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[VIDEO] How To Make Cheese At Home | Cheese Making Course
We can sometimes get a little cheesy here at PS, especially when it is paired with that perfect bottle of wine. And to be clear, we make no apologies for recently destroying an entire brick of gruyere at a neighbor's party the other night.
That's why we decided to create this amazing and totally free cheese making video course for our readers, which will walk you through just about everything you could possible need to know about how to make homemade cheese. We wanted to show you how to make cheese at home just like the professionals by working with some of the top artisan cheesemakers in the country.
So we packed the van, sharpened our cheese knives, and trundled up to San Francisco to produce this video cheese-making class; one that doesn't just discuss the properties of dairy and cultures, or merely ruminate on rennet and kefir, but also gives you an inside look at:
Dairy farming
The science of cheese
A complete roundup of cheese making tools
How to make a WIDE variety of cheeses (chevre, aged cheddar, mozzarella, burrata, and MORE)
Rental facilities to make cheese outside the home
What a cheesemonger is and what they do
The business of cheese
and so so much more!
How To Make Cheese At Home Trailer
In this free cheese course, you will get one-on-one training from our artisan cheese experts, no matter whether you just want to try your hand at cheesemaking for fun or are seriously considering entering the world of professional cheese making.
We start off with more of a documentary approach and a behind-the-scenes look, so if you prefer to jump straight into the actual how to make cheese lessons, you can skip ahead. But we were fascinated by the backstory; by the insane amount of effort that goes into, for example, tending the cows who produce the milk for our favorite cheese.
You'll meet John Taverna, ostensibly the first source for cheese making. John will cover how he manages the day-to-day responsibilities on his organic farm where he milks his Jersey cows (“moooo….fuggedaboutit”) and provides the best milk for cheese making at any level. Then you will meet Donna Pacheco and Sasha Laurin, who will explain how to develop a creamery and cheese maker relationships. From there, we jump right into understanding the various kinds of cheeses and the endless cheese possibilities with our cheesemonger, Veronique Kherian.
To round it all out, we grab our hairnets and get cooking with Louella Hill. Louella will teach you step-by-step how to make some of the tastiest homemade cheeses out there, including how to milk into curds, curds into way, how to stretch cheese, how to drain cheese, how to culture and beyond. BUT WE'RE NOT DONE YET! You can take your talent to the next level with our friends Vivian Straus, the developer of the California Cheese Trail, and Kiri Fisher, founder and instructor at The Cheese School.
Be sure to follow along on this free course, and watch for our Cheese Making Kit promotions! We’ve even included some sale items for you so you can make your own cheese at home with the convenience of a simple kit. You can find these sales embedded among the different lessons.
To start you off, here’s an offer for the Deluxe Cheese Making Kit, from our friends at GrowandMake.com
What are you waiting for??? Start cheese making like the pros! Watch the course straight through or in any stages you like.
Lesson 1: How To Make Cheese Course | Organic Milk Dairy Farming
Great cheese begins with great milk. In this first cheese making lesson, dairy farmer John Taverna talks with us about how he inherited his dairy farm and his day-today responsibilities. You learn how his twice-a-day milking process provides the rich and creamy milk that is used for ridiculously high-quality cheese making. In meeting this incredible farmer, we really got a powerful sense of the work that goes into running an operation like this. We don't really think about it when we roam the aisles looking at food wrapped in pretty packages. Mass-market dairy farms can be atrocious empires, shoveling chemicals into their herd to increase production and creating stressful environments that can have a direct effect on a cow's milk quality. Step into this dairy farming world with us, so you can proceed into this cheese making course with a sense of appreciation for such a wonderful soul.
In this video:
The work the goes into running an organic dairy farm.
Why Jersey cows are the best for cheese production.
How small farms like John's create hospitable environments for his cows.
How that environment creates far better milk.
John's focus on environmental responsibility.
And much more.
Lesson 2: How To Make Cheese Course | The Healthiest Cheese
In the next lesson of our cheesemaking course, we continue speaking with John about the organic way of life. John discusses how he treats his cows with certified organic methods and the very strict protocols organic dairy farmers have to follow. We even meet a few of his cows, and you can really see how happy they are on this farm and what kind of amazing life they have here. John discusses what he did to become certified as an organic farmer: from everything he fed the cows to every approved vaccine he used, etc. Becoming a certified organic farmer is quite involved, and understanding that gives us a much greater appreciation for what's behind our ingredients when we teach you how to make cheese.
In this video
How to treat cows with certified organic methods.
How John cares for them without hormones or steroids.
