Hilmar Cheese Company

"RDA for dairy and fun"

Hilmar Cheese Company & Visitor Center provides highway travelers a welcome respite from long rides and is also a place where locals go for good food, good cheese, and good fun.

Free guided visitor center tours are available on the weekends, January through October, at 10am and 11am.  From mid-June to late-August, free guided tours are offered daily, Monday through Friday at 11am and 1pm.  Self-guided tours are available any time, and it is our experience on self-guided tours that I will share.  

Visitors are first welcomed to the center with a short film, which is geared towards 5-10 year old children and narrated by Daisy, the animated Jersey cow mascot of the Hilmar Cheese Company.  Daisy will explain the "hows" of cheese making, from its very beginning at the cow milking station to its packaging process.  With language that is appropriate for young viewers, but information that even adults will find fascinating, the short film really will delight most anyone.

Upstairs, young dairy fans can investigate further... Interactive exhibits (most appreciated by my five and seven year old children) include a milking station, a dress up area (children may dress as a cheese maker, a farmer, a veterinarian; adults, be a photographer and capture this moment!), and an exhibit explaining the usefulness of those plastic tags in a cow's ear.  Also upstairs are the only windows into the body of the factory.  Be sure see the huge solid blocks of cheese being guided through the plant on mini railroad-type rails by following the wall of exhibit boards and turn right.

After the learning is over, we make a beeline to the cheese sampling table that is downstairs, near the cheese case in the deli area of the store.  Here, much to the delight of all three of my children, one will find Squeakers — cheese curds that literally squeak as they are chewed.  (The louder the squeak, the fresher the curd, I've learned.)  Also offered up: pepper jack cheese, sharp cheddar, monterey jack... Hilmar makes many cheeses, and is the one of the largest cheese making companies in the world!  You may even have Hilmar Cheese in your fridge but not know it, as it is always relabeled when sold anywhere other than the Hilmar Cheese Company.

If the cheese samples aren't enough, there is a full selection of sandwiches, salads, wraps, pizzas and desserts to enjoy in the café.  Kids meals include a main item (grilled cheese, PB&J, pizza, etc.), a piece of fresh fruit and either a milk or juice; these meals cost between $3.50 and $4.50.  Eat indoors or out on the patio, or even select picnic basket type foods from the store and eat outside near the waterfall.  Also available: smoothies, ice cream, and beverages from the espresso bar.

While this is not a flashy, playplace sort of roadside attraction, it's my experience that kids really do enjoy stopping off at Hilmar.  My own children do watch the "moooovie" each time we visit.  On our last stop at Hilmar, there was a girl, about five years old, that had the entire movie's dialog memorized; it was beyond entertaining.

If visiting on a summer weekday, children can participate in an ice cream making workshop at the 11:00am guided tour for only $3.  My daughter did this once, and it took quite a lot of shaking to get her milk to turn into anything resembling ice cream, but boy was it fun!  Reservations are recommended for this (call (209) 656-1196), and participants must check-in at the espresso bar by 10:45am.

One word of caution: the upstairs exhibit area is also where in-house catering events are held (weddings, banquets, fundraisers), and on some days, the exhibits are closed due to the preparation required for such events.  In the five times we've visited, I can recall it being closed once.