Susan with her latest project – a goat milk tomme
Susan is a freelance writer/editor and consultant. Her recent poetry has been published or is forthcoming in, among others, Apiary, Cleaver, Gargoyle, Prick of the Spindle, Schuylkill Valley Journal, and Spoon River Poetry Review. She is also the author of a couple of hiking books, a book of nature essays, and a poetry chapbook, plus many articles for newsletters, magazines, etc. Her website – susancharkes.com has more details.
I read one of her books – The Wild Here and Now and I think of her as a word artist, a teller of stories of the natural world in our own back yards. In her book, she paints a living portrait of the life all around us which mankind didn’t create – the wildflowers, insects, wildlife critters – actors in a play going on through all 4 seasons. If you have a minute to stop and ‘smell the roses,’ I recommend this book.
When Susan isn’t writing, she works full time at a land trust. She told us she is “Always looking for assignments. :-).”
Susan’s Story
How I Got Started Making Cheese
I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but it was around 1995. (I have the 1993 printing of Ricki’s first book – Cheesemaking Made Easy (now Home Cheese Making), and I have a 1995 receipt from New England Cheesemaking Supply for a basic cheese kit and cheddar making supplies.)
I attended a cheddar class that Ricki conducted and that got me going. In 2008 and 2009 I also took courses at UVM (U. of Vermont which used to have a cheese making program).
I love making cheese, nurturing the baby curds through to adulthood. My ability to make cheese has waxed and waned, because I haven’t always had the time or space to attend to the craft. Currently, I am in a waxing phase:-).
With my chevre
I started out making cow milk cheeses. Around 2003, I was attending a writing workshop in Vermont and took a walk down a country road. I ran into a herd of goats. They followed me on my walk and I was smitten. Ever since then I have done only goat cheese. Maybe someday I’ll have my own goats.
St. Maure-style cheese
Meantime, I buy local (PA) raw goat milk from farms where I have at least met the goats at one time. Some say that goat milk cheese is less complex than cow. I disagree, of course. I try to express the unique goat personality in my cheeses.
On a couple of trips to France, I sought out farmstead goat cheeses. Meeting the cheese makers on their ferme was inspiring, and even though I speak no French and they spoke no English, we managed to communicate in fromage.
I first attempted to perfect simple Crottin-type cheeses, then expanded to ash-ripened and geo (geotrichum candidum) cheeses, then a goat tomme, which is my current project.
Ash-ripened geo goat cheese. My method is based on Ricki & Jim’s advanced chèvre; and the cultures and ash are from NECS. My model was based partly on Wegmans 1916 cheese.
In a previous house, I had a perfect dirt-floor cellar for aging cheese, just below street level, with a constant temperature and high humidity. I experimented with all kinds of cheese there, from cheddar to gouda and provolone, all goat-based.
Waxed goat gouda
Now, I live in a house without a natural cave so I am learning to improvise. I was using part of a large wine cooler and recently got a mini-wine cooler so I can concentrate on aging one at a time.
Goat tomme in the aging space
The weights I used to press the goat tomme (sanitized).
A really nice square, deep food-grade storage box, from feta. I have several of these that I got from Wegmans which they otherwise would recycle. The weights are sitting in one.
My Goals
My main goal is to make a “simply delicious cheese” that you can’t have just one bite of! More broadly I want to become proficient at a variety of types so I can work at it year-round. A cheese like Saint-Maure is easier to make in the summer months, in my hot and humid Mid-Atlantic region; and at that time of year I do not spend as much time at home to care for an aging cheese. So the winter is better for a cheese that requires affinage care like the tomme I am working on now.
As I mentioned before, I want to express the goat’s unique personality. Though I am not on a farmstead, I want the cheeses to honor the goats and their farmers. I would like to specifically mention Dove Song Dairy (Bernville, PA) and Shellbark Hollow Farm (Honey Brook, PA) as sources for the raw goat milk I use.
Advice for Beginners
1. Take good notes so you can learn from experience. Little things make a difference.
2. Get advice from experts at NECS(!); and the home cheesemaking community, such as cheeseforum.org.
3. Have fun!
