At 6:30 in the morning, all is quiet at Little Qualicum Cheeseworks. Just steps from where the cows were milked, fresh milk has already arrived in the creamery, ready to be transformed with precision and skill. For the cheesemaker, it’s the beginning of something new every single day.
For Levi Friess, a Swiss-trained cheesemaker at Little Qualicum Cheeseworks, that sense of possibility is what first drew him in. “I love coming in and seeing what kind of milk we’re working with,” he says. “It’s exciting, seeing what chance lies ahead of you.”
From the beginning of his apprenticeship, Friess was captivated by the science of cheesemaking. Even in Switzerland, where cheesemaking is well established, it’s rare to witness the process from the beginning. “You hardly ever go into a cheese plant,” he recalls. “So that alone was fascinating. Seeing the sheer volume of milk and what you can do with it was mesmerizing.”
A cheesemaker by trade with a lifelong dream of coming to Canada, Friess’s fascination for the craft carried him across continents to a small dairy on Vancouver Island. It was an exciting new chapter, bringing enthusiasm and experience to a younger cheesemaking industry in Canada.
But no matter where you are, for Friess it’s clear that cheese is defined by the milk it’s made from.
“Healthy cows, high quality milk, better flavour … it all begins in the field”
“Even from farmer to farmer, it can be different,” he explains. “What they feed, their practices, the breed of cow, it all makes a difference.”
How good grass shapes the milk
Albert Gorter, the farmer behind the milk used at Little Qualicum Cheeseworks, follows this process back to the grass and the land where it grows. “Good grass is where everything starts for us,” he shares. “Healthy cows, high quality milk, better flavour … it all begins in the field.”
That connection from soil to grass to cow shapes everything that follows and leaves subtle impressions of place. The plants cows feed on, the air, and even the season influence the milk’s taste, butterfat, and even colour. Friess explains further, “The milk also comes in contact with the air and takes on flavour, so that can also change the characteristics a bit.”
From curd to craft
From the outside, the cheesemaking process can feel almost magical, as milk in the vat becomes something entirely new in a matter of hours. Invisible to the eye, bacteria convert milk sugars into lactic acid while enzymes alter the structure.
“The difference between creamy and crumbly can come down to a single moment of care”
“There are so many bacteria working, and they multiply so fast.” But within that transformation are critical moments where precision is of utmost importance, and none more so than cutting the curd.
“That’s where everything can go wrong,” says Friess. At this stage, the curd is fragile. If handled too roughly, it breaks into tiny fragments or “dust” that lose moisture quickly. The difference between creamy and crumbly can come down to a single moment of care.
This is where traditional skill and modern technology intertwine. Turning that expressive, ever-changing milk into consistent, high-quality cheese is where craft meets science. While most processes are highly automated these days, skill is required where milk is less standardized. Milk with more “character” often requires more intuition, but it also brings more depth. “If you have milk with more flavour,” Freiss explains, “you also get a more characterized cheese.”
And that character continues to evolve long after the cheesemaking day is done.
How aging shapes the final cheese
In the aging room, time becomes the final ingredient. Young cheeses develop depth as textures shift and flavours intensify. Molds grow from the inside out, quietly transforming what was made in a single day into something far more complex. The process unfolds over weeks, months, or even years, shaped by environment and patience.
From the soil beneath the grass to the microbes in the vat, cheesemaking is a story of small, interconnected details. It’s grounded in science, guided by tradition, and brought to life through skill and patience. In the end, every cheese carries the story of where it began.
