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Why Home Cheese Making? Why Not!

27/08/2015 By Gavin Webber 2 Comments

The other day I was approached by Tamra who’s a journalism student at Edith Cowan University.  She is currently writing an article on making your own cheese and wanted to do a quick interview with me to chat about the process of cheesemaking at home.

I thought my fellow curd nerds would appreciate this little interview.

Why make your own cheese?

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.  I love making my own produce so cheese was a natural progression from all the preserving and jams that I has already made, and the fruit and vegetables that I grow.  It has turned into a passion and a hobby.

why home cheese making?

Is it healthier to make your own cheese?

Yes, I suppose it is.  You know exactly what goes into the cheese and can control the quality of the ingredients.  I only source the best quality milk and cultures and only use a vegetable based rennet.  You can also have control over the fat content depending on the cheese you make.

Would you consider homemade cheese better?

I believe so.  You can make raw milk cheese which is full of amazing flavours, and can age the cheese for as long as you like.  Most semi-hard to hard cheese improve with flavour as they age.  I have made Cheddar and Hard Italian cheeses that have been left to age for over 2 years, and the difference is incomparable to commercially manufactured cheese.  If I were to source a similarly aged cheese from a cheesemonger, it would cost me a small fortune!

IMG_0780

What processes do you use that distinguishes you from the competition?

Not sure what you are after here.  I don’t believe I have competition because I don’t sell my cheese.  I am an amateur home cheese maker who shares his craft via video tutorials on YouTube, and via recipes and advice via my blog and podcast.  The difference from other bloggers is that I have managed to span mediums via audio, video, and the written word that suits most learning styles.

How long does it take to make cheese?

It depends on the cheese.  I can make quick mozzarella in 30 minutes and it is then ready to eat, and I can make a Wensleydale that takes 9 hours from milk to final pressing which then needs to age for 3 months.  My Parmesan takes about 5 hours and needs to age for 12 months before I even dare to eat it.

how to store cheese - caerphilly

What flavours/added ingredients would you recommend?

Once again it depends on the cheese, but first and foremost get the best quality milk.  I use Bio-Dynamic Milk when I can get it as it has some of the best structure I have experienced.  When I make Italian cheese I always add Lipase for that piquant flavour, and when making some English style cheddar I add Annatto colouring to yellow the cheese.  Annatto is more for aesthetics than anything as it doesn’t impart flavour in the cheese.

Salt is the most important ingredient.  It is a flavour enhancer and a preservative.  Without it you cheese is more prone to bacterial infection and off flavours.  It moderates the bacterial growth within the aging cheese.

Cotswold.Movie_Snapshot

What’s the joy in cheese?

That’s simple.  The joy is in the eating!  There is nothing quite like sharing the company of a matured cheese, aged wine, and old friends.  It’s a perfect combination.

So why home cheese making? Why not!  It’s simply so much fun.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Gavin, Technique

Blog Migration

27/07/2015 By Gavin Webber Leave a Comment

Just a heads up for regular readers and listeners that I haven’t abandoned this blog.  I’m still regularly making cheese and trying out new recipes, but since starting our small business Little Green Workshops, I have kind of been run off my feet!

You will be happy to know that over the next couple of weeks, I will be paying some extra love to the blog because I have decided to migrate it from Blogger to a self-hosted WordPress site to add much-needed functionality to it.

So over the next couple of days, please excuse me if the site is a bit up and down during the migration period.

The blog and podcast will be back with a vengeance, with a new look very soon!

 

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: Gavin

Why I Am Passionate About Cheese Making at Home

12/12/2014 By Gavin Webber Leave a Comment

Why I am passionate about cheese making at home
Gavin Webber – Home Cheese Maker

This post is an extract from my cheese making ebook, Keep Calm & Make Cheese, and adapted from a blog post on www.littlegreenworkshops.com.au.

I have a confession to make.

My name is Gavin Webber, and I love making cheese.  I also love teaching people how to make their own cheese at home.

All right, maybe not so much of a confession, though you could class me as an amateur cheese maker, who is mad about making his own cheese at home. In fact, I like cheese making so much that I make at least 1kg (2.2lbs) of cheese of various forms, once a month, sometime more often.

Sounds a bit excessive, doesn’t it?  But once bitten by the cheese making bug, there is no looking back!

Now that I have whet your appetite, I bet you want to know how I started on this cheese-making journey and how I went from cheese consumer to cheese producer, and then cheese instructor.

All right then, here is my story.

The Dairy Farm

I grew up on a dairy farm where my family managed about 120 milking cows, a couple of bulls, and the odd sheep or two. We also kept chickens and ducks to provide us with fresh eggs. There were even a couple of pigs for meat.

Milk was always in abundance, as you would expect on a dairy farm, and as a child my brothers, sister, and I would drink fresh raw milk by the bucket full.

Dad would also extract cream from some of the milk so that my Mother could make butter, and drink the skimmed milk.

With all this abundant milk, the one thing you would naturally think that we would make would be cheese. Alas, this was not the case.

My parents did not make cheese of any form, not even yoghurt, and we grew up thinking that processed cheese, which came wrapped in tin foil, and packaged in a blue rectangular cardboard box was what cheese was supposed to taste like. You did not even need to refrigerate it. My Dad used to call it ‘soap suds’, but being uninformed kids, we did not know if cheese got any better than that rectangle block.

