I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to find if the word ‘poodle’ has ever been used as a synonym for ‘barrel’ or ‘container’, particularly as used in the manufacturing of cheese.
Why, you ask? Good question. The short answer is that there is a crossroads near my home called “Poodle’s Corner” by some the old timers in the area. It is noted for being the only location in the county where a KKK rally was held, in 1924. And not noted for much else, to be sure.
I did ask my father many decades ago why it was so-named, and he told me that the corner was the site of an old cheese factory (and what intersection wasn’t once such a site, in this part of Wisconsin?) and during that time, many barrels, or ‘poodles’ were stored outside before being used to store the cheese. I accepted this as fact.
Now the old man is long gone, and as I myself journey further into decrepitude and senescence, I have come to wonder if ‘poodle’ really ever did stand in for the word ‘barrel’ in the cheesemaking, or any, process. Or if my dad was just making it up as he went along, as he often did.
The internet has availed me nothing, other than to indeed document that a KKK rally did take place at this corner. But I’ve found no association with the word ‘poodle’ and the manufacturing of cheese.
So I turn to you, dear SDMB denizens. Can anyone confirm the tale, or is it most likely antiquated canard?
Poodles are originally from Germany and the name “poodle” is derived from “pudel”, which means a puddle or specifically to splash around. They were used to hunt waterfowl at one time.
I’m not sure if that has any relevance to the story of cheese barrels or might be related to the true origin of the area’s name. I can’t find anything connecting poodles to cheesemaking, or barrels, or anything close.
ETA: Ninja’d, I didn’t find a pudel/barrel connection but it makes sense. I wonder if there was a significant German population in the area?
No, wooden wheels for containers is the largest quantities I have ever heard of. I have never heard the term ‘poodle’ connected to anything related to cheese and my ex-wife, her father and their close friends are among the preeminent cheese experts in the world.
That doesn’t mean that the term wasn’t used regionally at some point but I don’t think it is widespread or used today if it ever was. I can ask around because I know the people that write the definitive guides on such matters. I only know cheese terms by osmosis and by visiting lots of specialty cheese producers all over the world but that is still a whole lot more than average people and I have never heard the term used that way.
Of course! Put the fresh curds in a barrel (usually lined with cheesecloth or similar), put the top on, load it down with weights to squeeze the whey out, age it in the barrel. One of the oldest and most traditional ways of making cheese.
Well, live and learn. I grew up in cheese-making country and my dad grew up in an old cheese factory and my aunt worked in one for 20 years. And the local cheese factories around here always had a bunch of barrels outside of them, and inside too.
And the dairy financial market tracks cheese prices by the barrel too:
I am sure you are correct. I have never been to Wisconsin. The cheese making operations I have been to have all been in Europe, New England and California and I have never seen a barrel used in any part of the process. They tend to make much smaller batches even in the larger factories.
Hard cheeses like cheddar might work just fine in barrels as either part of the production process or for final aging but I have little personal experience with the production of those types of cheeses.
Like I said, I am not an expert on this myself but I know people that are. I have never heard the term poodle used for any of them. I can ask my ex-wife this weekend. She just got back from a Midwestern cheese conference that had a strong showing for Wisconsin cheese producers large and small. If she doesn’t know, her friends that write the cheese encyclopedias should.
You know infinitely more about your region than I do but a barrel is a unit of measurement as in barrels of crude oil. It doesn’t necessarily literally mean that a given good actually ever goes into a barrel, wooden or otherwise. That is just an expression for the bulk price of mass produced goods.
It may very well have been delivered in a literal barrel a long time ago but that is not usually the case today.
Your family that worked in cheese factories were obviously using the actual barrels for something but we would have to know more about the production process to know exactly what that was.
All I wanted was info on whether ‘poodle’ might equal ‘barrel’. That was shown. I further was asked to demonstrate that barrels are indeed a valid part of certain types of cheese making, and remain part of the process even today. And I did so.
I wasn’t trying to prove anything. I was interested in your question too because I had never heard of it despite lots of exposure to the cheese-making industry. I am still curious about what part of the process used real barrels. Some cheeses, cheddar in particular, are sold in very large (500 pound) wheels but not full wooden barrels as far as I know. That is the unit of measurement but not the container they are produced or distributed in as far as I know. There have been people that tried to produce cheese like whiskey in wooden barrels and it doesn’t work well at all.
Please don’t take any offense because none was intended. I am sure your details are accurate. I just can’t figure out how that worked.
Just take it as a compliment to your good question. I just wanted to know more.
Best I can elaborate on it is that ‘barrel’ is more than just a unit of measure for oil. Barrels come in all sizes, from the 42 gallon size for petroleum to the 36 gallon for beer, and even down to 9 gallon sizes, called firkins, and 2 gallon sizes for nails.
But they’re all made of hoops and staves, whether they’re huge to store oil or small for flour or nails or whatever.
You’ll see the similarity, I’m sure. These hard cheese molds are smaller, for the home cheesemaking aficionado, but just jump the size up for small commercial operation, and you’ve got a need for small and medium barrels. Line it with cheesecloth, fill with curds, put the weights on to squeeze the whey out thru the cracks, move it to the cheese storage area to age, and to ship. Easy peasy.
As a minor diversion from talking about making or storing cheese in barrels, [here’s a link](oak whisky barrel shavings) to where barrels are used, but their use is only to provide oak whisky barrel shavings for making smoked cheese!
