Texas Cheese House in Lorena makes cheese one small batch at a time. Each 12-pound wheel exhibits the cheesemaker's exacting standards, just like the strokes of an artist's brush.

"I make cheese the old-fashioned way," says Scott Simon. He takes great pride in the fact that his products use all-natural ingredients.

"There's not a true cheese in any of the big grocery stores," he says. "What they sell is full of additives."

True cheese is made with four ingredients -- milk, salt, a coagulant and a culture. To that, he might add herbs and spices for flavor.

For instance, he makes a roasted-garlic Asiago cheese, but he would never add an artificial preservative. He doesn't have to add preservatives. He sells out nearly every day.

A 32-year resident of Lorena, Simon retired after selling his business.

"That lasted about two weeks," he says. "I didn't like retirement very much."

He decided to take his kitchen experiments to a commercial level. It didn't hurt that he has degrees in physiology and microbiology. "I guess you could say I'm finally using my degrees."

He is largely self-taught after years of perfecting his recipes. "It took years of trial and error before I learned how to [make cheese] right," Simon says.

Making cheese can be a very complex endeavor, but he breaks it down to its simplest form by saying: "It's all a time and temperature thing."

Although each type of cheese takes an exact methodology, Simon takes great pleasure in the variety of options.

"I get to do what I feel like. How many people can say that?" he says with a laugh. "Today I might feel like making a cheddar; tomorrow I might feel like making something totally different."

He keeps a constant rotation of cheeses cooking, aging, or ready to sell.

Simon opened the factory to the public in March. Since then, a steady stream of cheese-heads has come to his door as word of the artisan cheese maker has spread up and down the Interstate 35 corridor.

Besides selling six or seven kinds of cheeses at a time, Simon offers visitors a tour of the factory. He also sells cheeses from area producers.

"Texas has about 14 dairies that make cheese, and some of them are real good," he says.

Simon also hosts wine-and-cheese parties pairing Texas-made products. Occasionally, groups of chefs will visit to learn the cheese-making process.

"Spending the afternoon making cheese is a fun way to pass the time," he says with a laugh.

Along with cheese for sale by the pound, the small shop in the heart of the business district of Lorena also is a restaurant. The grilled cheese sandwich made with fresh cheese and homemade bread is a popular item. The sandwich is complemented by the soup of the day and other side dishes.

Texas Cheese House is at 102 E. Center St. in Lorena, which is about 10 miles south of Waco off I-35.

The store is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For more information, call Scott Simon at 254-655-4217 or visit his Web site, at www.texascheesehouse.com.

* Gerald E. McLeod's Day Trips, Vol. 2 is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, P.O. Box 33284, Austin, Texas 78704.

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