Epsom salts, creams, ointments, and probiotics that he gives his cows.
How he does things that “farmers did 100 years ago.”
Organic regulations.
And much more.
Lesson 3: How To Make Cheese Course | Buying The Cow?
In our talks with John, casually mentioned that about 10 people a year come by to buy a cow from him expressly for milk production at their own homes. We had never really thought of that aspect. How amazing would it be to have your own cow? Especially once you learned how to make cheese! After discussing the pet cow phenomenon, John teaches us about how milk flavor actually changes throughout the year due to what he feeds his organic cows. Then we meet one of his adorable friendly calfs as John explains the process of raising cows, what age they start producing milk, and also just how darn friendly they can be. We're never eating a burger again.
In this video:
Owning your own cow.
What it takes to care for a cow.
The distinct personalities cows have.
How seasons change the flavor of the milk.
Proteins in milk and why they are important.
What an A2 cow is and how its milk may actually help children with autism (we're not making any scientific claims here, gang, just quoting John).
And much more.
Lesson 4: How To Make Cheese Course | How To Milk A Cow
John's cows eat about 12 pounds of grub a day, and when you get a glimpse of their full udders, you'd expect all 12 of that became milk (Holy cow jugs, Batman!). Come get an inside look at the milking process, including how to milk the cows safely without letting bacteria enter into the equation. John obviously uses machines to aid in the process, but he's no stranger to milking buy hand. This segment of our course includes instruction on how to store milk properly, regardless of whether it is for cheese making or drinking. Towards the end, John asks all of us to get to know a little more about where our food comes from, and we absolutely agree!
In this video:
How to milk a cow.
How to store milk safely.
How to safely clean any milking equipment.
What an organic farmer feeds his cows.
What to feed a cow you keep at home.
The amazing taste of fresh milk right from the cow.
And much more.
Lesson 5: How To Make Cheese Course | All About Goat Cheese
From John's cow paradise we venture down the road a bit to hang with Donna Pacheco of Pacheco Farms and the Achadinha Cheese Company. The Pacheco family tend both cows and goats for their cheese production. With assistance from their four kids, Donna and her husband Jim produce several award-winning cheeses, including their famous Capricious and California Crazy Curd brands. Donna talked to us about what goes into their professional cheese making. They utilize everything on their farm, from renting out spaces to offering tours to even making soap. Also, even though the Pachecos rent their facility to erstwhile cheesemakers like you, she does insist that her staff pasteurizes all the milk before anyone creates cheese with it (and for very important reasons!)
In this video:
Running a farm and creamery.
“Grandma's Secrets.”
How cows develop immunities to local environments.
Using bacteria to produce probiotics in Pacheco cheeses.
“I may not be skinny, but I'm healthy!”
Why they started milking goats.
And much more.
Lesson 6: How To Make Cheese Course | The Artisan Cheese Maker
While at Pacheco farms we met Sacha Lauren, owner of Winters Cheese Co. Sacha rents space at Pacheco so that her small cheese making company can exist without its own creamery. Anyone looking to make cheese professionally would be wise to do what Sacha did, and get chummy with an existing creamery. Sacha teaches us about her arrangement on the property, as well as her work running a cheese making class, which is how she met Donna in the first place. We also hear from Sacha about how cheese making is, in effect, a sacred art, and how you must have respect for that.
In this video:
Renting a space at a creamery.
The similarities between cheese making tools at home and large scale cheese making.
What “hooping” the cheese curds involves.
Forming molds for your cheese.
And much more.
Lesson 7: How To Make Cheese Course | Where To Find Cheese
How do you find a great local cheese maker? Vivien Straus, who grew up on a dairy farm and helped build Straus Family Creamery, has the answer. Straus, who later went on to join the inordinately successful Cowgirl Creamery (a veritable cheese making powerhouse born in the postage stamp-sized town of Pt. Reyes), developed The California Cheese Trail. Just as it sounds, the CCT is a veritable who's-who of California's top cheese producers, detailing where to visit, sample, and learn all about cheese. In 2013, Straus even developed a mobile app for the trail (Android and iPhone), making a crumble of fresh cream cheese a mere click away. If you want to make cheese in this state, you better get yourself on this map! And if you are someplace else, you might want to see how Straus developed her map so you can too!
In this video:
The California Cheese Trail.
The promotion of cheese makers through the map and apps.
How to find real-time updates on cheese-related events.
How to use the map and app to find cheese making classes (after you've watch ours, of course!).
And much more.
Lesson 8A: How To Make Cheese Course | What IS A Cheesemonger?
