Cheesemaking 101 Class: Making Farmhouse Cheddar

Bonnie has agreed to let us use her great big kitchen to have a cheesemaking session!

I will be teaching the class and will cover the basics of making hard cheeses. Soft cheeses are really easy, and should technically be the 101 level class, but if you can make a hard cheese like cheddar then mozzarella should be no problem for you to figure out on your own after this class.

I am by no means a cheese making expert. If one of you are, then I invite you to teach instead of me. ;-) But I have successfully made mozzarella several times, and have made three great wheels of cheddar and one really bad wheel of cheddar (I didn't let it dry enough before sealing in wax). I still have to look at the book while I'm working, but I get better every time.

The thing about making hard cheese is you would have to stick around for three days to see the whole thing from turning milk into something that is aging inside parafin wax. Then you wait another 30 days for it to age so... I'm going to take a page from popular cooking shows and try to have some "batches" going at different points.

#1 I'll start a batch three days before the class so that it will be ready to wax during class and so you can see about how dry it should be.

#2 I'll start a batch the morning before class so it we will be ready for curd cutting by the evening (class is at 6pm). After cutting the curd we can drain it and pack it into a mold, where it would stay for about 24 hours to press out the liquid. Then it would sit for a few more days in the air to finish drying before being waxed.

#3 We'll start a batch from scratch (raw milk) so you can all see how to get started.

So that's THREE batches of hard cheese I'll be making for this event. I'll be sure to bring at least one of them to the picnic the following week so you can all taste what we made!

Kids can come if they are well behaved and supervised. There is no need to bring anything other than a pen and paper if you like. This is at a group member's home in Highlands Ranch.