Grant Fritch
It’s always a surprise when we delve into a cheesemaker’s life and discover talent we could not have imagined. Grant has a LOT of achievements, even aside from his fabulous cheese, and we can only say, WOW!!!
Grant’s Story
I was raised in Michigan on a dairy farm. My grandfather and dad had a dairy when I was a young child.
They had about 100 cows that they milked twice a day. We had Jersey and Guernsey cows for milk and Angus for meat.
My family’s farm in 1950
They sold it to many local steak restaurants around the Detroit area. I remember the milk, but I don’t remember making cheese. My grandmother may have made it occasionally.
I did have a great uncle and another cousin who also had a farm and they made cheese. I think that is where our cheese came from. It was never made in my house.
We drank raw milk and it was delicious. For a few years, my great uncle and my grandfather had a small dairy called Maple Grove Dairy. They delivered to houses in our small town of Imlay City, MI. I think they ended this in the mid 1960’s.
Milk bottle from the Maple Grove Dairy
I am not exactly sure where I got the bug to make cheese. I did watch an episode of Julia Child where she made ricotta. I made it a few times and it was pretty successful and delicious.
I also saw an article in a cooking magazine on making cheese and it spiked my interest. I have always loved making things.
I started to make cheese in earnest while I was living in Kansas City, Missouri around 2005. I was able to get raw milk from Mennonite farmers. They sold cow, goat and sheep milk. I experimented with all of them and have made cheese with each type of milk.
I eventually bought Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll. I keep a lot of notes in it. I’ve bought this book for many friends that show interest in cheese making. I only recently found videos on YouTube from Gavin Webber.
I moved last year to the Lansing, MI area and eventually found a great family dairy in Eaton Rapids with Two Sparrows Farm to get fresh and beautiful milk. I don’t think I have ever had better cow milk to work with.
Because Michigan has strict milk laws, they sell “shares” of milk. I subscribe and get 4 gallons each month and I can purchase more milk or cream as needed. When I have a full gallon of cream, I’m like a kid in a candy shop – I make my own butter or cream cheese or clotted cream with it.
I have always pasteurized my milk before making cheese because I love to share the cheese with others and want to be sure everything is safe.
My most successful cheeses are Feta, Queso Fresco, Cheddar, Chèvre and Mozzarella. I have aged some of my Cheddar up to 6 months. I don’t have a cave or cheese fridge, so most of my cheese is fresh.
Queso Fresco:
Recipe from Home Cheese Making
Pasteurizing the milk
Adding mesophilic culture
Adding rennet
Setting the milk
Cutting the curd
Draining the curd
Loading curd into the press
Pressed
Queso fresco just out of the cheese press (3-4 hrs)
Chili Queso Fresco
Queso fresco wrapped in paper for gifts
Cheddar: My Cheddar dries/ages on the counter for about a week before I paint it with cheese wax. Then it goes in the fridge for a few weeks or months.
Culture from cheesemaking.com
Adding rennet from cheesemaking.com
Draining curds
Cheddar, fresh
Cheddar rounds air drying (usually for 5 days)
Melting wax
Waxed cheddar ready for aging
Other cheeses:
What I call “farm cheese.” It’s semi-soft and a bit crumbly.
Another farm cheese
Whey ricotta
Belgian Fromage Blanc resting
My Other Hobbies
I enjoy cooking . . .
Pizza
Nectarine and blueberry tart
. . . and bread making . . .
Wheat bread and hickory nut sticky rolls. We have a small parcel of 80 acres of our original family farm still owned by my cousin. I have access to that. I harvest mushrooms and hickory nuts and hope to tap the maple trees for syrup next spring.
Wheat and stone-ground oatmeal bread
Sourdough bread
. . . and canning salsa, tomatoes and pepper jam . . .
Salsa
Pepper jam. I love to spread the jam on crostini with a healthy dollop of Fromage Blanc or Ricotta.
Escabeche – Mexican pickled vegetables, great on tacos
. . . and serving it all to my friends. (My cheese boards at parties are well known.)
A Spring Easter/Passover brunch I have with many of my friends. I love a good table. It adds so much to the festivities.
Christmas table for family lunch. I have far too many dishes but they all have a place and purpose.
I am a potter and have been messing with clay for over 50 years.
Various pots from a throwing session, drying outside
Finished pots and spoon holder
I love to throw but hand-built pottery is my absolute favorite. More organic in nature, these large coffee cups are green and ready for firing.
After my retirement in 2018, I started watercolor painting while I winter in Palm Springs, CA. (I travel to the warmer climate for a few months each year. I have made cheese there as well, getting pretty good milk at Whole Foods.)
I also grow orchids . . .
Cattleya intergeneric hybrid
Dendrobium species
Cattleya
Streptocarpus (relation to African violets)
. . . and Bonsai . . .
Japanese Black Pine
. . . and vegetables.
San Marzano tomatoes
My hobbies also include traveling and singing. I sing with two choruses here in Lansing and West Michigan.
I am in the back, fourth from the left.
My Scottie dog, Elizabeth Taylor is my partner in crime. She loves cheese too!
Elizabeth Taylor
My Goals:
I guess my goals about making cheese are to try new varieties and to build a cheese cellar in my basement.
