Cheese making workshop

I had the opportunity to participate to a cheesemaking workshop this summer.

It was amazing. It all started with a lovely lady handing out poster for the workshop.

The poster had the picture of a goat...how was I suppose to resist?

One day here this blog will feature a picture of the goat that will live happily in our backyard.

But I digress.

Our cheese maker extraordinaire was David Asher.

Let me write this about David Asher of the Black Sheep School of Cheesemaking, he knows evertything about cheese.

Just check out David's website "The Way Of Cheese", it has all the info an aspiring cheese-maker could dream of.

I strongly recommend attending a workshop if you can, because nothing beats having visuals and feeling textures of proper curds.

I was baffled to learn that you don't need to buy cheese cultures nor special equipement to make artisanal cheeses.

All you need is:

_some whey

(see picture above)

_ a kefir grain

_spores from an existing cheese

(optional, can be obtained by grating off the skin of an existing cheese, really)

_a pot and some containers to strain your cheese

(totally easy to find in your house)

_ NO CHEESE CLOTH!

(We'll use something else instead...)

_Oh and for some types of cheese you need rennet ("présure" en français)

Here David is straining some soft cheese

in very special cheese cloth...

soft cheese taken out of its straining bag

cut,

spread on home made crackers!

... a "Do-Rag"

very usefull to drain your soft cheese

or to keep your hair do in place.

Our lunch was the yummiest potluck since participants
brought food that would pair well with cheese.

Seasosoning soft cheese

with endless possibilities

David also demonstrated
the art of

mozzarella making!

Even though this one seemed to me like the most tricky one,

I felt like Alpine cheese and camembert were at the tip of my fingers.

But first, I started by making soft cheese with a beautiful

organic caw milk yogurt.

After 2 days,

I got a nice rich creamy cheese that I seasoned with green onions and garlic.

Last weekend, I attempted to make camembert for the first time.

Stay posted for some updates about this adventure.

I found usefull cheesemaking infos as well on:

Fromage Maison (in french)

Androuet (both english & french)