Saint Benoit Creamery Tour
On September 17, 2010, CUESA led a tour of the Saint Benoit Creamery facility and Achadinha Cheese Co., both in Petaluma, California. All photos by Barry Jan.
The St. Benoit Yogurt facility is located on John Mattos’ family farm in Two Rock (near Petaluma) in Sonoma County. This proximity allows for yogurt that is about as fresh as it gets.
At The Saint Benoît facility we were greeted by Benoît and Kristina de Korsak. The couple have been in business making French-style yogurt in Petaluma since 2003.
The new facility is located in a building that used to be the farm's milking parlor (you can just see the roof at the left of this photo).
This is the tank St. Benoit uses to pick up milk from across the farm on all four days a week the company is in production. The milking on the farm starts at around 5 am and the de Korsaks pick up their 200 gallons by 6:30 am.
Before we entered the room where the yogurt is made, we had to step into a foot bath with a mild sanitizing solution. Because the facility is on a farm where cows roam, they have to be extra careful to maintain a sanitary environment.
This is the milk tank, where the fresh milk is low-heat pasteurized for 30 minutes. Then it is mixed with the yogurt culture and added to the crocks and jars. It incubates for 5-6 hours before going into refrigeration. In the summer months, the milk changes because the cows drink more water, so the incubation process lasts longer.
The yogurt is sold in jars and the small ceramic crocks pictured here; customers can return both for a refund. So far, the company has kept around a million containers out of the landfill. Kristina also prefers the crocks to plastic because when the hot yogurt is poured into a plastic container to set, chemicals from the plastic can leach into the yogurt.
The crew has 2 hours to get the pasteurized milk into the jars and crocks; otherwise it will begin to set in the tank, and would lead to a runny final product.
The crocks and jars often return clean, but when they don't the St. Benoit crew must spend time pre-washing them. All containers get sterilized before they are re-filled with yogurt.
St. Benoit uses local honey from Marshall's Farm Natural Honey for their honey flavored yogurt.
The honey is added at the base of the crock, before the milk.
Most of the 8-10 people who work for St. Benoit yogurt, besides Benoit and Kristina, are from the Mattos family.
The labels are added to the jars each time they're used.
The yogurt will set as it cools (it's refrigerated for at least 12 hours before it's sold).
The yogurt culture used at St. Benoit comes France. French cultures make a much milder, less sour yogurt than most cultures, which come from Eastern Europe. The culture is the only non-local ingredient in the yogurt.
St. Benoit uses fruit spreads made by Lagier Ranches for its fruit-flavored yogurt. Fruit for the spreads is sourced from local farms. Compared to most commercial brands, which use jam that is around 60% sugar, these spreads are only around 15% sugar. Because of that the fruit yogurt only has a shelf life of around three weeks.
After the yogurt facility we visited the cows on the farm. They have 1000 acres to roam around on. The cows pictured here are "teenagers."
The 500 cows on the Mattos' farm are all Jersey cows. St. Benoit uses the milk of around 15 cows a day. The remaining milk is sold to the Organic Valley cooperative.
Jersey cows are sturdy but they produce 1/3 less milk than holsteins (the other major milking breed.) On the bright side, their milk has a much higher percentage of butterfat, making it perfect for cream-top yogurt.
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CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) is dedicated to cultivating a sustainable food system through the operation of farmers markets and educational programs. Learn More »