San Elizario – Many Texans think of El Paso as a city in the middle of the dessert with a mountain smack dab in the middle of it, and they aren’t entirely wrong. But if you venture toward the border and head Southeast of town, you’ll find a few farms and ranches making use of every drop of the Rio Grande that they can. That includes the Licon Dairy, which has been sitting in San Elizario since the 60’s.
Angel Licon and his family are continuing a tradition that started with his grandmother, Isabell Martinez, making asadero cheese on the stove back in the 50’s. “Well, back then there was more agriculture here, a lot of farms, and they planted a lot of alfalfa,” said Licon. “The farming was a lot more than what you see now.”
Asadero cheese is a light, easy-melting cheese that originated in Mexico. “A Mexican string cheese similar to mozzarella is the best that we can kind of explain to customers of what it is, and the tendency, the texture is a lot different than other cheese,” said Licon. “It’s not as strong and bitter as cheddar cheese and other cheese. Asadero is really big in Villamar, Mexico. It’s only a few hours from El Paso in Mexico, so it’s really known for the asadero, which is a Mennonite cheese.”
In the 60’s, Licon’s grandfather Eugenio Licon Sr. got the cheese wheels turning by starting the Licon Dairy. “We’d like to say it’s a taste of history because we’ve been here for so long,” said Licon. “They started off with only, I think it was about 10 cows, and they would milk them by hand. Just enough milk to produce enough to make enough cheese just to sell within that day. Slowly and gradually, my grandfather started growing his herd, purchasing a little bit more of the cattle, a little bit more, to where at the end he was milking about 125 here in San Elizario.”
Today, the cows are gone and in their place is a petting zoo that’s very popular with El Pasoans. But the cheese making is still their bread and butter. “Every day they got to pasteurize all the milk because it’s all raw milk,” said Licon. ”Roughly, we’re processing anywhere from 400 to 500 pounds of cheese daily.”
Today, the Licon family is led by Angel’s father Gene. They both fondly reminisce about their time working with Eugene Sr., and so does another employee named Hector who’s practically part of the family. “Not many people that are going to work like him and he doesn’t miss a day. It’s very rare that he calls in,” said Licon. “My grandfather would help him out and he would actually live on the property. He had his own little space that he used to stay at, and he’s been able now to put his kids through college and they’re all successful. They all have their own businesses and their own jobs. But it was good to see him actually survive through here and prosper on his own. My grandfather made sure that he tried helping everybody that was supporting him.”
The cheese making process goes quickly once it’s all cooked down, as the next step is dividing the cheese into even portions. “They got to make sure that each ball comes to about one ounce,” said Licon. “Each package contains 10 slices, So it’s 10 to 12 ounces roughly is what we’re trying to get at each package.”
Licon Dairy’s cheese is mostly sold in slices, but there actually isn’t any slicing involved in their process. Instead, they use a machine that was built for pressing tortillas. “A lot of the time they look in and they think we’re making corn tortillas,” said Licon. “And that’s what initially this machine was made for. We converted it to try and make the asadero.”
The Licon’s have been making cheese for a long while, and today they have the process down to a science. “We’ve kept the same recipe for 75 years, so we haven’t changed anything, and we find out that it’s probably the best way to keep it simple, and that’s how we’re able to have our doors open,” said Licon. “They’re making 500 packages and there’s 10 slices in each one, so you can imagine doing the math. They do it seven days a week.”
Making asadero isn’t always easy cheesy, but continuing the tradition that’s been a part of their family for so long is what keeps the Licon’s coming back every day.
“For us, it’s just exciting to see that the legacy is continuing through generations,” said Licon. “Even though it’s a lot of work and it changes through each generation, but we’re trying to each instill our mark on the business as the generations pass.”