Do you know about this website?
Cheese Science Toolkit
Pat Polowsky works by day as a Senior Project Development Manager for a large food corporation. In his spare time, he created this amazing website to help cheese makers (and cheese lovers). He actually started it while waiting for a flight in the Orlando Airport!
Why would he do that?
He noticed that, on the one hand, there are blogs (like this one) which touch lightly on a number of subjects and, on the other hand, there are scholarly publications and scientific journals. In between, there is a “knowledge gap.”
He assumed, and we agree, that most people don’t have time to read reference books. But, yet, almost everyone wants to know some of the terminology and basic concepts involved in the fascinating world of cheese.
To this end, he has created fabulous graphics, videos and concise explanations of topics. He makes the science of cheese easy to understand and fun!
For example – there are thorough descriptions of the various kinds of penicillium molds with beautiful graphics, and the same for concepts you might not understand like buffering, oxidation, glycolysis, syneresis and every other term you have ever heard used with cheese. It sounds complicated but it’s presented in a format that anyone would understand. A lot of the graphics can be downloaded as PDF files and printed.
Here are a few subjects you might find particularly interesting as cheese makers:
Stages of Lactation
Measuring pH
Cutting
Texture Basics
Cheese Crystals
Microbes 101
Salting
Did we mention the graphics? They are simply fabulous. There are hundreds of them on the website, but these two are actually interactive.
Cheese Melt Wheel
Changes in Cheese Melt During Ripening
New Online Course!
Pat Powlowsky has teamed up with the Vermont Cheese Council to create an online course which will be offered in August – The Science of Farmstead Cheese.
