Tillamook Cheese Visitors Center

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I scream you scream...

I admit it - I like touring, I like being a tourist, I liked taking the factory tour, and I love it when I get to be a tourist who eats fresh marionberry tillamook icecream. When the wind blows the wrong way, t-town can be a bit odoriforous, but when safely ensconced inside - no worries.

Keywords: All year, Under US$ 5, Less than 3 hours, With car, Everyone, Close to the city

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Tillamook: Population 4,400; Cows 25,000

Tillamook, Oregon is known as “the land of cheese, trees, and ocean breeze” and with good reason—it’s home to the Tillamook Cheese factory on Highway 101. The town itself isn’t very large and has only about 4,400 residents, but over 25,000 cows also call Tillamook’s lush, river-laced pastures their home. And, of course, lots and lots of cows are needed to generate the 78,000,000 pounds of cheese made here each year!

For over one hundred and fifty years, cheese making has been an art form in Tillamook. Today, the farmer-owned cooperative is comprised of nearly 150 modern Tillamook County dairies, but cheese is still aged the old fashioned way—naturally and slowly—no enzymes are added to speed up the process. In fact, it takes at least 60 days to develop Tillamook’s characteristic cheddar flavor.

Inside the Tillamook Cheese Visitor Center, signs, educational videos, and displays explain the history of cheese making and the elevated viewing platforms allow for a bird’s eye view of the action—cheese makers and packagers hard at work. Although the huge stainless steel cooking vats that each hold 53,500 pounds of milk are pretty impressive, the assembly lines are really amazing. Forty-pound blocks of cheese are precisely weighed, trimmed, and packaged by employees who smile and wave at visitors observing from above. In about 30 minutes, you’ll see and learn about the entire cheese making process—from the cow to the refrigerator.

At the end of the interesting and fun self-guided tour, help yourself to samples of award-winning cheeses. Fresh curds or “squeaky cheese” is the most unique variety. There’s also a large gourmet food store that carries all the Oregon-made and Tillamook products you can imagine, making it easy to take home tasty souvenirs. You'll also find a café for lunch and a gift store filled with hundreds of items emblazoned with Tillamook’s mascot—what else—the dairy cow! If you still have room, visit the ice cream counter. On an average summer day, about 2,800 cones of ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sugar-free ice cream in 40 flavors are served.

Although Tillamook cheese, ice cream, and yogurt are shipped world-wide and may even be available at your local grocer, there’s nothing like seeing the cheese making process take place before your eyes to appreciate the product—not to mention sampling delicious goodies that are so fresh they squeak!

Keywords: Free, All year, Walking tour, Less than 3 hours, Everyone, Close to the city