"There is something about cheese that is so mysterious," Welsh said. "It's magical — it just transforms."

But the majority of the milk won't become cheese. "Cheddar is 10 percent yield from 4,500 pounds of milk," Welsh said. "You get 400 to 500 pounds of cheese from that."

That leaves 4,000 pounds of protein-rich whey, which Beehive Cheese sells to a local farmer who uses it as pig feed.

After a while, the milk begins to coagulate, and using a knife, Welsh scores the pudding-like mixture to check for firmness.

Once it's reached the right consistency, he and Ford run two large sterilized curd cutters through the tub — first lengthwise and then widthwise — cutting the mixture into fine curds.

Ford and Welsh then take turns pushing a large rake across the bottom of the tub, as the curds continue to set up.

While "raking," the two chat about the batch they're making, which will eventually become "Promontory cheddar" — a mild cheese that is one of their best-sellers.

"Milk changes with the season, and the cheese varies slightly." Welsh said. "Every batch is different — the cows' diets, season all determine the cheese."

As the curds are raked, they get firmer — the stage at which they "squeak" when you eat them. The curds and whey are then emptied into another tub where they are heated and stirred until the mixture reaches 125 degrees; the whey is then drained off.

The curds left in the bottom of the vat start to compact and are cut into slabs about eight inches wide before being "cheddared," the process that gives the cheese its name.

The slabs are then flipped several times to keep the moisture content consistent. Welsh and Ford are careful at first to keep the slabs from breaking apart, but by the final time, they're able to do it with one hand.

The slabs are then milled into thumb-size curds. They are then salted and shoveled into hoops and pressed. Each hoop of cheese weighs 20 pounds.

The process up to this point takes about six hours.

The pressed wheels are then placed into temperature- and humidity-controlled cold storage rooms, where they age. The longer the cheese sits, the sharper it gets. This is because the bacteria in the cheese eat more of the lactose (sugar) in the milk.

Typically Beehive Cheese's cheddar is left on the shelf a minimum of six months, but depending on how it tastes, it can be aged longer — up to a year and a half.

Beehive's storage room is packed with many creations: habanero cheddar, lavender-and-coffee-grind-rubbed cheddar, "Aggi" Ano Parmesan, Uintah Jack and a beer cheddar created for Squatters pub, among others.