What does a cheesemonger do? How do you become a cheese monger? Why are they so important when it comes to learning how to make cheese? IS IT ONE WORD OR TWO????? (Hint: it's one…we think) Meet Veronique Kherian, cheesemonger at Cowgirl Creamery and also a blogger for Miss Cheesmonger.com, which focuses on not just cheese but lifestyle pieces, kitchens, tableware, and more. Veronique actually set out to be a lawyer, but fate had other plans. In this short video, we introduce you to Veronique and her story; how she uncovered that vast and complicated world of cheesemaking, and how the “cheese rabbit hole” kept getting longer and deeper and more fascinating. We come back to our favorite new monger for a more in-depth look at what she does right after this video, but we wanted to give you a quick glimpse into this world first.
In this video:
Meet cheesemonger Veronique Kherian.
Learn how she got started in the world of cheese.
Find out why she moved to the Bay Area (hint: it was for the cheese).
Check out her amazing blog.
And much more.
Lesson 8B: Cheese: How To Eat | How To Buy | How To Pair | How To Serve
Veronique drops her mad skills on everything from how to store cheese to how to eat cheese. Can you eat the rind? How do you shop for cheese? What sorts of thing are you looking for (texture, smell, type of wrapping, etc.)? In the words of Ms. Kherian, “TRUST THE MONGER!!!” And we do, my dear. We so do. The cheesemonger's job is to share the story of cheese. They are the last person on a cheese's journey before it comes in contact with the consumer. They let the consumer know what has gone into the cheese (the land, the animal, the process, and beyond). Veronique understands that shopping for cheese can be daunting, but she will show you how to make it a fun and fantastic journey.
In this video:
What do you look for in a cheese?
How do you store cheese?
How to tell a cheese is ripe?
Is mold a good thing or a bad thing?
How to serve cheese?
Cheese knife tutorial.
What is the difference between cow cheese, goat cheese, and sheep cheese?
And much more.
Now that you're deep into the world of a cheesemonger, check out these great quick tutorials from Formaticum:
How to wrap a piece of cheese:
How to wrap like a pro:
How to store soft cheese:
Lesson 9: How To Make Cheese Course | Making Cheese At Home
How do I start making cheese at home? We couldn't think of a better person to talk to about homemade cheesemaking than Louella Hill. Louella is a self-style mobile-cheesemaker, aka The San Francisco Milk Maid. She literally will drive to you home, office, or jus about anywhere else, and teach you how to make cheese at home. She's also the author of Kitchen Creamery, a wonderful book (THAT YOU SHOULD BUY RIGHT NOW!!) that features 225 pages of home cheesemaking glory. It teaches you how to make yoghurt, how to make kefir, how to make mascarpone, how to make cheddar, how to make mold-ripened cheeses, and just about every other kind of cheese tutorial you can imagine. It even includes detailed instruction on how to build a cheese cave and a cheese smoker. Good god, Louella, you are our new cheese goddess! Learn how Louella got her start. From there, we will walk you through SEVEN amazing cheesemaking tutorials straight from the goddess herself.
In this video:
How the Milk Maid got her start.
The best cheese making book you should buy right now.
How to start becoming a home cheesemaker.
The most important ingredients to consider.
The politics of milk.
Homemade cheesemaking tools.
Cheesemaking safety tips.
And much more.
Lesson 10: How To Make Cheese Course | How To Sanitize Your Tools
In this quick video before we get into making cheese with Louella, she talks about the best way to sanitize your tools safely before being making homemade cheese. There are many harsh chemicals you can use, but Louella has a simple and easy trip to safely clean your tools without any nasty cleaners. This is very important, because the end result (we hope) is to create cheese you actually want to eat…as opposed to cheese you will be using to scrub the back of your toilet. You discover how she lays out her tools as well for easy access, and you can copy exactly the methods that Louella uses before you launch into our cheesemaking tutorials on your own. Safe journey, my friends!
In this video:
Cheese making tools starter kit.
The easiest and safest way to clean your cheesemaking tools.
The best way to clean your kitchen before you start making cheese.
How to setup your kitchen when you make cheese.
And much more.
Lesson 11: How To Make Cheese Course | How To Make Sour Cream
Our first cheesemaking tutorial with Louella begins with a very easy cheese recipe. The result? SOUR CREAM! Ok, so not technically a cheese, but the process is almost identical to making creme fresh, which we always assumed was just a fancy way for a restaurant to justify charging ridiculous prices for a dollop of sour cream. We will learn how to inoculate cream with some cultures (buttermilk) and give those cultures time to digest the sugars in that cream (the lactose), which will naturally thicken the cream. You need very little on hand to make sour cream. No fancy tools required! Louella walks you through the specific ingredients to buy when making sour cream and shows you, step-by-step, how to make this delicious project.
