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Soyoung Scanlan
Founder & cheesemaker
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
The discipline behind Andante Dairy is built from fields where small deviations matter. At the keyboard, timing and touch decide the result; in biotechnology and research, minute changes alter outcomes. In the cheese room, Soyoung Scanlan’s work in Petaluma, California, draws on that same register of attention: milk handled as living material, process treated as method, and balance judged by repeated contact rather than flourish.
The Route
Technical training at Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology gave Soyoung Scanlan a foundation in disciplined observation before cheese became the medium. In South Korea, she worked as an accompanist and as a researcher at medical school / cancer research center until 1994. Those practices share more with cheesemaking than they first appear to: repetition, concentration, sensitivity to change, and the habit of building quality through increments too small to advertise but large enough to taste. By 1999, the craft shifted into milk. Since 1999, Soyoung Scanlan has been the owner and cheesemaker — the "soloist" — of Andante Dairy, where science, music, and dairy practice meet in a controlled, personal production. The name marks a walking tempo, and the work follows that logic: deliberate, measured, attentive to sequence. The cheeses are built through exacting work and a maker’s sense of proportion rather than volume.
Today
The current practice at the dairy in Petaluma, California, centers on the expression of milk and craft. Soyoung Scanlan works to bring out the property of milk and reveal the essence of terroirs, treating milk not as a blank base but as material already carrying place, season, and character before the cheesemaker intervenes. Sourcing is part of the structure. Goat milk comes from Volpi Ranch, and cow milk comes from Spring Hill Dairy, whose herd includes 400 Jersey cows. From those milks, the dairy produces cheeses with musical titles: Baton, Minuet, Crottin, Acapella, Nocturne, Pianoforte, Candenza, Metronome, Rondo, Melange, Adagio, Figaro, Picolo, and Largo. The names are not decoration; they set a working language for variation in mood, rhythm, texture, and pace. The vocabulary asks for the same attention a maker gives to form: counterpoint, rondo, minuet, nocturne. A wheel or small format is read through structure as much as pleasure. In Soyoung Scanlan’s hands, craft and metaphor stay close, but the cheese remains the evidence.
Signature
Signature cheeses include Impromptu, Mélange, and Rondo. The group shows the naming system clearly: Impromptu points to immediacy, Mélange to blending, Rondo to return and refrain. For Soyoung Scanlan, the pianist’s vocabulary remains present in the dairy room, but the signature is carried by cheesemaking: milk selection, proportion, timing, and finish.
Credentials
Demand is one measure of how closely a small dairy’s work is followed. Soyoung Scanlan’s cheeses are almost sold before they are made, tying recognition to production that buyers actively wait for. The identity is consistent: milk from named farms, a maker trained in biotechnology and music, and a catalog of cheeses whose titles retain the discipline of performance without letting the metaphor replace the craft. An early encounter with cheese sets the distance traveled without romanticizing it. “From the U.S. Army, we could get processed cheese, like Kraft singles. Yellow plastic-looking things.” The later work at Andante Dairy is defined by the opposite conditions: named milk, controlled making, and a disciplined practice tuned to the material in front of the maker.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Soyoung
What is Soyoung Scanlan's day job?
Soyoung Scanlan is founder & cheesemaker.
Where did Soyoung Scanlan train or study?
Soyoung Scanlan trained at Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology.
What is Soyoung Scanlan known for?
Uses goat milk from Volpi Ranch.
