Turrialba Life

Cheese from the Turrialba region is famous throughout the country. Produced in over thirty separate facilities there is now an official "cheese tour" available to travellers in the area.

The "Ruta del Queso" tour has been very well planned. It begins with a wonderful typically Tico breakfast which, of course, includes plenty of local cheese and coffee.

The tour is sponsored by a cooperative of all of the local cheese manufacturers.

Manager Analis Periera poses (left) with the factory foreman while a member of udder management behind the operation watches them from the top of the hill. Someone suggested that this should be "upper management." So much for their sense of humor!

The next part of the program deals with the ecology of the project. The delightful English speaking guide Karla explains how this cooperative does everything possible to help the ecology of the region and also save money by not dumping waste products into rivers and streams.

They show how they obtain gas for cooking from the by-product of pigs. You can probably think of another word to substitute for "by-product." The same savory by--product is used to heat the water.

	From here the tour moves inside to see the very modern and hygenic methods for producing cheese.
	I tend to be far more concerned about hygene and the cleanliness of food production than most people so I was anxious to see how these people deal with it.
	Well, as you can see by the clean white uniforms, hats and even surgical masks the worker's wear, they were one step ahead of me. Everything is immaculate.

So, next time you have your photo taken you'll know why the photographer says "Say Turrialba Cheese."

Please come back to this page again soon. We'll have more photos and more information about cheese production and sales in Turrialba.

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