Cheese brings smiles to faces — this, Caroline Hesse ’14 knows well. The shortened version of her name, C. Hesse, which she hated as a little girl, has become the name of her thriving cheese wholesale business.

On Thursday, Kenyon students walking into Cheever Seminar Room could immediately locate the source of the strong smell permeating the room — glorious golden and ivory wheels of artisanal cheese on a table, half of each cut into finger-sized pieces. The students were there for Cheese 101 with Hesse, sponsored by the Culinary Club, the Department of Religious Studies (Hesse was a religious studies major), and the Career Development Office. 

The event started with a brie-veting lecture on the process of cheesemaking. From the foundational question of “What is milk?” Hesse walked the attendees through the various stages  —  for example, coagulation, salting, aging and many more — that transform milk into cheese. Throughout the lecture, listeners were introduced to the cheesemongering world from an industry insider. They got to know the history (cheese was discovered when Mongolians noticed that milk stored in calf-stomach pouches would coagulate into a preservable type of food) and the long-standing feuds (there’s tasteful and distasteful uses of adjunct cultures that informs the cheese flavor). 

Hesse’s energy was palpable. “Look at this beautiful picture of molds!” she said cheerfully, pointing at photos of a cheese mold tapestry. At another point, talking about the patience cheesemaking requires, she mused, “You are at the mercy of something” before joking that her religious studies major was speaking.

Hesse’s enthusiasm rubbed off on the audience. Swissing to know more, many people asked questions about familiar cheeses including cottage cheese and mozzarella, the cheesemaking process, creameries around the country and the cheese industry. Some attendees were jotting down takeaways carefully in their notebooks. 

After the audience was satisfied with its inquiries, the time came to break cheese — literally, as Hesse instructed the audience on the professional way to taste cheese: Break it in half, get a deep whiff to prepare your palate and then, finally, taste. The cheeses of the day were King Ransom (a German beer cheese), St. Germain (a traditional Catalan cheese) and Jake’s Aged Gouda, and each stunned with a distinct flavor profile and texture. Everyone had a gouda time. 

In an email to the Collegian, Hesse reminisced fondue-ly about her time at Kenyon. She was a member of the PEEPS O’Kenyon, where she met people that she’s still friends with to this day. Hesse was also one of the founders of Kenyon Students for Justice in Palestine, “originally created as a reading group for students in the Yearning for Zion class that Professor [Emerita of Religious Studies Miriam] Dean-Otting was teaching.” She worked for the BFEC her senior year. “I still have recurring dreams of walking down the hill and across the Kokosing to the farmhouse,” she wrote. 

Hesse found that what she learned as a humanities major at Kenyon has carried her through her entrepreneurial pursuit: “[The Department of Religious Studies] instilled in me a level of academic rigor that I had previously not known, which has translated itself into a tenacity that is perfect for small business ownership. Pulling an all-nighter in Gund trying to make sense of Kierkegaard or St. Augustine really prepares you for a lot.” 

After graduating from Kenyon, Hesse was stressed out about her future path. Listening to a friend’s advice to relax and his reminder of her love for the cheese store in Columbus, Ohio, she started a cheesemaking internship, intended as a “gap year” before beginning a career in something more serious: “That was 11 years ago and now I can happily say that my ‘serious career’ is in the business of enjoyment.” 

Hesse gave similar advice — to relax  — to current Kenyon students: “[Loosening my grip on life] really opened me up to my own curiosity and whimsy, which ended up putting me on a great, albeit niche, career trajectory.”

Before worrying yourself about scary post-grad prospects, there are also things to appreciate in the present. “The yogurt at Peirce is the best yogurt in the United States and you must trust me on this because I spend a lot of my time thinking about dairy,” Hesse said.