Cheese Making Series: All Three Milkcrafting Series

You will learn dairy products that can be made easily at home. Also how to make age mold-ripened cheeses, and feta. Lastly, we will exercise the basic backbone of cheese making using Gouda as our vehicle.

All workshops will take place at Mariposa Creamery, on the grounds of the historic Zane Grey Estate, in Altadena. Details and directions will be sent to each participant upon registration.

Milkcrafting 101 (First Saturday)

There are a great number of dairy products that can be made easily at home, using little more than store-bought milk and a high-quality cheesecloth. If you have only tasted the industrial versions of these incarnations of milk, you will be in for a delicious surprise. In this workshop you will learn to make yogurt, kefir, crème fraiche, paneer, fresh chevre and traditional whey ricotta. Finally, we will practice the techniques of cooking curd while making a rich crème fraiche cottage cheese. We will also discuss how to integrate these items into your cooking as basic ingredients. Materials, tasting, samples and a rustic farm lunch are included.

Milkcrafting 102 (Second Saturday)

In the second course of the series, we will learn to make and aged mold-ripened cheeses like camembert and our award-winning Mariposa Bijou. We will also make a feta that can be stored for up to 1 year in brine. , and then will end with mozzarella, which requires no ripening but a lot of stretching. We will also discuss how to serve and cook with these cheeses, and how to successfully pair them with wines. Materials, tasting, samples and a rustic farm lunch are included.

Milkcrafting 103 (Third Saturday)

In this course, we exercise the basic backbone of cheese making using Gouda as our vehicle. Once you are familiar with the backbone’s basic steps, you will be ready to try your hand at making a variety of hard cheeses at home. Aging and natural rind development will be discussed during the make. In the afternoon, we will learn how to use a cream separator, then will make butter, and afterward enjoy the fresh buttermilk (it’s nothing like that stuff in the store called “buttermilk.”).  Materials, tasting, samples and a rustic farm lunch are included.