Archive for the ‘Learning’ Category
Workshops 2013: Magical Microbiolgical Mystery Tour
This is a lecture
May 6 (Monday), 2013 from 11am to 3pm
Location: Pineland Farms Creamery, New Gloucester, ME
DIRECTIONS (link to PDF document):
http://www.pinelandfarms.org/pdf/Pineland-Farms-Campus-Map.pdf
Building # 19 on the map.
Have you ever wondered what turns a bland lump of salty curd into the amazing diversity of flavors, aromas, and appearances exhibited by the hundreds (if not thousands) of cheese varieties? More often than not these characteristics are initiated and controlled by organisms populating the surfaces of each cheese. Given that, how much do we know about what is happening on the cheese rind? Not much, it turns out. Cheesemakers *think* they know what happens when this mold is added, or a cheese is put into that cave, but microbiologists at Harvard’s FAS Center of Systems Biology have been testing these assumptions and finding that the cheese surface is a much more diverse environment than we could ever have imagined, involving some “usual suspects” as well as utterly alien influences.
This year the Guild has been able to schedule a member of the FAS lab, Benjamine Wolfe (who has worked with the Cheese Nun to figure out the secret lives of Geotrichum candidum) to visit Maine and update us on their research and findings as part of our May meeting to help us better understand our own aging situation, causes, and effects.
COST: This lecture is FREE to Maine Cheese Guild members. Non-members will pay $25 at the door, and their lecture fee will include membership in the Maine Cheese Guild.
2013 ACS Opportunities For Guild Members
At our April meeting the members approved supporting the following subsidies in 2013 that relate to the American Cheese Society Conference to be held in Madison, WI between July 31st and August 3rd:
–The Guild will reimburse for ONE Individual Producer membership to ACS (a $199 value) for a Maine Cheese Guild member who applies for that;
[ACS membership is required to submit cheeses to the competition, as well as to attend the conference.]
–The Guild will reimburse any Maine Cheese Guild member who submits entries to the ACS Conference Competition for their first on-time competition entry (due May 17th, a $60 value per participating member);
–The Guild will arrange for and pay up to $500 for a group shipment of all ACS Conference Competition entries from the Maine Cheese Guild to arrive in good condition (if the shipping costs exceed $500, the participants agree to split the additional costs by the number of entries);
–The Guild will reimburse half of the expenses (registration, travel, lodging) up to $900 for FOUR Maine Cheese Guild members to attend the 2013 ACS Conference as part of the Guild’s delegation;
–The Guild will reimburse ALL expenses (conference registration, travel, lodging) up to $1800 for ONE Maine Cheese Guild member to attend the conference as the Guild’s designated representative;
There is no application required to participate in the Guild competition reimbursement and/or group shipment — participants must be a Maine Cheese Guild member in good standing for the time period between the competition entry and the competition itself. Instructions on participating will be posted in a separate Guild web site article.
All applicants must be a Maine Cheese Guild member in good standing for the time period between the request for consideration and the conference itself. The Guild Board will then vote on who will be awarded each stipend, and the selections will be announced by mid-May to allow the designated members time to make their arrangements, including to register for the conference before the Early-Bird deadline.
As has been the case in the past, recipients of stipends to attend the ACS conference will be asked to contribute materials of interest to the Guild at large based on the information delivered at the conference. This material will then be posted on the web site and/or published in a future issue of the Guild newsletter.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLYING FOR A ONE YEAR MEMBERSHIP* TO THE American Cheese Society PAID FOR BY THE GUILD:
(*Producer – Professional Individual Membership, worth $199)
1. Please provide short paragraph with a description about your personal history, including why you got into cheese making, what are your cheese making goals (eg: where would you like to see your cheese adventure take you), and how will you use an ACS membership to benefit your cheese making?
Email your application to info@mainecheeseguild.org together with the title “ACS MEMBERSHIP”, your name, the name of your cheese operation, your email address, and your physical address BY SUNDAY MAY 5th. The Maine Cheese Guild board will review all applications (unless they are also an applicant) and vote for their choice. You will be notified before SUNDAY, MAY 12th if you have been chosen.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLYING FOR A GUILD SCHOLARSHIP TO ATTEND THE 2013 American Cheese Society CONFERENCE
1. Please provide short paragraph with a description about your personal history, including why you got into cheese making, and what are your cheese making goals (eg: where would you like to see your cheese adventure take you)?
Next, please address these questions (a sentence or two for each would suffice):
2. Why is attending the ACS conference important to you?
3. What three items in the 2013 Conference Agenda interest you the most?
4. How do you plan to share the experience with the Guild?
Email your application to info@mainecheeseguild.org together with the title “ACS SCHOLARSHIP”, your name, the name of your cheese operation, your email address, and your physical address BY SUNDAY MAY 5th. The Maine Cheese Guild board will review all applications (unless they are also an applicant) and vote for their choice. You will be notified before SUNDAY, MAY 12th if you have been chosen.
