Advanced Professional Cheesemaking

Advanced Professional Cheesemaking

This Advanced Professional Cheesemaking course is delivered across four days, including two days of soft and hard cheese. and two days of reviewing the most common defects observed in the artisan cheese industry. Investigating identification, causes and solutions for each. Cheesemakers will be able to bring cheese with defects they would like to be investigated and problem-solved.

With the potential to visit Stichelton Dairy.

Please contact the School directly, if you would like to send different delegates across the four days. 

Overview:

Soft Cheesemaking 

A deep dive into Soft renneted cheesemaking in its many forms.

Soft cheeses - from smaller bloomy rind Camembert-styles and washed rind Epoisses or Munster styles, to the larger spectacular Brie-styles - are a commercial artisan cheesemaker's best friend: popular with cheeselovers, great yield, relatively short ageing time but with good shelf life. Too often, though, these cheeses are made to bland industrial recipes, lacking character and artisan appeal that cheeselovers are seeking and willing to pay for. In this course, you will learn the ins and outs of successful artisan soft cheesemaking.

What is covered:

• artisan/traditional vs stabilised soft cheeses.
• focus on how to control the key mechanisms underlying soft cheesemaking, including management of milk standardization and maturation, acidification, coagulation, and syneresis in the vat and then in the moulds.
• understanding the technical parameters cheesemakers need to control to master quality and consistency (pH, MFFB, F/DM, mineralization…)
• affinage for soft cheeses: procedures, parameters, equipment and care.
• Degustation of varieties of soft cheeses.
  opportunities throughout to ask questions of and seek guidance from Ivan about cheesemaking throughout the course.

Hard Cheesemaking

A deep dive into hard and semi-hard renneted cheesemaking in its many forms: semi-soft, semi-hard, hard cooked curd, uncooked pressed curd. Hard cheeses are the culmination of an artisan cheesemaker's craft, whether working with cow, goat or sheep milk. Ripening times and conditions are key to great flavour and texture development, but so are milk quality and cultures. Relatively low yield and long lead-time to selling means you need to maximise the 'wow' potential for these cheeses, to extract their full economic benefit.

There are no pre-requisites for this course, but previous commercial cheesemaking experience and study is recommended, including having undertaken an Artisan Cheesemaking Fundamentals course.

What is covered

• focus on how to control the key mechanisms underlying hard cheesemaking, including management of acidification and syneresis in the vat and then in the moulds.
• rennet options and impact on coagulation profile.
• cutting, stirring, washing and pressing techniques.
• salting and brining techniques.
• understanding the technical parameters cheesemakers need to control to master quality and consistency (pH, MFFB, F/DM, mineralization…)
• affinage for hard cheeses: procedures, parameters, equipment and care.
• Degustation of varieties of hard cheeses.

Troubleshooting in cheesemaking 

For 2 days, we will review the most common defects observed in Artisan cheese industry and investigate identification, causes and solutions for each. Cheesemakers will be able to bring cheeses with defects they would like to be investigated.

What is covered

This course offers a whole-system perspective on cheeses defects:

• Understanding the technical parameters inherent to each cheese family and their importance for moisture and texture control.
• Understanding the different in-house methods and tools cheesemakers can use to assess their cheeses.
• Presentation of Butyric defect.
• Presentation of Histamine defect
• Presentation of Acrid defect
• Individual assessment of cheeses brought by participants
• Q&A session.

Refreshments will be available throughout the day, as well as lunch prepared by our catering team. All ingredients, equipment and recipes will be provided.

The School of Artisan Food is nestled in the heart of Sherwood Forest on The Welbeck Estate, Nottinghamshire, just a few minutes from the A1 and M1.