Karoun Dairies, based in Sun Valley, CA, specializes primarily in producing traditional all natural Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, Hispanic, Indian specialty cheeses and cultured dairy products.

Founded in 1992, Karoun is a family-run business. The company has continued to grow from creating hand braided String Cheese for local ethnic and specialty grocery stores, to providing wide variety of Mediterranean specialty cheeses and yogurt products with mainstream distribution.

Milk for production of Karoun’s cheeses is sourced directly from local farmers, located within the 30 mile radius of the cheesemaking facility at Turlock in California.

Karoun’s Hand-Braided String Cheese was the signature product that launched the company nearly 20 years ago.

After the cheese strings are formed, they are twisted by hand into a variety of different-size “braids”.

Made with part skim milk using an original family recipe, String Cheese is a low-moisture type cheese. This style keeps well without refrigeration in a hot-climate region such as the Middle East. Traditionally, liberal quantities of salt would also help the preservation process, but for the US market, Karoun has considerably reduced the quantity of salt used. It is often consumed as a snack.

Karoun produces its hand-braided String Cheese in four varieties (see separate Cheese Library entries); Original, Black Caraway, Hickory Smoked and Olive Oil with Garlic and Herbs.