In this video:
How to make sour cream recipe.
How easy it is to make sour cream.
Why this is a great recipe to start with when you are learning how to make cheese.
Step-by-step cheesemaking instructions.
Picking the best ingredients for this recipe.
And much more.
Lesson 12: How To Make Cheese Course | How To Make Kefir
Kefir (pronounced “keefir” or “keh-feer” if you want to get critical), is a fermented milk beverage that is quite similar to yoghurt. Many of you have no doubt seen it in the supermarket, especially the flavored varieties. These varieties, however, are “cheap representations” of an ancient recipe. We're going ancient with this tutorial, people. Louella teaches you how to make kefir the real way, and shows you two different ways to do it. Her first kefir tutorial is the more complicated of the two, while the second is a simpler version similar to what you might find in the store. Some of you may find the flavor of the second more palatable, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't make them both (your palate might surprise you!). This easy to follow kefir tutorial will make you one happy kee-amper. (Wow…we can do better).
In this video:
What is kefir.
How to pronounce kefir.
TWO kefir recipes with step-by-step instructions.
Secret trick to keep your milk warm for making this recipe.
The old version of kefir and the newer, simpler recipe.
What kefir grains are and why they are so awesome.
What SCOBYS are.
And much more.
Lesson 13: How To Make Cheese Course | How To Make Monterey Jack
True to its name, it is believed Monterey Jack was originally developed by Mexican Friars in the California coastal town of Monterey. The cheese was later made popular by a businessman whose first name was David…and we will give you two guesses to what his last name was. Hint: It was Jack. In this lengthy lessons, Louella teaches you one of her favorite beginning cheese recipes for a cheese you can age, press, and do wonderful techniques to give the rind a beautiful look. Plop you iPad up on the kitchen counter and let's get going, because this cheese making tutorial ain't no five-minute thing. Apart from all the ingredients you need to make Monterey Jack, you'll learn pouring and stirring techniques, which pots to use, and every little important detail when it comes to making Monterey Jack.
In this video:
Monterey Jack recipe.
Step-by-step tutorial on how to make Monterey Jack.
Which cheesemaking tools you need.
Full ingredients walk-thru.
What ingredients you should NEVER use when making this cheese.
Cheese culture options.
And much more.
Lesson 14: How To Make Cheese Course | How To Make Ricotta Cheese
What do I do with all this leftover whey? The answer is: Make an incredible cheese called ricotta! You take that whey and you “re-cook it” (so THAT's where the name comes from!). The production of ricotta cheese dates back thousands of years, with evidence that it made regular appearances on Italian family's plates as far back as 3300 BC! After watching this ricotta cheese tutorial, you will be making this cheese in a way very similar to how it has been done since the beginning — with the help of modern cooking tools, we hope. This detailed lesson covers every necessary ingredient in making ricotta cheese, how to use citric acid crystals (and why it is sometimes not necessary), and even delves into the science of bacteria a little bit. This whole cheesemaking course is kind of like a massive science experiment, isn't it. A science experiment you can eat! We love science!
In this video:
Ricotta cheese recipe.
How to pronounce ricotta.
Step-by-step ricotta-making tutorial.
All the tools and ingredients you need to make ricotta cheese
The difference between whey and milk ricotta cheese recipes.
And much more.
Lesson 15: How To Make Cheese Course | How To Make Farmers Cheese
Louella may have lied at the beginning of this cheesemaking course. She said her favorite beginner recipe was sour cream, but in fact it might be this recipe for farmers cheese. LIAR! Some people know farmers cheese as pot cheese or bakers cheese, and it comes out very similar to fromage blanc, if you happen to be familiar with that variety. This cheese making recipe uses very common and easily found ingredients and makes a fresh cheese a lot of people love without having to spend very much money. Cheap and delicious sounds good to us! Come learn everything you need to know to make farmers cheese in this lesson. As Louella says, “If you only make one of the cheese recipes in the cheese making course, THIS is the one!”
In this video:
Farmers cheese recipe.
Similarities to farmers cheese and fromage blanc.
Easy to follow and very flexible instructions.
Why this is one of the best cheeses to make for beginners.
All the tools and ingredients you will need.
And much more.
