♪♪ Kohlsdorf: Next, we head south through the town of Fort Madison.

Named for our fourth president, James Madison, Fort Madison is located on one of the widest sections of the Mississippi River that is still used as a trading route today.

Let's head west on Highway 2 for a detour into the southern Iowa Hills.

♪♪ I'm here at Hinterland Dairy, just outside Donaldson in southeast Iowa.

Sitting on 400 rolling acres in Lee County, Hinterland is a family farm that's quickly gained a reputation for its handmade farmstead cheese.

Let's go take a look at their operation.

♪♪ First, we're catching up with Ralph Krogmeier, whose dairy and cheese operation has truly become a family affair.

So, Ralph, you've been in the dairy business most of your life, right?

That is correct.

I was raised on a dairy farm, but not this dairy farm.

Going through high school, I always had an interest in the dairy operation.

But after getting away from the dairy farm, going to college and working a lot of other jobs, the old cows didn't smell so bad after all.

The Krogmeiers started their Lee County dairy farm in 1979 and currently have over 150 cows.

We kind of like our numbers where we're at here.

So instead of adding more numbers to the cows, we decided to add more value to our milk.

And that's what we did In 2017, Ralph and his family set out to diversify their operation by creating their own dairy products.

The Krogmeiers constructed a new facility at a separate location to make their dream a reality.

Alright, so we are walking into your new dairy parlor, right?

Right.

Tell us a little bit about it.

Well, when we decided to pursue making cheese and adding value to our dairy products, we built this parlor to, obviously, you got to have milk to make cheese.

It was designed by Iowa State University Extension.

It's a DIY project.

A young man that was working for us at the time was taking the welding program at the local community college.

So he did most of all the fabrication here.

Where does the milk go from here?

We have a thousand gallon bulk tank.

It's a refrigerated tank, so the milk is cooled down.

And then from there we go to our pasteurizer and then to our cheese vat when we go to make cheese.

So usually we milk the evening before we make cheese the next day.

So it's fresh.

[ Laughs ] Yeah, it's fresh.

It's going to be walking around if it's much fresher.

Yeah.

♪♪ We're catching up with Ralph's daughter, Shannon, who has already begun the three-step process of making Hinterland's famous farmstead cheese curds.

So this is the third process, right in cheesemaking.

Walk us through what you're doing right now.

Yes, this is the beginning of the cheddar process.

It's what makes a true cheddar cheese or a true cheddar cheese curd.

So we have cooked the curd like Little Miss Muffet.

We had our vat full of whey and cheese curds, and it cooked for about an hour and a half at 102 degrees.

We've now drained off the whey, and the cheese curds, the little bitty particles like cottage cheese are sticking back together.

♪♪ Alright, so tell us what you're doing right now.

I am flipping the loaves of cheese, and I'm stacking them on top of each other to gently put a little pressure on that bottom loaf.

If you'd like to start with this end one here.

And so just flip it?

Yes.

Now you can say you're a cheese maker.

I am officially.

Uh-huh.

After flipping the cheese loaves three times, we wait for the whey to drain, which is reused in the field for the cows.

Alright, Brooke.

And now we're ready to mill the loaves of cheese into cheese curds.

Okay.

Here we go.

I'll do a few to get you started.

Show me how it's done.

Here we are.

Are you ready?

Okay.

I think so.

It's kind of fun.

Just takes a little muscle.

Okay.

[ Grunts ] Am I doing it right?

Yeah.

If you put a little more bouncing it helps a little bit.

There you go.

Okay, so just pound it.

Okay.

Yep.

Pound it.

That takes a little more -- less energy They do make electric, automatic ones.

Then you won't burn calories.

Right.

Okay, this is so satisfying.

You know, it's like you feel accomplished.

So we've milled the curds.

Now we're salting them, and then they'll be ready for packaging and enjoying his fresh cheddar cheese curds.

It's all done here.

It's all done here.

♪♪ Brooke, would you like to try a fresh cheddar cheese curd?

Um, yes, please.

Okay, so which one?

Does it matter?

Any one.

They're all okay.

I've never had fresh.

Woman: They are the best like that.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah it's really salty in a good way.

-Mh-hmm.

-And squeaky.

And that's like a good mark, right, of curds?

Yes, if they're fresh and they squeak.

Mmm, okay.

Kohlsdorf: With the cheese process complete, let's head over to the farm store to hear from Shannon's mom Colleen about the different kinds of cheeses available at Hinterland.

We first started making cheese curds That was our very first product out, original, and then we have a few varieties of those.

And then we have our hard cheeses.

We have Franklin Road, which is our mild cheddar cheese.

Brook's Place is our aged, medium to sharp cheddar cheese and our fresh spreadable quark.

And that is kind of like a cream cheese spread.

We make that in original, garlic and herb and also the honey cinnamon flavors.

In 2023, Hinterland Dairy was recognized statewide when their cheese curds were named Best of Show at the Iowa State Fair, making this stop a worthy detour off the Great River road.

Colleen, thanks so much for showing us around Hinterland and telling us all about your cheese.

It's been a pleasure Well, thank you very much.

I appreciate you visiting today.

♪♪