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Recipes, cooking lessons, tips, tricks, food blog, and more.
Recipes, cooking lessons, tips, tricks, food blog, and more.
I spent a most excellent day learning to make different cheese types with the New Zealand Cheese School. It was well worth it, and I hope my enthusiasm for it will get you to seek out your own local cheese making course.
5 May 2010
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Last Sunday, I was lucky enough to attend a hands-on workshop called "Cheesemaker For A Day". It was an "introduction to making cheese at home", offered by the most excellent New Zealand Cheese School. Signing up was a bit of a last minute decision, as I only heard about it a few days before the workshop itself. But it was a good "impulse buy".
It wasn't totally impulsive - I have always loved my cheese and wanted to dabble in making some. And I'm so very glad I went. The programme said that we would learn how to make yogurt, mascarpone, quark, ricotta and brie. In the end, we did all those, and also had a demonstration of "5 minutes mozarella". Despite the busy schedule, it was a fairly relaxed day.
There were 16 people attending. I thought it might be a lot, but it worked out really well. We were in a gorgeous old farmhouse, with a great garden. The day was unexpectedly hot and sunny, so we started with introductions in the garden. Our instructor for the day was Mindi, who made a change in career to become a cheesemaker! That shows passion for the product, doesn't it? Our group included two mother/daughter teams, a farmer, a couple university staff. In other words, we all had wildly different backgrounds and interest. Also present were Neil, the über cheese expert and co-owner of the NZ Cheese School, and Sue, the other co-owner of the school, and owner of Over The Moon Dairy.
After the introductions, we spoke about hygiene. Really rather important to only put the good "beasties" you want in the cheese and not those accumulated on your hands, nose, bags, etc.
Finally, finally! We were ready to get going on brie/camembert. We sanitised our containers, and received the warmed up milk. Sprinkle a bit of culture, mix it up. Such a tiny bit! We used about 1/4 teaspoon for 8 liters of milk. Wow! Add the rennet, mix up again, and fill the bin with warm water. At this point, we have to wait for the magic of rennet to do its thing.
One of the most excellent aspect of this course is that it really *is* geared towards making cheese at home. We had a chilly bin, with a plastic container to fit inside it. The milk was in the plastic container, and that container inside the chilly bin. Great way to keep the temperature you want for the duration of the process. Most excellent!
While the brie was doing its thing, we spoke about yogurt. The taste of that is just like I remember it from my time in Greece - perfect. And so was the texture. Quark and mascarpone also demonstrated. Mindi used UHT milk for the first two, and UHT cream for the later. I must admit to have been a bit boggled at the thought of using UHT milk, but it worked and made it really simple. I'll be purchasing more UHT milk in the coming weeks than I ever have in my entire life!
Two of the students had attended the previous day's workshop and were at the stage of brining their feta! So they showed us that.
And it was time to have a bit of food. We were treated to a spread of Over The Moon cheeses. And I fell in love with their Galactic Gold, a washed rind, lovely, lovely cheese that doesn't taste anything like it smells! The Double Delight was also most excellent - triple cream brie made with goat milk and cow cream. There also was some tomme. Many other cheeses on offer, but those three are really what I got addicted to! For those of you in New Zealand, you can order these from the dairy.
The cheese spread we had for morning tea.
So after a bit of a talk and eating cheese, we looked at yogurt. I was interested to see that you have to drain it before eating it. Makes a big difference in texture, and I imagine taste as well. I didn't taste the yogurt before it was drained, but I certainly will when I do my own (as early as this weekend perhaps?).
And then, it was time to CUT THE CURD! Woohoo. I'm such a nerd! But it was exciting. Our milk had solidified and a bit of whey was floating on top. We started cutting with a simple spatula. Then, using the "highly specialised cheesemaking tool" that is a cake rack, we cut the curd horizontaly. Cutting the curd in cubes like that allows for more whey to seep out.
Cutting teh curd with a cake rack.
A wee bit later still, we had to "jiggle" the curd, which gave even more whey seepage. Good stuff. The instructor went from station to station, grabbing some whey off each of us. We were going to make ricotta! Heat up the whey, wave your hands around the right way, to a magic jig, shock the whey with white vinegar, and presto, your ricotta is ready to scoop out and drain!
Fresh ricotta, draining.
Our hosts then graciously offered lunch. Pizza, cold roast chicken, CHEESE (of course), yumm.
It was finally time to stick our hands in the whey! Warm, goey, but getting firmer! Yeah! And after still a bit more waiting, it was time to put the whey in the molds. We started with 8 liters of milk. Ended up with 4 cheeses!
While we were waiting to drain the curd in the molds, the instructor showed us some really rather naughty things we could do with the quark made earlier - such as roll it in a bite-sized ball and then roll the ball in chocolate chips, or coconut, or dried fruits, or even savoury things such as chili, or nuts!
We were getting closer to the end of the day. Time to turn the cheese, pack up the gear, and go home!
Turning the curd in the mold for the first time.
Now, I have to nurse my lump of curd until it matures into a (I hope) fine cheese!
Please note: I am not affiliated with the New Zealand Cheese School, nor have I been paid for advertising the course. I am just speaking from a very satisfied customer's point of view.
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The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of mankind than the discovery of a star. Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
look forward to cheesy delights if I get to visit
Comment by: Reemski - May 5th, 2010 @ 15:33
OMG! Sounds like so much fun! Your story makes me want to try my hand at this! But, what is UHT milk - would that be similar to what we call Parmalat (shelf milk) in the States?
Comment by: Cindy O - May 6th, 2010 @ 0:59
Nic:
What an exciting day for you.... I am waiting for the results of your cheese making experience. So far so good!!!
Comment by: Carl L Rosner - May 10th, 2010 @ 12:20
Cindy, I guess Parmalat is UHT, yes. UHT stands for Ultra High Temperature. Typically sold in rectangular'ish boxes :)
Comment by: Nic - May 10th, 2010 @ 12:49
Thanks Carl :) I'll make sure to report when there's something to report :)
Comment by: Nic - May 10th, 2010 @ 12:50
Yay - I love this diary of your day. I too loved learning fom teh New Zealand Cheese School peeps. So much so that we now have an artisan cheeses (and other delights) shop in Petone! And we\'re running Home Dairy evening workshops with Mindi starting this coming Sunday, 23 May - Halloumi and ricotta. mmmmmmm Wgtn cheesies can email me through cultured website if interestehe
Comment by: Wendy - May 16th, 2010 @ 12:17