"We're all still dairy farmers," said Dias, who admits he doesn't know anything about the cheese-making process. "We hired a cheesemaker from Wisconsin and someone to run the company, and in three years we were in the cheese-making business."

Cheese-making begins with milk, which begins with growing silage: corn, oats, alfalfa and other feed for cows. The nutrient-rich green matter is chopped up and "cooked" in the sun under tarps, resulting in a salty or sweet product that cows like to eat. What cows eat affects the flavor of the milk, which in turn affects the flavor of the cheese.

The chopped-up silage is drained of liquid, then mixed with whole grains, such as soy beans and cotton seed and flavored with molasses. This ration of silage and commodities is designed to provide optimum nutrition for the cows, each of which consumes 50 pounds of food and water a day.

Once a cow gives birth to a calf, she is milked two to three times a day for 10 months. Each cow is tagged and electronically tracked as to its milk output during its average seven-minute milking period; eight to 10 pounds of milk is average. A cow is allowed to dry out for two months and then carries another calf so it will produce more milk. The cycle is repeated for an average of nine to 13 years per cow.

Tanker trucks bring the milk to Hilmar's state-of-the-art plant every day. The milk used to make cheese is blended from the many dairies that supply the cheese factory. Generally, a blend of 30 percent milk from Jersey cows and 70 percent Holstein milk provides the ideal balance of butterfat and protein for the types of cheese Hilmar makes.

The milk is pasteurized — heated to a temperature hot enough to kill most bacteria — then cooled to about 88 degrees. In a big stainless steel vat, the milk is stirred and agitated.

Coloring is added in the form of annatto, a natural coloring from the achiote plant, also known as the lipstick plant here in the Islands.

A tidbit of trivia learned during the tour: Before the American Revolution, colonialists used color to distinguish cheeses made in America from those made in Britain. That's why we have orange cheddar.

After the color is added, a starter or bacteria is introduced that determines the ultimate flavor and texture of the cheese. The bacteria creates acidity by feeding on lactose, a sugar present in milk.

The sharper the cheese, the more acidity. Different starters produce different flavors, and specific starters are used to create gases that produce the holes in some cheeses.

The mixture is heated to 102 degrees and rennet is added to the mixture. Rennet is an animal-based coagulant that turns milk to a gelatin-like consistency, or curd. After an hour or so of stirring, curds begin to form, the solid pieces separating from the whey or liquid. In a process called knitting, the curds bond with each other to produce a solid slab.

The curds are stacked on top of each other to allow more whey to drain off. Once the proper consistency is reached, the cheese maker cuts the slabs into pieces and stirs in some salt, which slows down the buildup of acidity.

The now fairly solid homogeneous mixture is placed in a box that will mold the cheese into a 45-pound brick.

More whey is pressed out as the new cheese sits overnight. Then the cheese goes to cold storage for a brief aging period. In one to three months, you have mild cheddar, in three to nine months, medium cheddar. Sharp cheddar requires more than nine months of aging.

But the 45-pound bricks are just a tiny portion of the cheese Hilmar produces. These bricks are aged, cut and sold in the factory visitor center under Hilmar's own label. Beyond the visitor window is where cheese is produced en masse: a 500-pound barrel at a time, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

But even that's not the whole story of cheese-making: There are byproducts, such as protein and lactose, that end up in other foods we eat.

"We sell more lactose and protein than anyone," said Dias. Lactose, also called milk sugar, ends up in infant formula, candy bars, chocolate and noodle mixes.

Whey protein ends up in infant formula, processed meats such as sausages, hot dogs and ham, nutritional drinks and bars, processed cheese and bakery items.

The lactose and protein are extracted from the whey, a byproduct of cheese-making, leaving only clean water. The water is used in the plant's cleaning systems.