Get a taste of all-natural Amish and Mennonite dairies at Kalona Creamery.
Get a taste of all-natural Amish and Mennonite dairies at Kalona Creamery.
Transcript
[Kohlsdorf] We're jumping off the Avenue of the Saints for a quick detour west to the Kalona Creamery, where fresh local dairy products have been produced since the the 1940s.
[Emily Baxter] There's so much history in this building. It is a place to stop. There's so much here that supports local. So, all the products we have here, you'll see different meat from local Iowa places, different cheeses from local Iowa places. It's a local country home store.
[Kohlsdorf] Originally founded as Twin County Dairy and more commonly known as the Kalona Cheese Factory, this local landmark sits a few miles north of Kalona on Highway 1, in the heart of Amish and Mennonite country. It was rebranded Kalona Creamery in 2017 after being acquired by the Open Gates Group, a collection of area companies working together to produce and distribute local organic dairy products to all 50 states.
[Woman off-screen) Thank you. There we go.
[Ben Blaha] Welcome to the Kalona Creamery storefront. We've got our whole milk. We've got our kefir chocolate milk, cottage cheese and yogurts. Over here we're going to have our fresh cheese curds. We're going to have some cold brews and cream cheese spreads. And then some fan favorites for those visiting are going to be our fresh fudge selection here. We've got quite the variety.
[Ben Blaha] And then definitely a fan favorite here is going to be the ice creams fresh made in house.
[Kohlsdorf] In addition to fudge and ice cream, cheese curds are made right here on site, and patrons can watch the process through these large windows. The facility has processed up to 2 million pounds of milk per day, and while that's an impressive quantity, the attraction at this roadside stop is the quality.
[Emily Baxter] Our local farmers, the majority are Amish and Mennonite, which means they use traditional farming, so they're not using big equipment. They're not spraying with chemicals at all. This is organic milk, USDA certified. We also don't homogenize. Back in the day when you'd get milk delivered to your house and have that cream layer on top. That's what our milk is like. Our cream floats to the top.