Hello from Ontario

[gmac]

Hi.
Not really sure what to put on this.  But, I figured I best introduce myself (or at least my cheesemaker pseudonym).  Let's see, about me.  Well, I've got 4 boys which keep me and my wife busy.  I love to cook and like others on here, I'm a pretty avid homebrewer.  I work, do a lot of community volunteer work and I'm looking for another time consuming hobby to spend my hours on.

I have only made cheese once and that was 25 years ago when I made paneer style cheese for a chemistry project in Grade 13.  Since then, I've eaten more than my fair share but I've never gotten up the nerve to try it yet.
Now, I think it's time to give it a go.  I hope that I don't ask too many stupid questions and I promise to at least try and search the forum first but I've already noticed that there is an awful lot of information on here.  Good to see but where do you start?

I'm hoping to start with something simple so any suggestions for good starting cheeses would be appreciated.  I did read the Wiki for Newbies so I can start there but is there any harder cheese that is a good starting point?  I was gonna try mozzarella but I'm getting the idea that this may be too hard for a starter.

Anyway, thanks in advance for all your advice. 

[Cheese Head]

Welcome gmac!

You have spare time with 4 boys!!!

No question too dumb, so Wiki > Search > ask away.

There were some posts on best hard cheeses to start with I think you'll find them in the bottom Discussion Board. Once you figure out what cheese(s) then you will need to figure out equipment and materials. Have fun!

[DeejayDebi]

Welcome gmac. Got a handful of cheese eatter there to practice on good for you!

[iratherfly]

Hi gmac and welcome to the forum!

I think semi lactics - Chévre and Chaource style cheeses are some of the most satisfying to master when beginning to make cheese. They don't require too much work or attention to acidity schedules and other concepts that take more time to learn. You also get a good yield out of them. Moreover, you can eat them fresh or age them (or split a batch between aged and fresh wheels). You can give them a million different finishes and styles (from rind treatments to spices, herbs, seeds and oil marinates)  and they are always fun to eat casually with or without a fancy cheese plate and spreads. They are have high success rate and are always super impressive to show off and host.  Even the aged versions only age 14-28 days usually so it's not like some Cheddar where you have to find out 3 months later what your mistakes were...

The only thing is finding good milk.  My brother in law lives in Ontario too (My wife's family is in Toronto, we live in NYC and visit often) and I just showed him how to make Chévre, Chaource, and mixed-milk Robiolas - he took to it like a pro! We did have hard time finding good goat milk that wasn't ultra / UHT pasteurized. Eventually I just ended up hacking the crappy goat milk from Liberté which took 2.5 days instead of 1 day, but it did work!  Where in Ontario are you?

[dttorun]

Hi gmac,
Welcome to the forum. I live in Mississauga. If you are looking for hard cheese, I recommend gouda but you need moulds to press and cultures to develop flavors for this. Actually you can eat it next day or keep for long time in the fridge after developing rind.
Have fun,
Tan

[gmac]

  Where in Ontario are you?

I'm a couple hours from Toronto to the West.  But, I get there often because my wife is from Toronto. 
I coach baseball and one of my kids comes from a goat milk farm so I'm hoping I can convince them to slip me some raw milk.  Depends how much they want their kid to play versus sit on the bench 

dttorun - if you have a recommendation for a decent place to get cheese making equipment, please let me know.  I have nothing yet except rennet and culture on order from my homebrew supplier. 

[dttorun]

Hi,
http://glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca/index.htm
They got all kind of supplies, equipment etc and they do cheesemaking workshops. They are located in Lancaster, close to Quebec border.
Tan

[Priestman]

I was just reading MrsKK's Raw Milk Tomme from 2 hrs prior to your post--a solid straighforward recipe, and she did a nice job with the extra tips and explanations (though if you don't have any hay to move around, I'm sure you can find something else to substitute). Good luck, and welcome.

Paul
THE BIG FARM Creamery
http://www.thebigfarmcreamery.com/

[iratherfly]

I hope these goat farmers send their human kids to baseball practice with you. Can be confusing with the word kid

I ship to Canada by the way. If you need supplies you can contact me, though I am on vacation from next week until June 3.