This weekend I attended an intensive cheesemaking course, run by Graham Redhead. It was a very full on couple of days, but I learned a lot and feel much more confident about making cheese at home.
The course was held at Presentation College in Windsor, a beautiful old school started as a convent in 1873.
There are beautiful details, old and new, around the school.
I tried to take lots of photos, but the course is very hands on and the priority was always on making the cheeses.
We worked in pairs for the weekend, I worked with Anne.We started off making brie.Chabichou and quark were next, using the same lactic set curd which was drained in baskets for the chabichou and strained in a bag for the quark.Chabichou and quark drainingCheddar is more complicated, involving changes in heat, slow draining of curd, turning, cutting and pressing.Cheddar, brie and chabichou were turned out of their moulds on the second morning.One piece of chabichou was salted, the other ashed.The Mozzarella involved a lot of hot, messy work that did not lend itself to taking pictures, but the resulting boccinci looks great. It is stored covered in whey (when not posing for photos!)
The cheddar, brie and greek feta still have maturing to do at home, so will not be completed for weeks/months.
One comment
Hi Leonie, it was great to meet you and make cheese over the weekend. You have some lovely images of your cheese here. I hope you are already eating into the fresh ones and getting the ones that require some maturation into their right places. As per your shirt: ‘blessed are the cheesemakers’ happy cheesemaking Leonie.
Hi Leonie, it was great to meet you and make cheese over the weekend. You have some lovely images of your cheese here. I hope you are already eating into the fresh ones and getting the ones that require some maturation into their right places. As per your shirt: ‘blessed are the cheesemakers’ happy cheesemaking Leonie.