This was back in the 1960’s and ‘70’s and the Australian palate was a lot different from the multicultural flavours we have in our diet today. The country was still growing in population through immigration from mainly Mediterranean backgrounds. This influx of different cultures brought with it a change in diet from the bland meat and two veg, to an abundance of gastronomic delights that Australia is now renowned for worldwide.

My First Real Cheese

 One such multicultural experience introduced me to a milk product other than butter and ‘soap suds’. I was visiting a friend, whose parents were of Greek origin and they invited me to stay for lunch.  At the meal they served marinated Kalamata olives, fresh flat bread, preserved salami, and best of all, homemade Greek Yoghurt and freshly made Feta.

The memory is still vividly etched into my neural pathways, and I can still taste the sharpness of the Yoghurt and the saltiness of the Feta. It was a taste experience that I shall never forget.

To this day, I still do not know why my parents chose to forgo cheese making with all that lovely raw milk at hand. Maybe it was because they didn’t know how or because the knowledge was not passed down by the previous generation. Possibly the ingredients were difficult to come by. Whatever the reason, I was privileged to live such a wonderful childhood on the dairy farm.

Making My Own

Fast forward to February 2009 which was a momentous month. It was the month that I made my very first cheese.

But why was it momentous?

Well, from the day that I first tasted those Greek dairy products, I had always wondered how they made cheese at home. Most cheeses I knew about were made under hygienic conditions in a factory.

Now was my chance. Our local community centre was hosting a cheese making course, and to cut a long story short, I thoroughly enjoyed the five-hour course. I made some Feta and then purchased a cheese making kit afterwards so that I could make my very own cheese at home.passionate about cheese making - Feta in brine

Finally, my wish came true and I created a delicious feta like the one I remembered all those years ago.

Since that very first cheese, I have gone on to make many more different types including the following;

Feta, Wensleydale, Farmhouse Cheddar, Emmental, Stilton, Camembert, Parmesan, Ricotta, Romano, Pepper Jack, Monterey Jack, Ossau-Iraty with green peppercorns, Caerphilly and Mozzarella, to name a few, all of which are covered in my cheese making book “Keep Calm & Make Cheese“, among others.

Passionate about Cheese Making

I am so passionate about making cheese at home that I try to seek out the freshest milk so that I can make the best cheese possible.

I also teach regular cheese making courses at the very same community house that I first learnt the process. In fact, it was my cheese making addiction that was the spark for this business, which expanded into our online shop.

I field questions during every episode for the curd nerds that take the time to email or record a voice message.  I love helping others on the path to make their own cheese at home.

After the success of Little Green Cheese, Kim and I struggled to find quality cheese making kits to recommend during our classes.  So this gave us the idea to source the best in Australia and to stock them here in our shop and after our workshops.  You can check out our entire range of cheese making kits, equipment, and ingredients on the workshops site that will set you on the right path.

So there you have it.  This is my cheese making, curd nerdy story of why I am passionate about making cheese at home.  I make the cheese and the entire family devours it quick smart!

Do you have any cheese making stories of how you got started making cheese?  I would love to hear from you via comment.

Until next time curd nerds!

Filed Under: Workshops Tagged With: eBook, Feta, Gavin, Workshops

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Podcast Reviews

  • Love it. Keep it up!
    February 12, 2022 by Corknip from Denmark

    Excellent podcast. Started the home making adventure last month and have been catching up on all the past episodes and YouTube videos. it is a gold mine of shared knowledge. Thank you!

  • So funny!!!!
    June 15, 2020 by purple quaqamale from United States

    Little green cheese is so funny

  • Great podcasts
    June 14, 2020 by Chrissy Curd Nurd from Australia

    I’ve just started cheese making at home,Gavin ‘s podcasts are so informative. I also watch his you tube tutorials. Thanks for your great work!!

  • An excellent guide to artisan cheese!
    January 14, 2020 by N.K.13 from Australia

    I recently became aware of Gavin’s lovely YouTube channel and podcast and it’s been incredible. His competence and comprehensive explanations leave you craving more. Much like a good cheese! Cheers Gavin!

  • Perfect for Cheesemakers of all levels!
    December 3, 2018 by Viki Leeasa from Thailand

    I love that this podcast does not just have helpful tips and tricks on cheese making, but also stories and news from the cheese world, as well as nice little anecdotes from the host. A big fan from Thailand!

  • If you think you want to make cheese, listen to this!
    November 30, 2018 by paulsaw from United States

    Gavin Webber’s Little Green Cheese is By Far the best podcast I have ever heard! A truly informative and quality production!

  • Great program
    October 9, 2018 by p37dg9q14 from United States

    Very informative and enjoyable podcast. I started at episode 1 and currently listening to 25. I’ll be giving cheesemaking a go in the next week. Mike J from Oceanside CA

  • Great podcast
    September 13, 2018 by nicole_elias from Australia

    I have a long commute to and from work and have worked my way through the back catalogue of these podcasts. Enjoyed every one of them and hope for many more to come. Thanks Gavin! Keep up the great work. Cheers, Nicole

  • Excellent!
    September 3, 2018 by emeldridge from United States

    Looking to take up cheesemaking sometime soon and this channel has provided all the information necessary to get started!

  • Great Resource!
    August 28, 2018 by olivestones from United States

    I have been learning to make cheese for the past year. Gavin's podcast and video series has been a tremendous resource for me. His love for the cheese-making craft is evident in the amount of research he will perform in order to answer a listener's cheese question. All thumbs up for the amount of time and energy he puts into his quality podcast! ...And he cracks me up with his attempts at pronunciation!

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