MILTON-FREEWATER — Jeff Adams likes people, especially people who like cheese.

Sharing his love of coagulated milk makes Adams happy — well evidenced with a broad and frequent grin.

On Sunday, May 21, the cheese maker imparted wisdom, facts and legends to eight people who had signed up for a cheese-making class with Adams and his staff.

The morning sky outside had been scrubbed with wind and rain the night before and the weather had turned beautiful. But for this group all that mattered for the next several hours was the color, texture, aroma and taste of the cheddar they would be making under their teacher’s tutelage.

Adams and his wife, veterinarian Andrea Adams, have owned Walla Walla Cheese Co. on Main Street in Milton-Freewater for about seven years.

Jeff, however, has been an artisan cheese producer for more than a decade.

Prior to that, Adams was a dairy farmer in Tillamook, where he dealt with cheese in its first stage, so to speak.

The May 21 event was the debut of running a four-hour session without partnering with a community college, Adams said, and he relished the chance to design what people would learn and how, he said.

Cheddar, curds and local milkBy 8:30 a.m. the curriculum was underway in the storefront cheese-making room, as rennet — a simple name for complex enzymes — gets added into about 200 gallons of milk. That, for the moment, looks liquidy smooth.

The “Dutch bath” employs a stirring method that slowly pulls milk from the top to the bottom and back up in the 260-gallon tank. This ensures even distribution of the ingredients.

“This will all become cheddar but some will be curds, some will be flavored,” Adams told his students as he and employee Will Hyndman tested the temperature of the liquid.

The rate at which the mix is heated determines some of the end result, noted Jennifer Kleffner.

Kleffner makes and teaches about soaps, jam and lotions for her own business, Miles Away Farm in College Place.

An avid student, Kleffner said the $75 class fee was a bargain, especially because the locally renowned tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich lunch was included, along with ice cream and souvenir cheese curds.

Athena resident Nanci Cooksley said she hoped to further her cheese skills, to move from simple, stovetop renditions to more sophisticated versions.

“We’re trying to be more independent with food,” Cooksley explained. “We want to be aware of what’s in our food.”

So does the government, Adams noted.

“We are required to test every load of milk for antibiotics,” he said. “The dairy we use doesn’t use antibiotics, but it doesn’t matter. We still have to test it.”

His business buys all its milk from Creamline Farms in Umapine, the last dairy standing in Umatilla County, he said.

Can’t rush the process

This is the kind of experience Lynn Howland loves, the pharmacy technician said, nodding as Adams calibrated the acidity of the liquid.

“I like learning new things. I am perpetually curious about how things work,” Howland said.

While the milk slowly separated into curds and whey — what Adams refers to as “watching paint dry” — on its way to becoming a cheddar, he sent his students to the showroom for lunch and a discussion by cheesemonger Michelle Morgan.

Along with presenting the history of cheese, Morgan explained the decomposition of milk creates a “wonderful source of nutrition” but cheese making is not for anyone in a hurry.

“Cheese making is a lot like bread making,” she said. “It’s not hard but it takes time.”

At one time, wheels of cheese were used to pay taxes and to cart off to war as a survival food, Morgan told her listeners.

Now there are infinite choices for every budget, starting with the type of animal milk used to which flavorings are added in.

More than 900 kinds of cheese are produced in Wisconsin, for example. Walla Walla Cheese Co. makes nine base cheeses, from cheddar to Queso Fresco to gouda and havarti. With ingredients like garlic, habanero peppers and onion mustard added in, the number of options jumps dramatically, Morgan said.

“We do make some spectacular cheeses,” she said with a smile.

Spirit of learning

Doug Follet of Pendleton found himself surprised by how much he was learning, he said.

The cheese company is a favorite destination for his wife and daughters, and the plan was they would be the ones taking the class.

Follett ended up stepping in unexpectedly as cheesemaker for the day, but his enthusiasm for the project solidified quickly as he asked question after question.

Adams said afterward that’s xactly the spirit he was hoping to see.

“I enjoy it when others are truly interested and excited about it,” he said. “I really think some of the process is cool and if somebody can ask questions and show true interest, that drives me.”

Walla Walla Cheese Co., 606 N. Main St., Milton-Freewater, 541-861-3778, is open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.

Creamline Dairy, 50924 Umapine Road, will host an open house Sunday, June 4, with tours starting at 10 a.m.

For more information call 509-386-3011 or visit the farm’s Facebook page.