PAST EVENT
13th Sept 09: Making cheese - camembert, marscapone, ricotta
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| How to make Cheese |
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WHERE: Southern Highlands Bowral
"Blessed are the cheesemakers ..." or so the biblical quote begins. Well, on Sunday 13th September, ten enthusiastic participants met at the Uniting Church Hall kitchen to learn the age-old craft of cheesemaking, or at least the techniques for producing camembert, ricotta and mascarpone. Nathan Burke, our cheesemaker in residence, explained the importance of using unhomogenised milk and the critical importance of good hygiene - not just your own, but also the utensils you will be using during the process. You wouldn't want to waste your time and ingredients on a cheese that turns out totally unrecognizable to that you were intending to create, just because lack of hygiene has allowed rogue bacteria to taint the resulting cheese. The room was filled with giggling, chattering and clattering of equipment, lots of sterilizing of hands and utensils, a bit of stirring and occasional murmurs of "Mmmmmmmm" as we tasted some of the cheese samples Nathan had brought. The hot ricotta we were making was very popular, as was the mascarpone Nathan had made a few days earlier.
Lunchtime was another highlight with everyone having brought an interesting dish to share - from Thai fish cakes to savoury mini muffins. What a feast! And the conversations continued.
Six hours after commencing the workshop, we were packing our three types of cheese into our eskeys, expressing our appreciation to Nathan for demystifying the cheesemaking process and heading off into the sunset. The ricotta will be scoffed within days and the mascarpone won't be far behind it. Then, in about six weeks time, we'll be slicing into our home-made camembert, no doubt feeling very pleased with our efforts and reminiscing on what a fun day we had.
Thanks to all, especially Nathan, for making the workshop a successful and enjoyable day. Bon appetit!
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