Author Topic: 2 Oberlander-Käse  (Read 10223 times)

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: 2 Oberlander-Käse
« Reply #15 on: October 16, 2012, 09:33:40 PM »
I make 8" wheels that average close to 7 pounds. For the Farmers Markets, sales on the internet, and sales in my store, I cut those wheels into 12 wedges. That puts each wedge at over 1/2 pound. I do NOT weigh them and I sell them for $10 each. However at $20/pound, 1/2+ pound wedges would be over $10 each retail, so they are too big for the grocery stores. So, for the grocery stores we cut a wheel into 16 wedges, making each piece under 1/2 pound and therefor under $10 in the dairy case. That is a very important price point to encourage spontaneous buying. If something is over $10 then many people are not willing to try something new.

I sell whole wheels to restaurants at wholesale. We often will cut a wheel into 1/4s for them and individually vacuum bag each 1/4. That way the restaurant can use it as needed and keep the rest fresh (and mold free).

Alpkäserei

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Re: 2 Oberlander-Käse
« Reply #16 on: October 16, 2012, 10:17:09 PM »
We follow the production procedure that I learned first hand in the Swiss Alps (looking through your website, seems you like old world practices and I agree with the statement that it has a positive affect on flavor and character).

Part of this means that we produce a single cheese from every batch, and as a result the wheels of cheese vary a bit in size -but should generally be around 30# or so. These are maybe 18 to 20 inches across, and 5 or 6 inches thick. The size is important to the quality of the cheese, and if I would split the batch up to make say 3 10 pound wheels then I would come out with a cheese with a different texture, salinity, and flavor profile.

The reason this matters, it's harder to portion out a large wheel into 1/2# segments than a smaller wheel that can easily be cut up (I assume you quarter the wheel, then cut the quarters into 3 pieces) and when your wheels vary in size, so will your segment.

But actually, this causes me to be in favor of doing like you suggest, cutting and pricing regardless of weight. If I cut my cheeses into 48 sections (1/4s, then 1/3s, then 1/2s, then 1/2s) I come up with portions that are approximately 5/8#, or 10 oz. Following your suggested price of $18, that would be priced at $11.25.

Then if I do like you say and also make a slightly smaller size for impulse buyers, I can cut the wheels into 64 sections (1/4s, then 1/4s, then 1/2s, then 1/2s) then I come up with wedges that are about 15/32#, or just under 1/2# (if the wheel weighed exactly 30 pounds) so if I figure this as 1/2 nominal sized, that would be $9 per wedge.

Now I don't like cents. So I could round up to $12 for the larger size that is approx. 10 oz and $9 for the 8 oz size. To make this more fair, the smaller portions would be cut from slightly smaller wheels and the larger sections cut from slightly larger wheels so that you end up paying about the same price per ounce of cheese.

The Swiss often sell whole wheels to locals to have as their own cheese. But then again, they eat the cheese every day. I like the idea of vacuum packing smaller portions when selling in bulk.

Im doing a lot of thinking out loud here, hopefully that will let you help straighten out my thought processes 8)
 

Alpkäserei

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Re: 2 Oberlander-Käse
« Reply #17 on: October 22, 2012, 05:49:54 PM »
Experimenting a little with one of these wheels, washing with an herbal mixture.

The other is ready to dry out.

The one on the right to the picture has the herb wash, you can see the paste has begun to take on a different color.


Here's my white wine wash. I made some more wash solution the other day, for this I used a dry, old white wine, a lot of salt, and some water.

and all that cheese gets kind of lonely down there. Here's some company we gave it the other day.

Offline Boofer

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Re: 2 Oberlander-Käse
« Reply #18 on: October 23, 2012, 02:30:39 PM »
Sauerkraut?

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: 2 Oberlander-Käse
« Reply #19 on: October 23, 2012, 03:08:07 PM »
Pickled Herring in the whipped topping container?

Alpkäserei

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Re: 2 Oberlander-Käse
« Reply #20 on: October 23, 2012, 04:27:35 PM »
yes, that's some sauerkraut we put up.

No pickled herring here. The container holds my white wine and salt washing solution. It just gets a little bit of the cream from the surface of the cheese mixed in that sticks to the brush.

Alpkäserei

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Re: 2 Oberlander-Käse
« Reply #21 on: October 23, 2012, 10:04:33 PM »
Made our labels and logos today.





The first is to be the basis for the label to go on our Oberlander wheels before they are cut. It is based on a traditional artistic style from the Berner Oberland

The name is written in the type of writing you might find on the front gables of houses in the Oberland

The third graphic is the general logo for all of our cheeses, depicting the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau, the three iconic mountains of the Canton of Bern.

Offline Tiarella

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Re: 2 Oberlander-Käse
« Reply #22 on: October 23, 2012, 11:22:18 PM »
Made our labels and logos today.





The first is to be the basis for the label to go on our Oberlander wheels before they are cut. It is based on a traditional artistic style from the Berner Oberland

The name is written in the type of writing you might find on the front gables of houses in the Oberland

The third graphic is the general logo for all of our cheeses, depicting the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau, the three iconic mountains of the Canton of Bern.


That is SO beautiful!!!!!  I've been thinking about playing with labels for my cheese even though I won't be selling any.  I can do enough with graphics on my computer that with the help of an artist friend I might be able to do something nice but not as nice as yours!  Congratulations!

Alpkäserei

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Re: 2 Oberlander-Käse
« Reply #23 on: October 24, 2012, 02:44:03 AM »
Thanks. The label for the Oberlander-Käse took all day to make. It was raining, so I had to stay inside most the day anyway.

After some more work, I have the finishes centerpiece for the Oberlander. This will be contained inside a circular pattern repeating the name-logo, similar to the Swiss Emmental label.



here's an Emmentaler so you have an idea of what I mean: