Cheese Making Workshop 201 $550
Description
This workshop is for anyone wanting to get to the next step in cheese making. Whether a home cheese maker, small farmstead, chef, or simply a cheese lover wanting to know more, you can learn how to make a fabulous range of semi-soft and hard cheese.
Beginning with raw materials, milk culture and rennet, we talk about their roles, then move through the individual cheese making steps, and learn how cheese can be aged to perfection.
From this class you will have the background to make many of the delicious cheeses you find at the store.
Course Includes
- Two day class from 9:00am to 4:00pm
- Delicious lunch each day
- Tasting and discussing various styles of cheese
- Making Brie/Camembert, Traditional Cheddar and Vacha Toscano
Topics Covered
- Equipment and tools needed for cheese making
- Space requirements for home and small dairies
- Types of milk and how they are different to work with
- Types of culture, their characteristics, and how to use them
- Monitoring the process by pH and acid titration measurement
- Control of final acidity and moisture content of cheese
- Salt application and how it changes the cheese
- Wax vs natural rinds
- Aging conditions and how to set up and maintain a simple cave
Types of cheese
Specific Types of Cheese Being Covered
Camembert/Brie
The secrets of this buttery beauty we all love is really accomplished in the final stages of draining and aging. We will be going into the details of getting that white cover and the silky soft texture we need.
Traditional Cheddar
This is the real deal where we go through the process of cutting the ripening curds into slabs and finish with a cheese either ready to wax or cover with a cloth bandage (traditional English process). We will also discuss the role that moisture variation makes in ripening and flavor development.
Vacha Toscano
The name here is simply cows milk cheese from Tuscany. It is a simple Tomme or Toma style cheese produced by villages throughout the world . This is the cheese I would make if I had to make just one. With variation in process it can be made to be eaten in 10 days or aged for months to years. It takes pepper, herb, and spice additions extremely well and can be made from cow, goat, or ewes (pecorino) milk.
Details
If you have taken our 101 cheese making class, or have already started making cheese at home and would like to improve your craft, Jim will lead you there during this class. This is a two day workshop and runs from 9am-4pm on both Saturday and Sunday.
This workshop is for anyone who wants to get to the next step in cheese making, learning to make a range of fabulous semi-soft and hard cheeses. Whether you are a home cheese maker, small farmstead, chef, or you just really love cheese and want to know more about it, this is the class for you.
We will begin with the raw materials (milk-culture-rennet), talk about their roles, move on through the individual steps (the How and Why!), and learn how they can be aged to perfection.
At the end of the two days, Jim will have taken you through this process making three very different cheeses, you will have tasted a lot of really great cheese and generally had a really fun-tabulous time.
From this class you will have the background to move ahead into making many of the delicious cheeses you find at the store and your neighbors will hunger for more when you serve your sumptuous new delights.
- Reviews
- Q & A
- Related Recipes
- Reviews
- Questions
- cheese
- experience
- Robin
- class
- knowledge
- cheese making
- home
- workshop
- lunches
- milk
United StatesSpring 2020 Cheese Class
It was a wonderful weekend full of learning, tasting and camaraderie. It was great to finally meet the man behind the recipes, excuse me, guidelines! Jim was an ever-flowing fount of expertise and experience. If I can put even a fraction of the knowledge he shared into practice, it will take my cheese making up several notches. My compatriots in our very small small class of four were fun to share and network with. Robin was hospitable and created wonderful lunches for all of us and Shelburne Falls is beautiful in the early spring. I'm so happy I invested the time and money to enter this new chapter of home cheese making!
United StatesYep, do it.
I have not done something like this before where I am spending money to pay for a class, fly to the class, rent a car, etc. So when I say it was worth it, this is from the perspective of someone careful with her dollars and yes, I found it unquestionably worth it. Thank you, Jim, and thank you to the other participants who made the experience pleasant and informative as well. And thanks to Robin for the nice lunches and warm hospitality.
United Statesexcellent!
Jim is a wonderful teacher who shares his skills so generously. He has so many cheese stories about places and people it was fascinating. I had two days of constant revelations— imagining mixing different milks and creating my own cheese. Making more hard cheese, perfecting Camembert, the list goes on and on. thank you so much, it was wonderful!
United StatesEXCELLENT!!
I took Jim's Advanced Cheesemaking Class over the October 16-17 weekend. I highly recommend this class to anyone seeking to up their cheesemaking game. There really is no substitute for watching a pro in action and being able to ask questions throughout the process. It was really helpful to be able to smell, taste, and feel the cheese as it transforms from milk to curd. We had a tour of Jim's cave and were lucky enough to sample some fully-aged versions of the types we were making. We were a small group of 11 students, so there was plenty of opportunity to ask questions and learn from each other, too. And we ate well--Robin's lunches were delicious and nutritious. To top it off, Shelburne Falls is incredibly beautiful and vibrant, especially with the fall foliage. I look forward to taking another class in the future!
Canada201 Cheese Making Class was Outstanding!
I participated in the 201 Cheese Making Workshop held in Shelburne Falls over October 16-17, 2021. I thoroughly enjoyed the class! Jim Wallace is a friendly, personable man who possesses a very deep knowledge and experience of cheese making. He continually brought his extensive knowledge to bear while making Cheddar, Camembert and Vacha Toscano. These individual efforts were enlightening, interesting, and allowed our participation to make the cheeses. This gave some individuals the experience of actual mentored experience, while it gave all of us observational demonstrations. Jim is quite knowledgeable, but spoke to us understandably, even through technical discussions. I enjoyed this very much. Course material was supported in some general notes, which I found to be quite helpful and supportive. I learned better techniques in many of my efforts, that I will take home and apply in my own kitchen. The class size was 11 students, which I felt was optimal in many respects. I made acquaintances with several fellow cheese makers. I got feedback on my own cheese samples from them, and I learned about their own experiences making individual cheeses. I found all peer discussions to be supportive, inclusive, and frankly amicable as fellow cheese makers. The facilities at Jim’s home were fine examples of what we all need to do in our own kitchens, basements and caves. I especially enjoyed seeing Jim in his own environment, namely the making of the cheese, double boiler, etc as well as the extensive cave he has for his affinage efforts. I would recommend highly that experienced cheese makers take the 201 course offered at New England Cheese Making Supply Company. It likely sells out quickly, so any availability should be taken advantage of in registering for one of these classes.