Vote for the dairy plant of the year

Dairy Foods has nominated 14 dairy processing plants which manufacture fluid milk, cheese, ice cream or cultured dairy products. All have been featured on dairyfoods.com over the previous 18 months.

Inside Litehouse plant: How blue cheese gets dressed in Idaho

In the cheese plant, hoops are filled by hand. About 10 pounds of curd will yield a 7.5-pound wheel, after the excess whey drains off.

Where is the Dairy Plant of the Year? Is it a small fluid milk processing facility in rural Maryland or a large cheesemaker in Wisconsin? Those are two of the 14 dairy plants nominated for Dairy Foods’ Plant of the Year.

The magazine invites readers to vote in an online poll that ends July 9. The votes help Dairy Foods editors determine the recipient of the award.

All of the processing plants have been featured online and in the magazine over the past 18 months. The 2016 Dairy Plant of the Year was Bel Brands’ facility in Brookings, S.D.

This year’s nominated plants are:

Arla Foods, Hollandtown, Wis. (cheese)
Cabot Creamery, Cabot, Vt. (cheese)
Chobani, Twin Falls, Idaho (yogurt)
Clover Sonoma, Petaluma, Calif. (fluid milk)
Humboldt Creamery, Fortuna, Calif. (fluid milk, ice cream and powders)
JonnyPops, St. Louis Park, Minn. (ice cream novelties)
Kilby Cream, Colora, Md. (fluid milk and ice cream)
Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream, Brooklyn, N.Y. (ice cream)
Litehouse Inc., Sandpoint, Idaho (blue-veined cheeses and salad dressings). Shown in photo, above.
Noosa Yoghurt, Bellvue, Colo. (yogurt)
Ramar Foods, Pittsburg, Calif. (ice cream)
Snowville Creamery, Pomeroy, Ohio (fluid milk)
The Comfy Cow, Louisville, Ky. (ice cream)
Three Twins Ice Cream, Sheboygan, Wis. (ice cream)