Learn To Make Cheese

Experienced home cheesemaker Gavin shares some excellent tips for making cheese at home.  He addresses lots of issues such as sanitation, what cheeses to make, and what equipment to invest in.   If you’re just starting out, he suggests making a soft cheese such as ricotta.   A local cheesemaking course is also valuable in helping you build enough knowledge to experiment with other cheese recipes.

Gavin clearly having a wonderful time making cheese on a weekly basis for the last eight months and we enjoyed his many insights.

“Tip #2.  Have everything all prepared and layed out before you start.  As I am waiting for the 15-20 minutes for the pot,  stainless steel utensils and cheese cloths to sterilise, I get a clean tea towel and lay it on the kitchen bench next to the stove top, ready to place all the tools on.  I select the recipe well in advance, and get out all the necessary ingredients and put them on the side ready to go.  Cheese making requires un-chlorinated water for diluting some ingredients, so I have to pre-boil some rain water from my tank and let it cool to room temperature.  You could use bottled water, but I do not due to environmental reasons.  I pre mix the diluted calcium chloride with this water, and do the same with the rennet.  Something I learnt in the Boy Scouts that I shall never forget and that is the Scouts motto, “Be Prepared”.”

Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op: Cheese Making Tips.

The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article recently titled “Cheese Whizzes” on the growing popularity of cheesemaking.  Many  professionals and retirees are taking up this fascinating handcrafted practice  full-time.”

“Ms. Hanley and her husband, Leo Brooks, got into the cheese business after they moved to Westport Point, Mass., an old whaling village, in 1995. They were alarmed that local dairy farmers were struggling with low milk prices and selling their land to developers. To preserve the rural landscape, Ms. Hanley worked with one nearby dairy farmer, Karl Santos, and his three brothers, to convert some milk production to making cheese, which pays significantly better than fluid milk.”