News From The Cheese Caves

In Europe there is a network of schools for cheese makers and affineurs. In France especially, it is a standard practice to have these cheese colleges turn out the new batch of cheese makers with all the most up to date and advanced techniques in cheese. not only cheese making and affinage, but also herdsman training and biology, and chemistry.

In the United States, it is few and far between that we find such fine schools dedicated to the art and science of cheesemaking. The Dairy School at the University of Wisconsin is one such school but the newest and with the highest ambitions is a branch of the University of Vermont known as the Vermont Institute of Artisan Cheese.

For those interested in the most advanced school for making cheese in the U.S. see the class schedule posted at http://www.uvm.edu/~viac/. The next class of exceptional interest is April 3rd-April 5th. The class is to be instructed by Francisco Pérez Elortondo, Ph.D; Alfonso Zamora Master Cheesemaker; Montse Almena, Ph.D; and Marc Druart, Master Cheesemaker.

These courses are for those interested in fine tuning their skills and not necessarily for the beginner or the casual enthusiast.

This is an intensive three day short course focused on artisan practices used in Spain to produce a variety of traditional and innovative cheeses. There will be interactive lectures and strong hands on experience. You will learn how to make three varieties of cheeses: a blue cheese, a soft variety with a natural rind, and a semi hard cheese. Participants will have the opportunity to taste Spanish cheeses and present their own samples to gather feedback from the experts about technical issues with their cheese.

Sounds great!

Posted by Artisanal Cheese

This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2007 at 3:37 pm and is filed under Artisanal Cheese News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.