I have a confession to make. My name is Gavin Webber and I am cheese crazy. You would class me as an amateur cheese maker or artisan if you will, who is mad about making his own cheese at home. In fact I like cheese making so much that I make at least 1 kg (2.2lbs) of cheese of various types every few weeks.
I started making cheese as a hobby back in March 2009 after attending a cheese making class at our local community house in Melton, Victoria, Australia. It was an exciting day indeed, and I will be posting about it later on in this blog.
How does it taste, I here you ask? Well, let me tell you that once you have made your own cheese, you will never buy store-bought stuff again. The only problem you will have is keeping up with demand!
So far I have had experience making the following cheese types;
Feta, Wensleydale, Farmhouse Cheddar, Emmental, Stilton, Camembert, Parmesan, Ricotta, Romano, Pepper Jack Monterey Jack, Ossau-Iraty with green peppercorns, Caerphilly and Mozzarella.
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| Farmhouse Cheddar drying before waxing |
I will be posting about each one of these cheeses every few days and others that I may decide to make in the future. I will also be transferring the bulk of the cheesy knowledge from my other blog, The Greening of Gavin, which was the catalyst for all my greening activities. You can pop on over there if you want to learn about organic food gardening, climate change, peak oil, chickens, solar power, fruit trees, composting and worm-farming and all other topics that make up the sustainable living ethos.
So break out the crackers and stay put for an exciting cheesy adventure.
Moin (north-German for HI-HAVE-A-GOODDAY). I instantly fell in love with your blog. I started cheesemaking only three months ago and – being a little frustrated with Ricki Carrolls book (too many packages, no bulk measurements) I'm searching the I-Net for help)Your blog has given me much insight and I just love your writings. I now own a Dutch style cheese press and hope to make some hard cheeses as soft cheeses are just not my liking. Thanks Gavin and keep up, aye?!
Hello Gavin.
I'm new here on your blog, but have made cheese themselves since 2008.
I love your blog and read everything I can about what you write. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us crazy cheese-makers.
I was a few years ago on a three-day course on a small dairy farm in Sweden. It was private lessons only for me, and I was in the production of the three days. It has really made me want to continue to learn about cheese making. I put the link to the little cheese dairy I was on, if you want to look at it:
http://www.paverasgardsmejeri.nu/
since then, I also started to share my knowledge with others here in Denmark. I've had about 10-12 classes with 8 students each time and it goes really well. There is great interest in learning how to make things even here with us. The modern lifestyle brings people far away from the original.
I've always lived in the countryside and made everything themselves, so it is natural to make cheese.
I yesterday started 4 Stilton and one of your Pyrenees with green peppers and they look really great. I have a question to you about Stilton: Should they get the 4 days in the mold in the kitchen?
I look forward to follow your work and hope maybe that you'd like to share some knowledge also of little me in Denmark.
Greetings from Aase
Hi Aase. I found your original email as it had been tagged as spam. You sound like you are a well established cheese maker and could probably teach me a thing or two. In answer to your question, yes the stilton should be at room temperature for 4 days in the mold. Turn it twice daily.
Gav
I have a new name for the Greening of Gavin blog…. The Greating of Gavin!!
Go for it, Gavin.
@ michelle,
I agree, it is good to have all the cheesy goodness in one single repository. It also makes it easy for me to record dates of when I make each cheese from now on. A bit like a diary.
@ Annet,
I hear you regarding commercial cheese. Quality is certainly going down. I have made Feta again, in fact I made a video tutorial which I will post tonight.
Gav x
Been following GoG for a while, glad to have cheeses in one spot… I am gearing up to give it try! I make my own yogurt weekly (3 ltrs at a time) and occasionally make ricotta (love how easy it is!).
And lately, I'm really disappointed at Aldi's Danish feta quality, nothing like it used to be, very bland now. I could eat a packet of feta in one sitting – and so now I want to try it myself. I thought you posted a while ago about having another go at feta, but I can't seem to find it on either blog – only your original post from the cheese workshop. Have you made it since then? Would love to see a post on it soon.
Next stop, I think Caerphilly, never tried it but looks awesome and easiesh for my first go!
Yay all the cheese in one spot – let me know when the book gets released 😉
michelle
Cheers Prue, Ros and Narelle. I am really enjoying revisiting my old cheese posts and rewriting them for this blog. Call it a little bit of nostalgia if you will and it feels good to have all the cheesy experience in the same place in some kind of order.
Gav
Love your new cheese blog…Looking forward to seeing more cheesemaking…
I have been experimenting with cheese making and really enjoy your cheese making posts Will look forward to posts on your new cheese blog
Excellent Gavin…cannot wait for more exciting cheesy adventures!!!