Lesson 16: How To Make Cheese Course | How To Make Goat Cheese/Chèvre
Chèvre is just French for goat cheese, so if somebody says that are learning how to make chèvre, you turn to them and say, “This is ‘Merica!” No. Don't do that. Goat milk cheeses have a wonderful tart flavor that sets them apart from cow milk cheeses. It is creamy, chalky, beautiful stuff. Louella first learned how to make goat cheese while working on a goat farm, and she gleefully admits to eating it morning, noon, and night during that time. Goat's milk is also much more similar to human milk at the molecular level, and many people who have sensitivities to traditional cow milk find it a welcome alternative (so much so that even large chain grocery stores are beginning to carry goat milk more regularly). This wonderfully fun goat cheese recipe is very easy to follow, making it a perfect cheese making course for beginners. Fun fact: Goat cheese softens when exposed to heat, although it does not melt in the same way many cow cheeses do. Goats are awesome.
In this video:
Easy to follow goat cheese recipe.
Step-by-step chèvre tutorial.
What to look for in store-bought goat milk.
All the tools and ingredients you will need.
And much more.
Lesson 17: How To Make Cheese Course | How To Make Mozzarella & Burrata Cheese
In this lesson, we learn a cheese lesson for quick mozzarella. This can be a fairly finicky cheese despite the fact that we are calling it “quick,” but nothing-ah beats a good-ah mozzarellaaaaa, eh? This semi-soft cheese was traditionally made using buffalo milk in Italy, but Louella will walk you through all your milk options for this cheese recipe, as well as what milks you definitely should NOT use when making mozzarella. Learn how to turn a gallon of milk into a beautiful milky ball of stretched mozzarella in barely 30 minutes! At then end, you will have a beautiful sample of mozzarella that plates absolutely magnificently (black pepper and basil leaves are a guaranteed win!). As a bonus, Louella also teaches you how to take your mozzarella and easily turn it into decadent burrata, which is the perfect combination of mozzarella and cream! So you learn how to make TWO cheeses in this easy cheese making tutorial, and lordy lordy lordy are they as tasty as they are pretty.
In this video:
“Quick” mozzarella cheese lesson.
How to make mozzarella cheese at home.
All the tools and ingredients you need.
Why this is such a fun but finicky cheese recipe.
How to plate this cheese so it looks absolutely stunning.
BONUS: How to make burrata!
And much more.
Lesson 18: How To Make Cheese Course | Cheese Platter Ideas
So you have made a whole bunch of cheese! Now what??? How do you display your cheese? How do you make it look as amazing as it takes? What specific cheese platter ideas do you have in mind? Didn't think about that side of it, did you? Well, that is where Louella's friend, Kiri Fisher, comes into the equation. Kiri is the owner of The Cheese School of San Francisco, the only independent institution of its kind in the nation. If you live in the Bay Area and want to take your cheese making to the next level, this is the school for you! You can even take a class there with Louella. “People eat with their eyes first,” explains Kiri, which is why the presentation of your cheese is so important. Learn from Kiri how to present and display cheese, how to match colors, create complimentary sizes, and so many more amazing cheese platter ideas.
In this video:
Kiri Fisher from The Cheese School of SF.
How to display your cheeses.
Cheese platter ideas.
Why cheese plating is so important.
Tools to use.
Why you need to scrape your cheeses.
What size pieces you should display and why.
And much more.
Lesson 19: How To Make Cheese Course | Cheesemaking Classes
For our last segment of this cheesemaking course, we wanted to spend a little more time with Kiri from The Cheese School of San Francisco. There are so many wonderful cheese classes you can take at this school, and it certainly adds yet another reason to the LONG list of reasons to visit San Francisco. These classes aim to give you a reverence for the cheesemaking process. And the two-hour tastings of artisan cheeses don't hurt either, especially with thoughtful pairings of fresh bread, fresh fruit, preserved fruit, and wine or beer. Kiri and Louella discuss the school's intro to cheesemaking classes, cooking-with-cheese, happy hours, the CSSF's cheese movie nights, and all the fun events they do. The school's resources are dedicated primarily to the home cheesemaker, but they also offer professional programs designed for those who want to open a cheese shop.
In this video:
More in-depth discussion with Kiri Fisher from The Cheese School of SF.
What The Cheese School offers to homemade cheesemakers.
The Cheese School's variety of events.
Resources for people looking into becoming professional cheesemakers.
Resources for people looking into running a cheese shop.
What you need to keep in mind when it comes to cheese-centric professions.
Marketing and branding advice.
And much more.
We hope you enjoyed this free cheese making course!
Are you fixing to make even more cheese? We recommend this Deluxe Cheese Making Kit, from our friends at GrowandMake.com. Click the image below for a special discount offer:
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