Category Archives: Learning

Workshop

Cheese Workshop with Peter Dixon

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The Maine Cheese Guild Invites you to attend:

Reverse Engineering and Troubleshooting Cheese with Peter Dixon

April 4th, 2017 •  9am to 5pm • Governors Restaurant in Waterville, Maine

Morning Session

Cheesemakers, is there a cheese you love — and would love to make — but aren’t sure how? Does your creamery set-up enable you to make the
style of cheese your heart desires, or could it use some tweaking? Join Peter Dixon for a seminar exploring the reverse engineering of
cheese and deepen your understanding of how particular cheeses are made and the different routes you can take to get there.  Peter will
dive deeply into 3 specific styles of cheese and, working backward, will explore how milk type, creamery set-up, make process, batch size,
culture, and rennet all work together to influence the final product.

Afternoon Session

Is your ideal cheese slightly different than what comes out of the vat? In the afternoon we will use the techniques used in the morning
to troubleshoot and explore the flaws and defects that may arise during cheesemaking. Learn about the root causes of these flaws and
defects and how to address them.

Peter Dixon is a dairy foods consultant and artisan cheesemaker who has been making cheese for over 35 years and consulting for 25. His work is guided by the demonstrable connection between risk reduction practices and high quality cheese and dairy foods. In 2013, Peter started Parish Hill Creamery, a small seasonal cheese business where he produces handmade, raw cheese with his wife Rachel and her sister
Alex Schaal.
Workshop fee:
$125 for Cheese Guild Members
$150 for non-members (cheese enthusiast membership included)

We are also offering two half scholarships for this workshop, so if you are interested please email [email protected] with a short paragraph on who you are and why you want to take the class, by March 20th

The room we’ve booked has plenty of space but please email [email protected] with your cheese suggestions by March 20th and I will send the top three choices to Peter so he can prepare for the workshop.

To Register please mail a $50 deposit (or total amount) to our treasurer:

Maine Cheese Guild
c/o Mary Belding, Treasurer
250 Walker Mills Road,
Harrison ME 04040

If you have any questions, feel free to email or call me at 549-3817

have a great day!

-Jessie

 

LEARN

Workshops at East Forty Farm & Dairy

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East Forty Farm and Dairy in Waldoboro, Maine is offering four workshops in February and March at the farm. All are on Sundays from 3 to 4:30 pm. Fee charged. Advance registration required. For more info, visit the farm’s Facebook page, or visit our Events Calendar for the category Cheese Related Workshops or please call 207-230-4318 or email [email protected].

Fondue Class February 19  – more info Facebook
Introduction to Cheese February 26 – more info Facebook
Seasonal Salads March 12 –  more info Facebook
Cooking With Cheese March 26 – more info Facebook

History: Premium Cheese Recipe

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From an address on the SECOND day of the meeting of the Maine Board of Agriculture, January 4, 1871 by X. A. Willard, A. M., of Herkimer, N. Y., Dairy Editor of the Rural New Yorker, &c., &c.

“At the late New York State Fair, the premium on the best factory cheese was awarded to the Whitesboro’ factory [in Oneida County, NY]. The process of manufacture may be briefly described as follows:

The night’s milk is drawn into the vats and cooled to 65° by Austin’s agitator and running water, the morning’s milk is run into the vat, and the whole heated to 84°, when the rennet and annotto [sic] are stirred in. As soon as the coagulated milk will break smoothly over the finger, and before it is very hard, cut and cross-cut, but rather coarsely. Heat to 96° or 98°, in the meantime stirring with rakes to prevent packing. Let it remain until the whey is slightly acid. Draw off the whey to pack the curd on each side of the vat to drain, air and acidify. Next, cut the curd in square pieces and reverse those next to the side of the vat, placing the others on them, also reversed. When the curd is quite acid, pass it rapidly through a curd mill, using steam power, and immediately salt, using from two to two and a quarter pounds of salt to one hundred pounds of curd, thoroughly incorporating the salt, and put to press directly. Press twenty-four hours, and remove to the curing room [recommended at that time to be kept at 70°F!], during daily for three weeks, and then every other day.”