DIY Cheesemakers update
David Bleckmann
Thanks to all who attended the last DIY meeting on March 18th, 2010
where Charlotte Smith of Champoeg Creamery gave a fantastic
demonstration of making Farmhouse Cheddar.
The next meeting will be on May 12, 2010 where Rod Volbeda of
Willamette Valley Cheese Company (http://www.wvcheeseco.com/) will be
coming to talk about the cheesemaking process and will be answering
our questions. This could be a very interesting meeting where we can
get difficult questions answered from someone who really knows his
stuff.
Some people at the last meeting were asking about creating an aging
cave. Here is a link to the external thermostat I bought to build my
cave out of an old dorm styled fridge that I bought on craigslist. It was
the cheapest source for the thermostat that I could find at the time. If you
want to shop locally, F.H. Steinbart's apparently carries them too.
http://www.homebrewit.com/aisle/p/5005
It was also brought up that it would be nice to have some get
togethers outside the regular meetings. Some people were interested
in getting together in someone's kitchen and doing a simple make
of something like cottage cheese. I think this would be great, and
I would remind everyone that this email list is open for anyone to post,
not just me! For example, one of you could post an invite to have up to
six people join them in their kitchen and tell people to contact you directly
to organize the details. Someone could organize a get together in a
brewpub by picking an appropriate time and place and announcing it,
perhaps encouraging each attendee to bring samples of homemade or
artisan cheese.
I also know that the last four speakers, including myself, are teaching
cheesemaking classes in the Portland area. I think it would be nice
have cheesemaking class information on this list, as long as it does
not turn the list into solely an advertisement channel. I would encourage
anyone offering classes to send me a blurb with time, place, and subject and I
would be happy to compile and send out a compiled list once a month.
That is all from me. Hope to hear from others out there soon!
David Bleckmann
da...@joyofcheesemaking.com
http://joyofcheesemaking.com