Cheese Making courses in London or SE?

[thorngrove]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone here knows of any 1-day or 2-day cheesemaking courses in London or the South East?

I would love to get some hands-on practical learning. Unfortunately I can't drive (have only just applied for my learner license), so getting to some of the more rural locales for courses in the UK is very difficult for me. Plus not having to stay somewhere overnight beforehand would be nice on my wallet!

Thanks for any suggestions,
Tina

[BungalowJB]

Shame no-one ever replied to this! Hopefully once this Covid 19 nightmare is over, there should be some courses nearer you I would think.

[mikekchar]

I probably shouldn't say this, but... I'm in the middle of moving houses and once I've made it to the new house I intend to start a Youtube "course" on cheese making.  I'm not that experienced as a cheese maker, but I've done a lot of research and I think I can communicate the basics in a way that current books and videos are missing.  To be honest, I've been very active on Reddit in /r/cheesemaking and I'm getting tired of answering the same questions over and over again.  I decided I wanted a way to point people to the answers a way that is accessible to them -- hence the Youtube videos.  A rough outline of my thoughts right now:

• An introduction to milk and how to identify milk that is good for cheese making
  
• A brief (and I mean brief) discussion of raw milk including its advantages and risks
  
• Discussion of the two main ways to coagulate milk (acid and enzymes/rennet) and what's different between them
  
• Acid coagulation (Yogurt (thermophilic), Buttermilk (mesophilic), Kefir(both) -- would like to get some kefir... somehow...)
  
• A discussion of available lactic acid bacteria DVI cultures and how to choose them
  
• Yogurt cheese and its variations (labneh / cream cheese-like / rolled in balls, coated with spices, aged (what the heck is that called again???))
  
• High temperature acid cheeses (paneer / whole milk "ricotta/ricotone").  Bonus: Aged "ricotta salata" with whole milk "ricotta"
  
• Playing with the iso-electric point (Ayib / small curd cottage cheese).  Bonus: Can you age this cheese??? Blue cheese (really)
  
• Finally rennet.  Cow's milk "Feta" style.  Alps style tomme but eaten fresh.  Wait! Are these the same cheese??? (ha ha)
  
• Halloumi and real ricotta (but called something else... I forget the name :-P ).  What's the difference between this and Feta and Tomme???
  
• Bloomies: Cooked, semi-lactic and full lactic (return of the acid coagulated cheese!)  Introduction to aging. (Note to self... maybe put this later -- it needs a mold/form and I'm hoping to introduce costs slowly)
  
• Playing with acidification: Caciotta and Crescenza
  
• More acidification: Cheddaring and cheese curds
  
• Ultimate acidification: Pasta filata / Mozzarella
  
• Super ultimate acidification with bonus iso-electric point: Large curd cottage cheese.  How can one cheese be so freaking complicated?
  

After this it's going into natural rinds, washed rinds, mixed rinds, bloomies (if I haven't already done it), oiled rinds.  Somewhere in there I'll probably do alpines (right after washed rinds probably).  But I'm not sure.

One thing I can say is that this will take significantly longer than 1 week :-)  And now that I've announced it, I guess I've got to do it.  The main thing is to introduce people to the science behind how it all works as well as give them an on-boarding process that doesn't require them to buy anything special.  By the time they have to invest significant cash, they should already have a good idea of how it all works.  We'll see how successful I am.

[not_ally]

That sounds awesome, Mike.  Most of the youtube resources now are basically just people doing makes, which can be fun and instructive (everyone loves Gavin, right?) but I don't think I've seen anything as structured/rigorous from a general learning perspective as what you're talking about.  It sounds like a great combo of learning and doing.  I am really looking forward to this.

[not_ally]

Also wanted to add that I think there is a lot of interest there. Although *postings* are slow here I think activity is not, at any given time there will be 5-10 users signed in but 100+ guests (please sign in and post you guys, I'm tired of being the only one asking dumb newbie questions!)

Anyway, those numbers tell me that there are a lot of people who would be interested in the kind of series you're talking about.

[Mornduk]

Also wanted to add that I think there is a lot of interest there. Although *postings* are slow here I think activity is not, at any given time there will be 5-10 users signed in but 100+ guests (please sign in and post you guys, I'm tired of being the only one asking dumb newbie questions!)

Anyway, those numbers tell me that there are a lot of people who would be interested in the kind of series you're talking about.

That's true in my case. I logged as a guest for 3 years because the signup software was not sending me the activation email...

[pickles]

Also wanted to add that I think there is a lot of interest there. Although *postings* are slow here I think activity is not, at any given time there will be 5-10 users signed in but 100+ guests (please sign in and post you guys, I'm tired of being the only one asking dumb newbie questions!)

Anyway, those numbers tell me that there are a lot of people who would be interested in the kind of series you're talking about.

That's true in my case. I logged as a guest for 3 years because the signup software was not sending me the activation email...

I was in a similar situation. Eventually I discovered a link to the owner of this site. An email to him brought a swift reply and immediate access.
As far as I understand there have been problems in the past with spamming so becoming a forum member had to become a bit more involved.
The owner of this site comes across as a very amenable and helpful character.
This forum is full of useful info and becoming a member is a good idea for anyone interested in cheese.

[not_ally]

Oh, didn’t realize that, I think when I registered it was automatic. I see that registration does require approval now because of spammers.  I have to say, this is the best board I have ever belonged to w/r/t spamming, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a spam post.

I didn’t mean to  seem chid-ish (as opposed to childish, that’s a foregone conclusion sometimes!)  It’s just that I see my name stuck as the last poster on so many threads and it is embarrassing.  Like the kid at the front of the class waving her hand frenetically for the teacher’s attention. But I know other people have actual lives.

I spend way too much time here.  I take care of my mom, who has Alzheimer’s, and between that and the geographical/cultural/virus related isolation, it is hard to keep my mind occupied and calm.  This forum really helps with that. In a previous life I was a mergers and acquisitions attorney at a giant law firm.  It was not a good life but the time passed really quickly.  Here it seems to crawl.

Mike, a non-rennet blue?  I’ve seen some posts discussing lactic/semi-lactic blues (I think Jeff Hamm made one accidentally and then couldn’t replicate it because it was made with a morge) but it seemed to be sort of a unicorn-quest venture.

[pickles]

I don't comment much here, but I love to read what others write.
Instruction and comments are the life blood of this very active Forum.
...and it is good to participate.

[mikekchar]

I'm going to start off with a blog and then probably do videos based on the blog.  However, I'm in the middle of a house move so my free time has gone down to zero.  Hopefully get started in the new year.

Lactic blue: The main problem with it is that usually the cheese collapses so there is no air to make the blue bloom.  You still have the nice flavour, but no veining.  However, I have been experimenting this summer and I think I have a solution: ayib.  Essentially you sour the milk to the point where it is tart, but not yet thickening to make yogurt (a pH of between 5.1-5.3).  Then you heat it to 40 - 50 C.  This causes the proteins to coagulate quickly and make much larger curds than normal.  If you dry out the curd a bit, it should stay open enough to give you good veining.  Probably won't get to trying this for a while, but it should be good fun.

[not_ally]

That sounds interesting.  Rather than ask you more questions at what seems to be a busy time, I remember you posting on your ayib make at reddit, I'll go look at the details there.  Do update on your blog when you start it, I will definitely be subscribing.

[cheddarbob]

I worked for these for ages - https://www.topsubscriptionboxes.co.uk/mindful-chef/ and they manage to put me on a cheese making course! Best experience ever.