How Arethusa Milk is Made
Ever wonder how the milk in your fridge or ice cream in your freezer got there? We pride ourselves on the quality and precision of our process and are happy to share it with you. Join us in learning how we do things when we make milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream like it used to taste. Scroll your cursor over each part of the diagram to explore the dairy process of Arethusa Farm.
It Starts with Grains & Hay
Our cows eat fresh-cut grains and grass hay
Milking Twice Daily
Our cows are milked twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Each cow produces around ten gallons of milk per day.
Milk Refrigeration
Raw milk is pumped into a refrigerated holding tank at the farm. The milk is held for no more than 48 hours until it's picked up.
Milk Tank Truck
The milk is pumped into a 2,000 gallon tank truck.
Through Litchfield
The bulk milk tank truck drives from the farm to the dairy through historic Litchfield, Connecticut.
Milk Tests & Checks
Once the milk is tested and proved to be free of antibiotics, the milk is pumped off the truck into a refrigerated holding tank inside the dairy.
Milk Separation
We calculate how much milk we need to separate to make our low fat products and we run the appropriate amount of milk through the cream separator.
Skim Milk & Heavy Cream
We separate the milk into two tanks: skim milk and heavy cream. The heavy cream is kept in storage until it is needed for ice cream, half and half, or eggnog.
Low Fat Milks
For the low fat milk we add back the appropriate amount of whole milk to make it the right fat percentage.
Gentle Pasteurization
After the milk is separated, we gently pasteurize it at 145 degrees for 30 minutes to make sure it's bacteria-free
Milk Homogenization
Next, the milk is homogenized so the cream won't separate from the milk.
Milk Holding Tank
After the milk is homogenized, it is pumped over to pasteurized holding tanks where it waits to be bottled.
Bottled & Shipped
The milk is bottled into half gallon and quart-sized containers and immediately moved into our store's cooler or loaded into a refrigerated truck and sent to a fine food retailer near you.
It Starts with Milk & Cream
To start the ice cream process, milk and cream is pumped into a pasteurization tank.
The Ice Cream Mix
We add sugar, eggs, egg yolks and pasteurize the whole ice cream mix.
Adding Ingredients
The mix is cooled and placed in a refrigerated holding tank. For each flavor, we measure out the proper ingredients, add the right amount of mix to the ice cream freezer and add the all-natural flavorings. The freezer spins until the mix is the perfect consistency.
Hand Packed
The ice cream is immediately hand-packed into pints and rushed to the walk-in freezer
The freezer room
The ice cream remains in the deep freezer at -20 degrees overnight to harden and is moved to our retail shop when the stock runs low.
It Starts with the Milk
Milk is pasteurized and held at a high temperature which helps denature the proteins and allows for a better body at the end of the cycle.
Heating & Cooling
Once the heat-treatment stage is over, we cool the milk down to culturing temperature
Adding Cultures
Cultures are added to the yogurt while it's still warm.
The Yogurt Filler
After the milk and culture is fully mixed, it is pumped to the yogurt filler.
Incubating the Cultures
The sealed cups, still warm, are moved into our incubation room where they are held for an extended period of time to allow the culture to work on the milk and turn it into yogurt.
Cool Down & Delivery
The cups are removed from the incubation room and moved to the walk-in cooler where they stay until their loaded into trucks and delivered to stores.
It Starts with the Milk
For our cheeses, the milk is pasteurized, but not homogenized. Milk is pumped into our cheese making vat.
Starter Cultures
Starter culture is added to the milk and the milk is allowed to ripen at a high temperature. We add rennet which encourages the milk to solidify.
Cutting the Curds
The curds are cut away which allows the whey to separate from the curds.
Stir & Heat
The cheese is stirred, while maintaining heat, to allow the curds to heal and to encourage more whey to be drawn out from the curds.
Draining the Whey
The whey is drained and the remaining curd is packed into molds.
Pressed Molds
The molds are pressed under pressure overnight
The Brine Tank
The cheese is removed from the molds and put into the brine tank, which is a salt-water solution. The brining adds flavoring and preserves to the cheese.
The Aging Room
The cheese is removed from the brine, allowed to dry, and then waxed to seal in the remaining moisture. Each wheel of cheese is moved to the aging room, where it is allowed to age for anywhere between two to six months, depending. on the cheese. When it's fully aged, the cheese is moved to our retail store or sent to restaurants and stores near you.
Retail
Arethusa's Milks, Ice Creams, Yogurts and Cheeses