A big thanks goes out to everyone who took the time to enter the competition, and I have taken your feedback onboard.

So, without further ado, here are the winners.

Louisa McFarland

Amber

Ladies, can you please contact me via email to collect your prize. Oh and by the way, the 3000+ podcast listeners do think it is totally awesome!

Congratulations to you both.  I hope your cheese becomes a big hit in your circle of friends and family.

Dear curd nerds,

This is the 100th post on this blog and a great milestone.  Cause for some celebration I think because, as a hobby, I didn’t think this blog would still be around after 3 years and would have received over 200,000 pages views!  I am so pleased that it receives over 300 visits a day, and that the readership is continuing to grow.

Looks like everyone loves cheese and wants to learn how to make it.  Which is great because I do too!

So to celebrate, I am holding a competition.

The prize is a free copy of my cheese making eBook “Keep Calm and Make Cheese – The Beginners Guide to Cheese Making At Home“, and two never-before-published recipes for Colby and Cotswold.  However, if you have already purchased a copy, I will let the winner choose from one my other 4 eBooks (and you still get the two recipes).

To enter this competition, all you have to do is tell me (via comment below), what is your most favorite and least favourite post on this blog and the reason why.  That is it, any post which includes podcast episodes, video tutorials and reader questions. Pretty simple really.  You can view all the posts via the archive gadget on the right hand sidebar.  Oh, and share the details of the competition with any like minded friends or family.  The more the merrier.

The competition will close on Friday 13th September 2013.  I will choose two winners at random and then send them through their prizes.  Don’t forget that you have to be in it to win it, and check back on Friday to see if you have won where I will announce the winners!

So to finish off the post, here is a reader question submitted via Facebook.

“Hi Gav,
Some friends and I are wondering if you can help us please we are wanting to know if cheese is considered a processed food.  None of us are really sure.  I always thought homebrand cheese slices were processed and the better ones like Kraft were ok, anyway I know you are the go to cheese guru so I was hoping you might be able to shed some light thanks in advance.  Annie”

Thanks for your question Annie.  The answer is quite simple.  When buying real cheese, look at the ingredient list.  If it has only a few ingredients like, Milk, Rennet, Cultures, Salt, and maybe some moulds (if mould ripened), then it is the real deal.  Processed cheese has all sorts of things added.

The definition of processed cheese via Wikipedia is; “Processed cheese, process cheese, cheese slice, prepared cheese, cheese singles or cheese food is a food product made from normal cheese and sometimes other unfermented dairy ingredients, plus emulsifiers, extra salt, food colorings, or whey. Many flavors, colors, and textures of processed cheese exist.”

So when you are next buying cheese, look for these other additional additives and reject them.  Artisan and home made cheeses are far superior in quality and taste, in my humble opinion.

Anyway, best of luck to everyone in the 100th post celebration competition.