Sunday, March 13, 2011

Cheese Making!

For Christmas this year Jerome and I got each other cooking classes which has been a really fun thing to do. You get thrill of finding out what your gift is, and the excitement of waiting for the actual class and then of course the actual experience, and all the cool new knowledge you get from it! My class was today, and it was a workshop on Home Cheese Making at Love Apple Farm in Santa Cruz. It is incidentally the sole garden supplier for Manresa which is a 2 Michelin Star Restaurant not too far away that we've been meaning to try out for a special occasion. 


It was a really fun afternoon and I learned a lot about cheesemaking! Our fearless leader was Fiona, who was really nice and funny, and full of useful tips she's figured out making her own cheese, and she made it seem like it was super easy, which was very encouraging! She went through all the equipment you need, and what you can do without and what you can't. She discussed the various different milk options and the pros and cons and where to get all the supplies without going too far away. And she generally made the time fly by while teaching us tons, and making everyone believe that they can do this at home no sweat! 


We learned how to make three kinds of cheese: Chevre, Feta and Mozzarella. We also got to taste them all, and they were all wonderful! It was really interesting to see how they all start with the same basic ingredients and turn into very different textures and tastes with the variation of cooking temperatures, times and some minor ingredients. 

Draining the Chevre
Slicing the Feta
Cooking the Mozzarella
Our formed Mozzarella Balls!

Not bad for 4 hours huh! During our break we got to wander around and explore the farm a little bit which was fun. In the basement of the building we were in there were baby chicks which were adorable, and gave a nice background soundtrack to the class with their cheeping. They had a bunch of chickens nearby, and a very vocal rooster somewhere!  And there were many of the vegetable gardens right outside. Oh, and I nearly forgot one of the funnest parts! We got to milk Trixie the goat!! And then taste the milk while it was still warm. Pretty interesting. 

Trixie
Many started herbs
The garden beds
The chickens!

The farm offers many other really cool sounded courses, which we might just have to check out! I'm going to try and make some of my own cheese here at home before I forget everything, I'll keep you posted! Also, hopefully Jerome will get around to posting about his course soon!