Lamp Post Cheese

LEBANON, OH
 

On production days at Lamp Post Cheese in Lebanon, OH, passersby are treated to quite a show. Through large storefront windows, owner and chief cheesemaker Cecilia Garmendia can be seen standing over a huge stainless steel vat, monitoring 200 gallons of raw milk and bacterial cultures as it heats and transforms into one giant curd.

The curd is cut into smaller pieces that are transferred to molds and pressed to expel moisture and through a series of steps, different cultures and enzymes are introduced to each mold to create different kinds of cheeses. Eventually, the resulting wheels are transferred to wooden shelves in the aging room where they are flipped and turned every day for three to 10 months, depending on the variety. Currently, Garmendia makes three kinds: Haya, a tangy cheese good for melting; Toby, her take on cheddar; and Apollo, a Spanish Mahon style with a paprika-rubbed rind. Garmendia has experimented with a fourth variety using spent brewers grains, resulting in a cheese she describes as “creamier and funkier.”

Garmendia and husband Ryan Tasseff opened Lamp Post Cheese in October 2018. It was not the career or destination that Garmendia, who has a PhD in microbiology and grew up in Spain and France, envisioned. A cheesemaking workshop the couple attended while living in Seattle altered her destiny. When Tasseff took a job with Procter & Gamble and the couple settled in Lebanon, they decided it was time to make a part-time passion a full-time job.

In addition to the production and aging rooms, the creamery has a small deli space that features its cheeses as well as the cheese, wine and beer of other local producers. An adjacent room and bar is frequently the site of tastings and special events, and a new outdoor patio opened this summer.

Comfort food took on special significance this year. A favorite: the grilled cheese sandwich. Lamp Post elevates this classic with its Haya Cheese, sourdough bread from Sixteen Bricks and optional add-ons, such as prosciutto or peppers. The secret ingredient: “We use mayonnaise instead of butter,” Garmendia says.

Lamp Post Cheese
107 E Mulberry St., Lebanon, OH
513.934.7376
LampPostCheese.com
Fri 4pm–8pm; Sat noon–8pm

FIND IT AT:

• Jungle Jim’s
• The Rhined (Cincinnati)
• Market Wagon