Lallemand partner since 2020, Alpinage Cheese is a producer of Raclette cheese: a smear-ripened, semi-hard cheese traditionally melted over foods such as fingerling potatoes, cornichons, and cured meat.
Passionate about the art, craft, and chemistry of artisan cheese making, Orphee, the owner of Alpinage Cheese is specialized in natural ‘affinage’ techniques, making semi-hard, smear-ripened cheeses all year long.
Proud of this trustful collaboration, Orphee shares some insights about the dairy industry and his Lallemand experience.
Curious to know more about Alpinage Cheese’s activities? Visit their website: https://www.alpinagecheese.com/about
Orphee could you tell us more about Alpinage Cheese history/concept?
Born and raised in Paris, France, I got introduced to cheese products early on.
When I ended up moving to the US back in 2015, I settled in the state of Wisconsin, known as ‘America’s Dairyland’. That’s when I met my girlfriend, Paula Heimerl.
Coming from a sixth-generation family of dairy farmers, she quickly introduced me to the world of cheese here in the US. That is when I decided to start our company, Alpinage cheese and focus primarily on Raclette cheese.
Extremely popular back in France, I always had a hard time finding it in stores here in the US. That is the reason why I wanted to focus on this unique washed rind Alpine style cheese for our first product and created the now trademarked brand ‘Mount Raclette’ for it.
Helped by the Center for Dairy Research at UW-Madison, our partner farm at Pagel’s Ponderosa and back and forth training in France, we are now producing close to 500lbs of Raclette cheese a week and are present in over 20 stores around Milwaukee area, 10 months after selling our first wedge of cheese at a local farmers market last year.
Even though we are manufacturing and aging our Raclette cheese, our core expertise here at Alpinage cheese is cheese aging. We have started to age for other manufacturers, and we are looking at expanding our cheese aging service to other companies in the future. That is the reason surface ripening cultures is extremely important for us and we have been having a great partnership with Lallemand to meet our needs in this specific field of expertise since our inception.
What are the current cheese trends?
I do believe that the industry is shifting more and more toward artisan cheese, made with raw or thermalized milk but more importantly naturally aged in cave like environment where the magic of ‘affinage’ happens.
That’s how you get this distinctive flavor and natural rind which is truly the signature of your cheese on top of being visually appealing for customers.
What makes your Mount Raclette so special?
We are making a farmstead raw milk raclette cheese. We are lucky enough to be able to process the milk right after it’s being milked from the cow, still warm in our vat which guarantees us a fresh, healthy and unique end product.
We are then aging each wheel on natural wood boards in a temperature and humidity-controlled environment.
We are washing and flipping our wheels on a daily basis at our aging cellar to bring the unique flavor and texture of our Mount Raclette product.
What is your experience with Lallemand cultures?
I got first introduced to Lallemand through the Center For Dairy Research at UW-Madison when I was working with them doing cheese trials for my company.
Ever since, I have stuck with Lallemand products and got great support from their technical team to improve our recipe. We are now expanding our partnership working on a new line of small format cheese that will cement our collaboration in the long term.
