Category Archives: Learning

Dairy Sanitation Workshop May 16th

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umcoopextThe Maine Cheese Guild will sponsor a Dairy Sanitation Workshop to be given by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Orono on May 16th. This year it will — for the first time — include a demonstration session of cleaning and sanitizing procedures using dairy production and processing equipment.

This is an all-day workshop, but will include a catered lunch.

May 16, 2013 – 8:00am-5:00pm

Nutting Hall, Room 204 – University of Maine, Orono campus

For directions and a campus map, please visit these web sites:

http://umaine.edu/about/driving-directions/

http://www.umaine.edu/locator/home-2/display-building/?id=261

Lunch is included and coffee and snacks in the morning.

Space is limited to the first 30 people.

Cost for Guild Members: $30.00

Non-Guild Members: $60.00

This workshop will cover an overview of sanitation topics such as bacterial pathogens related to dairy products, milking/milk room sanitation, as well as facility sanitation. Ronda Stone from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry will also talk about sanitation from an inspector’s perspective. Other special guests will include Sarah Spring, Spring Day Creamery who will discuss her own recent sanitation issues and how she overcame them. We will also have hands-on activities in the Pilot Plant to take the theory we learned and put it to practice.

An online registration web site link will be posted on the Maine Cheese Guild web site in the next few weeks.

A detailed agenda will soon follow. Thanks and if you have any questions, please contact Beth Calder at UMCE.

A Good Story Sells

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The NY Times focuses on cheesemongers selling artisanal cheese and their penchant to wax poetic about the cheeses they sell. This is evidence, as if more were required, that it’s important for us cheesemakers to tell our retailers as much as we can about the the cheeses we make — you never know what small detail might strike their fancy and resonate in the aroma or flavors or appearance of our cheeses. Because if the cheesemonger has a good story to tell about a cheese, they WILL tell it to as many customers as they possibly can (who doesn’t like a good story) which means that they might feature your cheese more often, and likewise strike a chord in the hungry public to try and buy more of your cheese…

I’ve found cheesemongers like to know everything about a cheese, like how a cheese style was developed (what were YOUR influences?), about any quirks in its production, right down to knowing the names of the dairy animals who contributed their milk to each cheese. Be prepared to tell it all, and then pay attention to the bits they latch onto — we could probably write novels about our cheeses, but brevity, as always, is the soul of a good story, and every cheesemonger will focus on something different. They will weave these interesting (to them) bits of your story into their own mythology; more often than not it’s their way of differentiating each cheese. Once they hit upon a good story (your facts, their fancy) they will tell it over and over like any vaudeville comedian would to each new audience.

Workshops 2013: Naturally Wrapped And Clabbered Cheeses

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This is a Hands-on Two Day Workshop
April 20-21 (Saturday/Sunday), 2013 from 9am to 5pm
State of Maine Cheese Company, Route 1, Rockport, ME

Sullivan’s Pond FarmBonnyclabber Cheese™ founder Rona Myers Sullivan of Sullivan’s Pond Farm, Inc., will offer a workshop covering the basics of her clabbered milk cheeses and their natural wraps and coverings. Rona will go over the conditions, techniques and troubleshooting methods that she finds crucial to the most consistent rustic fermented milk cheese. You’ll learn about culinary-safe leaf wrapping options and how she macerates them. Rona will share the secrets of her beeswaxing technique and appliques, and how you can make your own grapevine ash in a retort.  Bonnyclabber curds take a couple of days to prepare, so they’ll be ready before class for your hands-on shaping, wrapping, ash coating and waxing pleasure!

Space will be limited to this hands-on two day workshop: the first 15 students who send a deposit into our Guild Treasurer will be guaranteed a spot. Additional students may choose to be placed on the waiting list in which case they will need to be prepared to join the class with a few days notice in case of any cancellations.

COST: $150 for Guild members, $175 for non-members (price includes a one year membership to the Guild)

Send your $75 deposit (checks can be made out to the “Maine Cheese Guild”) to guarantee a spot to:

The Maine Cheese Guild
c/o Mark Whitney, Treasurer
Pineland Farms
32 Farm View Drive
New Gloucester, Maine 04260
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