His cheese-making process and name were drawn into the media spotlight in the wake of a controversy surrounding the name of the Australian Coon cheese.
][4] In March 1915 Coon rented a closed cheese factory in Edwards, New York hiring W.E Walker as a cheesemaker, and opening for business on April 1.
[6] In June 1915, Coon further expanded his business, purchasing the Cleveland seed warehouses in Cape Vincent, New York, and remodelling them for use as a storage plant for cheese and butter.
In August 1923, The Journal and Republican of Lowville, New York, reported the sale by "E. W. Coon of Philadelphia, maker and shipper of cheese", of five milk plants in villages around Watertown to the Dairymen's League Co Operative Association, Inc.
[12] The Reiland plant was sold later in 1924 to Dairy State Cold Storage Co, a subsidiary of Kraft-Phenix, under the management of R.T.
The common methods of ripening cheese at the time involved storing cheese covered in paraffin wax at temperatures between 40 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit through the means of artificial refrigeration using ammonia gas or carbon dioxide gas pumped through pipes within the room.
This method dehumidified the air and drew the moisture from the cheese creating a finished product that was dry and crumbly.
[17][non-primary source needed] His method explicitly excluded pasteurization, which kills all bacteria and therefore allows cheese to last for much longer when stored.
[20][non-primary source needed] A link between the Australian cheese branded as Kraft COON Cheese and Coon was first made by Kraft Foods Inc. in 1988 in response to questioning by journalists from The Sydney Morning Herald over the continued usage of the brand name despite it also being used as a derogatory term for Indigenous Australians.
[26] Coon married Frances Gregory Reinhold at the Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia on September 3, 1904.