Featured sweets "cheese tart". Specialty stores have also opened in various places, and convenience stores are also selling them one after another. At the end of June, Lawson also launched an original brand cheese tart.
"Pure Cheese Tart" (158 yen including tax) is a filling made with 3 types of cheese, put in a lightly baked tart dough and baked. Normally, it is made at a factory in each area, but this time it is all made at one factory in Hokkaido.
If all stores (about 12,000 stores) sell 5 items a day, 60,000 items are needed in just one day. There must be some amazing equipment installed to cover that alone! With excitement, Hokkaido had a special tour of the factory in Obihiro.
What a sweets kingdom Obihiro. Expectations rise!
It's a cloudy sky, but the air is delicious, Obihiro!
The factory was in full operation!
Manufactured by Hanabatake Farm, led by President Yoshitake Tanaka. In mid-June, when it's about to go on sale, when I sneak in ...
it's narrower than I imagined .
Many machines are lined up in a space full of people because they pass each other, and many staff members are moving their hands. It's like the kitchen of a cake shop in a very busy town (Imagine).
There are few big machines !?
The process is roughly (1) making cheese filling and tart dough, (2) filling the tart dough with filling, (3) baking, and (4) wrapping. There are many processes that are close to handmade, and it takes a lot of manpower.
(1) Make fillings and dough
First, add eggs to the three types of cheese and mix them, then carefully strain them to remove the lumps and make a cheese filling.
Of the raw material cheeses, cream cheese and Camembert cheese are made by Hanabatake Farm without using chemical additives. A little Dutch Gouda cheese is added to this to give it a rich flavor.
One staff member per mixer
Strained with a colander. It is a steady work.
On the other hand, the tart dough is made very simply, using only Hokkaido flour, the same sugar (beet granulated sugar), eggs, and additive-free margarine made for this time.
After mixing the ingredients, cut them into a tart mold with a machine and mold them with a special machine. The thickness is about 2 mm. The rugged texture of the dough does not interfere with the taste of cheese, and it is just thin enough to maintain its shape.
It's a machine introduced for this tart
(2) Fill the filling
Inject the cheese filling into the tart mold with the dough. Already at this point it looks delicious.
page Plump freshly baked has a happy scent
(3) Bake
Bake in a gas oven. Bake evenly while rotating at 195 degrees for about 18 minutes. It is said that it repeats baking 1,120 pieces at a time more than 60 times a day and continues to make
70,000 pieces 24 hours a day. In fact, if you make it without additives, the baking will be uneven, so it seems that baking is the most difficult of all the processes. It is said that the dedicated staff is watching closely while adjusting according to the temperature and humidity of the day.
Freshly baked, it is inflated plumply
(4) Pack
When the heat is removed, remove it from the mold, wrap it in a package, and it's done. Don't forget the stickers.
Packaging with the machine on the far right
By the way, pure cheese tart is a refrigerated product. It is stored and delivered frozen, and after thawing, it is lined up in stores.
Doesn't the taste of frozen storage drop? However, according to President Tanaka,
freezing makes the cheese richer and more delicious !
When you try the finished product, you will find the rich flavor and richness of cheese. It's full of cheese that can be called "that manma cheese". But the aftertaste is light and you can eat as much as you want.
page There is a reason that "it can only be made at Hanabatake Farm"
The driving force is additive-free cream cheese
Pure cheese tart was developed based on the concept of "do not put extra things" as much as possible. The driving force behind this is "additive-free cream cheese."
Material notation on the back of the package It's so simple that you can't think of it as a convenience store product
Cream cheese is made without fermentation, so it doesn't last long, and importing additive-free cheese costs a huge amount of money. Therefore, we decided to develop it in-house. When I tasted the cream cheese, it had a smooth mouthfeel that melted in my mouth. The natural mellowness was impressive.
Because it is additive-free, it looks like cottage cheese
The quality of raw milk is very good in the Obihiro area, and its ingredients are suitable for making cheese. The company uses 600 tons of raw milk from nearby farmers every morning to produce 75 tons of cheese. Of these, 15 tons each of cream cheese and Camembert cheese are said to be used in this cheese tart. In other words,
about 1 ton of cheese is transformed into a tart per day ...!
Make a lot of additive-free cream cheese using good quality ingredients. Then, it is processed into as many cheese tarts as can be sold at convenience stores nationwide. President Tanaka says that only Hanabatake Farm can do that.
Moreover, "it costs more than twice as much as I imagined (both labor and material costs)." So 158 yen is pretty close, isn't it? When I asked that, he said, "I can't accept anything else."
It was a factory tour where you can see that the factory is working so hard. Thank you everyone for your cooperation while you are busy! (You can see the factory in the video)
The cafe's raclette cheese is excellent
Unfortunately, the factory we interviewed this time does not accept general tours. However, at the Tokachi No. 2 Factory (Nakasatsunai Village), you can tour the cheese factory.
The attached cafe also serves pizza with plenty of cheese and soft serve ice cream. Among them, "raclette cheese" is excellent. If you have a chance to visit, please give it a try.
Cheese on top of potatoes
Potatoes are so delicious
Outside, llamas (!!!) and sheep play with us.