water or skim milk.
After it is cooked, the cheese is
strained into stainless steel
buckets to bepacked. The small
containers are filled by machine
and cooled to be packed for
shipping. The cheese which will go
to market is simply stored in
stainless steel pans.
Elsie is enthusiastic about cup
cheese and remarks, “It has a ,
taste all its own. I don’t know what ‘
to compare it'with. It’s supposed to
be spread on crackers. People who
haven’t grown up with it are not as
ready to accept it but my grand
childreneat it right out of the cup.”
Bob says their best customers'
are those which are one generation
off the farm. They still want cup
cheese as they knew it as children.
He expressed some consternation
about-the future, saying, “When
older Germans die off, we lose a
customer.” ,
Lois Hershey, a part time employee of Shenk’s, hand rolls
the curds which will become bail cheese during an aging
process.
While cup cheese is the biggest
volume of Shenk’s business - they
sdl about 100,000 pounds per year -
they' produce several 1 other
products.
■Schmierkase, is, another Shenk
product and Elsie points out that it
is'different from cottage cheese,
despitewhat people think. “It is a
little more add and is not heated
quite as high as cottage cheese. It
is whipped with sweet skim milk
and has no cream, no sugar and no
salt It is good for people who are
cardiac patients or who are on a
special diet”
Ball cheese is yet another Shenk
speciality. It is also known as
Dutch *cheese,* or in German,
, “Dandkase.” It is a band rolled
product, withthe 4 curds being
rolled in soda and then aged. The
' bail* change consistency from the
outside in, so when the balls are
sliced; the inside is white like the
' curds, and the outside has turned
yellow. Ball, cheese is a high
protein, low calorie food.
-- Egg cheese, or -Siegerkase, is
another strictly * local ‘‘ product
offered by the Sbenks. Egg cheese
brings to mind the heart-shaped
molds of yesteryear, but Sbenks
use a brick shaped mold and sliced
it for packaging and retail sales.
(Turn to Pace C4)'