UMaine Dairy Sanitation Workshop
Posted by BethCalder in Events, Learning, News on April 22nd, 2013
May 16, 2013 – 8:00am-5:00pm
Nutting Hall, Room 204 – University of Maine, Orono campus (links for directions and a campus map).
Lunch is included and coffee and snacks in the morning.
Space is limited to the first 30 people. Cost for Guild Members: $30.00 / Non-Guild Members: $60.00
This workshop will cover an overview of sanitation topics such as bacterial pathogens related to dairy products, milking/milk room sanitation, as well as facility sanitation. Ronda Stone from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry will also talk about sanitation from an inspector’s perspective. Other special guests will include Sarah Spring, Spring Day Creamery who will discuss her own recent sanitation issues and how she overcame them. We will also have hands-on activities in the Pilot Plant to take the theory we learned and put it to practice.
For more information about this 1 day training and how to register, please visit this web site: http://umaine.edu/food-health/food-safety/dairy-sanitation-workshop/.
Due to the hands-on activities, we have to limit the attendance to 30 people.
Please contact
–Beth Calder (581-2791 or beth.calder@maine.edu) if you have questions in regards to the workshop.
–Melissa Libby if you have registration questions at 1-800-287-7170 or Melissa.Libby1@maine.edu.
One Day HACCP Course in Maine
This course is geared towards those who are interested in creating a product that would be USDA or FDA inspected and thus need to be compliant with the written food safety guidelines those entities require (or will require in the case of the FDA). This one day course will cover how to analyze food safety risks and food safety hazards. Participants will learn about HACCP plans v. risk based plans and how to use the best of both to create a culture of food safety. The course costs $125 during pre-registration (up to 5 days before course date) and $145 at the door.
The course will take place on Wednesday April 24 from 9-5 at the Androscoggin Chamber of Commerce on 415 Lisbon St., in Lewiston. Registration and payment information is available at www.dirigoqualitymeats.com
Michele Pfannenstiel DVM
Dirigo Quality Meats
908-907-7798
michele@dirigoqualitymeats.com
www.dirigoqualitymeats.com
Dairy Sanitation Workshop May 16th
The Maine Cheese Guild will sponsor a Dairy Sanitation Workshop to be given by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Orono on May 16th. This year it will — for the first time — include a demonstration session of cleaning and sanitizing procedures using dairy production and processing equipment.
This is an all-day workshop, but will include a catered lunch.
May 16, 2013 – 8:00am-5:00pm
Nutting Hall, Room 204 – University of Maine, Orono campus
For directions and a campus map, please visit these web sites:
http://umaine.edu/about/driving-directions/
http://www.umaine.edu/locator/home-2/display-building/?id=261
Lunch is included and coffee and snacks in the morning.
Space is limited to the first 30 people.
Cost for Guild Members: $30.00
Non-Guild Members: $60.00
This workshop will cover an overview of sanitation topics such as bacterial pathogens related to dairy products, milking/milk room sanitation, as well as facility sanitation. Ronda Stone from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry will also talk about sanitation from an inspector’s perspective. Other special guests will include Sarah Spring, Spring Day Creamery who will discuss her own recent sanitation issues and how she overcame them. We will also have hands-on activities in the Pilot Plant to take the theory we learned and put it to practice.
An online registration web site link will be posted on the Maine Cheese Guild web site in the next few weeks.
A detailed agenda will soon follow. Thanks and if you have any questions, please contact Beth Calder at UMCE.
A Good Story Sells
Posted by Monroe Cheese Studio in Learning, News on January 23rd, 2013
The NY Times focuses on cheesemongers selling artisanal cheese and their penchant to wax poetic about the cheeses they sell. This is evidence, as if more were required, that it’s important for us cheesemakers to tell our retailers as much as we can about the the cheeses we make — you never know what small detail might strike their fancy and resonate in the aroma or flavors or appearance of our cheeses. Because if the cheesemonger has a good story to tell about a cheese, they WILL tell it to as many customers as they possibly can (who doesn’t like a good story) which means that they might feature your cheese more often, and likewise strike a chord in the hungry public to try and buy more of your cheese…
I’ve found cheesemongers like to know everything about a cheese, like how a cheese style was developed (what were YOUR influences?), about any quirks in its production, right down to knowing the names of the dairy animals who contributed their milk to each cheese. Be prepared to tell it all, and then pay attention to the bits they latch onto — we could probably write novels about our cheeses, but brevity, as always, is the soul of a good story, and every cheesemonger will focus on something different. They will weave these interesting (to them) bits of your story into their own mythology; more often than not it’s their way of differentiating each cheese. Once they hit upon a good story (your facts, their fancy) they will tell it over and over like any vaudeville comedian would to each new audience.
