Day Trips

Scott Simon (Photo by Gerald E. McLeod)

The Texas Cheese House in Lorena makes cheese one small batch at a time. Each 12-pound wheel exhibits the cheese maker's exacting standards, like the strokes of an artist's brush.

"I make cheese the old-fashioned way," says Scott Simon. He takes great pride in the fact that his products use all-natural ingredients. "There's not a true cheese in any of the big grocery stores," he says. "What they sell is full of additives."

True cheese is made with four ingredients – milk, salt, a coagulant, and a culture. To that he might add herbs and spices for flavor; for instance, he makes a roasted-garlic Asiago cheese, but he would never add artificial preservatives. He doesn't have to add preservatives. He sells out nearly every day.

A 32-year resident of Lorena, Simon retired after selling his business. "That lasted about two weeks," he says. "I didn't like retirement very much." He decided to take his kitchen experiments to a commercial level. It didn't hurt that he has degrees in physiology and microbiology. "I guess you could say I'm finally using my degrees."

"It took years of trial and error before I learned how to [make cheese] right," Simon says. He is largely self-taught after years of perfecting his recipes. Making cheese can be a very complex endeavor, but he breaks it down to its simplest form by saying, "It's all a time and temperature thing."

Although each type of cheese takes an exact methodology, Simon takes great pleasure in the variety of options. "I get to do what I feel like. How many people can say that?" he says. "Today I might feel like making a cheddar; tomorrow I might feel like making something totally different." He keeps a constant rotation of cheeses cooking, aging, or ready to sell.

Simon opened the factory to the public last March. Since then, a steady stream of cheese-heads has come to his door as word of the artisan cheese maker has spread up and down the I-35 corridor.

Besides selling six or seven kinds of his cheeses at a time, Simon offers visitors a tour of the factory. He also sells cheeses from area producers. "Texas has about 14 dairies that make cheese, and some of them are real good," he says.

Simon also hosts wine-and-cheese parties pairing Texas-made products. Occasionally, groups of chefs will visit to learn the cheese-making process. "Spending the afternoon making cheese is a fun way to pass the time," he says with a laugh.

The Texas Cheese House is located at 102 E. Center St. in Lorena, which is about 10 miles south of Waco off I-35. The store is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10am to 6pm. For more information, call Scott Simon at 254/655-4217 or visit his website at www.texascheesehouse.com.

911th in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of "Day Trips" 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.