Donna Hambleton in Lion's Head, Ontario

I live in the village of Lion’s Head, Ontario. It is located on the North Bruce Peninsula.

I was born in 1957, into a family of seven girls in Guelph, Ontario.

Being the middle child, whose next older sister was 3 years older and next younger sister 3 years younger, I often felt either not old enough or not young enough to play with my siblings. As a result I often tagged behind my mother as she kept busy preparing healthy meals for us while keeping to a very tight budget. By the time I was 8 years old, I was making cookies and cakes. I was always experimenting in the kitchen, keen on baking and cooking anything and everything.

I worked as an elementary school secretary for almost 25 years, and before that was a dental assistant for 15, before retiring and moving to Lion’s Head 4 years ago with my husband.

After 4 years of being married, we had 2 daughters who kept us busy with dance and music lessons. However I was always able to find the time to have fun in the kitchen.

Fast forward to now and I am still in love with cooking and baking, but much more extensively.

My husband and I avoid processed foods as much as possible and instead rely on ourselves for preparing most of the food we eat – cured meats, bread, jam, pickles, tomato sauce, pasta, beer, marinades and much more.

And of course cheese!

It gives us a lot of satisfaction to prepare and share our foods with friends and family. Now that my husband and I are both retired, we have more time to ‘play’ in the kitchen and experiment with new recipes.

Cheese making had been on my bucket list of ‘to make’ so I started experimenting with ricotta cheese. Realizing the amount of time some of the other cheeses would require to complete, I put off exploring cheese making any further.

Then, upon retirement and having more time, I bought a cheese making kit and was successful in making feta and mozzarella.

I discovered that cheese making is not only a ton of fun but not difficult to make. I was hooked.

How I learned:

I bought a few books – Artisan Cheesemaking at Home, Home Cheese Making, The Cheesemaker’s Manual and Kitchen Creamery are my favourites. That said, I am always looking for more cheese cookbooks.

Then, I started looking for online information and was happy to discover there is a ton of cheesemaking resources available. I really enjoy Gavin Webber’s website and have used several of his recipes. I have also found the New England Cheesemaking Company website (cheesemaking.com) a great resource for anything and everything cheese. Just wish they had a location in Canada!

My cheese:

Morbier, Jack, Camembert, Shropshire, and Cheddar are just a few of the types of cheese that I never thought would be possible for me to make. My friends tell me I should sell it but I would rather gift it – it’s extremely satisfying. I don’t know which I enjoy more, the making or eating and sharing of cheese with family and friends.

The cheeses I make most often are the softer cheeses – Brie, Camembert, Cambozola and Crottin. I find they don’t take as long to make or age and both my husband and I enjoy the creamy texture and taste of this style of cheeses. That said, I have made Morbier, Cheddar and Asiago a few times too.

I like Morbier for the taste and look of it, and the reaction I get from friends whom I share it with is very rewarding.

Cheddar – because it reminds me of my dad. One of his favourite meals was 5 year Cheddar with salted crackers and a bowl of tomato soup.

And Asiago basically because of it’s taste. Mmmmm.

I’ve only made Shropshire once (thank goodness for my log book) but will definitely make it again. If I may say – it looked fantastic and tasted wonderful. The orange interior and the rind it formed were beautiful and exactly what I had hoped for.

Challenges:

I have had a few challenges. The first challenge was finding a Canadian company to supply me with appropriate cultures and containers to age the cheese. Luckily, Glengarry Cheesemaking was able to do this and happily answered the many questions I had. (I didn’t want to use a U.S. company for supplies because of the implications Covid-19 could present with shipping products across the border.)

Learning about the different cultures – how some can be interchanged, why you need specific cultures for certain cheeses and other details was definitely a learning curve for me.

Secondly, I needed a press without spending a lot of money, so my husband built me one. There are recipes for the hard cheeses that use the screw down press method and talk about pressure rather than weight. I have used both styles of cheese presses and actually prefer the press my husband made as I feel I have more control, using hand weights, of the amount of pressure placed on the cheese.

Thirdly, and of great importance, was having the patience to allow the cheeses to age properly – both with time and appropriate temperature/humidity.

Earlier on in my cheese making adventures I was cutting into cheeses that weren’t ripe but have since learned that to let them rest and let aging take it’s course and allows them to become the best cheese I’ve ever tasted! It’s definitely worth the wait.

My goals:

I think my next goal will be making a cheese that requires melted brick wax to coat it. I’ve successfully made gouda and cheddar and used liquid wax to coat them. Now I need to take the plunge and used melted brick wax. I like the look of it.

Also, I am planning on taking cheese making classes – either on-line or by traveling to places that offer in-person lessons. (I live in the ‘great white north’ of Ontario and in-person classes are not available here.)

My husband and I, once traveling is on and safe again, hope to return to Italy. There, I would like to take some cheese making classes. Italy has amazing cheeses among many other food products, however their cheeses are my favourite thing to enjoy, with or without a bottle of wine.

Advice for beginners:

The advice I have for beginners is to collect a few cheese making books: Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll, The Cheese Maker’s Manual by Margaret Peters and Kitchen Creamery by Louella Hill are my favourites. There are many more but these are my go-to resources for recipes when I want to be sure of success.

Secondly, keep a log book. I find this extremely helpful if I want to make something again. It also keeps track of dates, successes and failures or any tweeks you may have made to make it an original.

And thirdly, don’t quit if your cheese doesn’t turn out as you hoped or isn’t ‘perfect.’ And whatever you do, don’t throw it out. Mix it in with cream cheese and use as a spread for crackers, or melt it into a white sauce and pour it over vegetables or pasta. No one will know the difference.

Other hobbies:

When I’m not making cheese, I enjoy quilting for which I have won several awards, golfing, cycling, reading, paddle boarding and volunteering in my community.

I was leading senior exercise classes but now with Covid and the safety precautions in place, I lead an outdoor seniors walking group.

I’m also involved with Friends of the Lion’s Head Library as treasurer.

Visits from our children and their partners and our grand daughter keep us busy on weekends. As occupied as I am with community volunteering and family and friends who visit, I always seem to find the time to make cheese.