Workshops 2013: Naturally Wrapped And Clabbered Cheeses
Posted by appletoncreamery in Guild, Learning on January 3rd, 2013
This is a Hands-on Two Day Workshop
April 20-21 (Saturday/Sunday), 2013 from 9am to 5pm
State of Maine Cheese Company, Route 1, Rockport, ME
Bonnyclabber Cheese™ founder Rona Myers Sullivan of Sullivan’s Pond Farm, Inc., will offer a workshop covering the basics of her clabbered milk cheeses and their natural wraps and coverings. Rona will go over the conditions, techniques and troubleshooting methods that she finds crucial to the most consistent rustic fermented milk cheese. You’ll learn about culinary-safe leaf wrapping options and how she macerates them. Rona will share the secrets of her beeswaxing technique and appliques, and how you can make your own grapevine ash in a retort. Bonnyclabber curds take a couple of days to prepare, so they’ll be ready before class for your hands-on shaping, wrapping, ash coating and waxing pleasure!
Space will be limited to this hands-on two day workshop: the first 15 students who send a deposit into our Guild Treasurer will be guaranteed a spot. Additional students may choose to be placed on the waiting list in which case they will need to be prepared to join the class with a few days notice in case of any cancellations.
COST: $150 for Guild members, $175 for non-members (price includes a one year membership to the Guild)
Send your $75 deposit (checks can be made out to the “Maine Cheese Guild”) to guarantee a spot to:
The Maine Cheese Guild
c/o Mark Whitney, Treasurer
Pineland Farms
32 Farm View Drive
New Gloucester, Maine 04260
Read the rest of this entry »
Cheese in Brief
Posted by Monroe Cheese Studio in Learning, News on December 22nd, 2012
Here’s a nice overview of the cheese making process from the head Cheesemaker of Lyburn Farm in the UK.
Evidence of the World’s Oldest Cheese?
The scientific journal Nature has published a study of the residues left in very old pottery shards that happen to form pots with holes in them. These porous pots could have been used for a great many tasks, but one that’s always been listed is for cheese making. This study shows the presence of milk fats in the pots, which appears to strongly corroborate that hypothesis. The linked article (on the BBC web site) has lots more info on the ideas surrounding how ancient cheese making skills are, and how they might have been developed.
Meeting — 2013 Holiday Party at Balfour Farm
Our next meeting was our annual Holiday Party at Balfour Farm in Pittsfield on Monday, December 10th. We enjoyed pot luck lunch items and things that went well with tasting our NINE differentHoliday Havarti examples made by members in October.
Every year the Maine Cheese Guild asks members to make the SAME cheese recipe at the SAME time of the year with their own milk and methods. The goal is to have that cheese reasonably ripened by our Holiday Party at the beginning of December. At the party we display all the cheeses, then taste every one, and inevitably no two cheeses are exactly alike. It proves that cheese can be a very individual product, and even when two cheese makers start with the same recipe and ingredients, there are many small and subtle decisions made in the vat, as well as during aging, that can make significant differences in the end product.
This year we chose to make a WASHED CURD* cheese style called “Havarti” after the Danish town of Havarthigaard north of Copenhagen. It is known for its mild creamy flavor with big buttery notes, and a soft texture with many “eyes” throughout the cheese, which are formed by a gassy culture called Leuconostoc mesenteroides. Normal production ends with the cheese being either waxed or vacuum sealed in plastic for aging. It can, however, develop a natural rind through washing and encouragement of the same molds that make traditional “stinky” cheeses: Epoisse, Brick, Muenster, etc. The buttery notes in these cheeses were so prominent that when we tasted the washed rind versions of Havarti, everyone had the same impression of a “lobster” flavor, probably because the rich butter notes and the mild sulphur notes replicated the flavor of cooked lobster dipped in butter. It was quite yummy.
*WASHED CURD cheeses are made by removing a portion of the whey mid-way through stirring the curds, and replacing the whey with the same amount of hot water. This does two things — it raises the temperature of the curds (forcing whey out), and it reduces the lactose in the whey (and thus in the curds) so that there is LESS for the cheese cultures to eat during aging, and thus less lactic acid is produced, making a mild cheese, and contributing to a soft and pliable texture. Another well known washed curd cheese style is Gouda.
We will post photos of the cheese soon. Thanks to all the Guild members who participated and drove through some dicey weather to celebrate the holidays with lots of Havarti. And thanks to Balfour Farm for hosting a terrific party.
