{"id":18562,"date":"2016-05-06T00:28:49","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T07:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=18562"},"modified":"2016-05-05T14:59:35","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T21:59:35","slug":"making-your-own-cheeses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/05\/06\/making-your-own-cheeses\/","title":{"rendered":"Making your own cheeses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once a full-time organic farmer, David Asher offers workshops through his Black Sheep School of Cheesemaking. He has also recently published his own book, The Art of Natural Cheesemaking<\/em>. (photo by Kelly Brown)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Have you ever wanted your own cheese cave? If not, David Asher might convince you to crave one.<\/p>\n

Based on British Columbia\u2019s Gulf Islands, the former full-time organic farmer is the author of the recently published The Art of Natural Cheesemaking: Using Traditional, Non-Industrial Methods and Raw Ingredients to Make the World\u2019s Best Cheeses<\/em> (Chelsea Green). His book covers all the details one needs to know to make a variety of cheeses at home \u2013 and, yes, creating a \u201ccave\u201d to age it. Step-by-step recipes include paneer, cheddar, feta, blue cheeses, gouda, and about a dozen others.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s as easy to make cheese at home as it is to make good bread at home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For the past seven years, Asher has been offering workshops through his Black Sheep School of Cheesemaking to teach others the \u201clost\u201d art of creating their own natural cheeses without unnecessary additives. But he wasn\u2019t always a cheese fan \u2013 in fact, for most of his life, just the opposite.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe weren\u2019t a cheese-eating family. We only ate that stack of kosher cheese slices stuck together without plastic wrapping in a slab. I suffered through really terrible cheese as a child,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Like his favorite food, though, his taste has ripened with age.<\/p>\n

As a young boy, he was introduced to \u201cItalian immigrants\u2019 guerrilla gardens\u201d by Montreal\u2019s railroad tracks, where he would relish plucking carrots and harvesting kale. Eventually, he created his own garden and, by his 20s, he was volunteering at community farms.<\/p>\n

It was during an organic farming apprenticeship, traveling around visiting other farms, that he met a home cheesemaker, who was \u201cmaking some inspiring rounds of moldy goat\u2019s cheese\u201d in her home with milk from her very own goats.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe made this alchemy happen,\u201d he said. \u201cTo make this beautiful cheese \u2026 without any specialized tools or equipment, I thought, \u2018I can do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On a mission, Asher consulted the go-to cheesemaking guidebooks to find out how to start creating, but he was not inspired by the recipes or by the techniques suggested. Part of the problem, he said, was that the recipes called for freeze-dried packaged cultures.<\/p>\n

\"book<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to have to purchase these culture starter packages to make my cheese, because I knew that traditional cheesemakers didn\u2019t use these,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew there had to be a better way, but there weren\u2019t really any resources.\u2026 There were no references as to how traditional cheesemakers grew their white rinds, their camembert, almost as if that information had been lost.\u201d Truly, he was \u201cfeta\u201d up with the lack of \u201cgouda\u201d details.<\/p>\n

Through trial and error, he explored and learned natural methods used long ago, for want of a mentor. And then, much like a wheel of provolone, things came full circle.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter years of experimenting, I felt confident with my techniques. I then decided that I\u2019d write a book,\u201d he said, adding that it also serves as a resource for his students.<\/p>\n

Asked if he thought any decent commercially made cheese can be found in mainstream supermarkets, he responded with a deep sigh. \u201cYou don\u2019t want me to answer that,\u201d he said. \u201cCall me when you\u2019re ready to make your own.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those wanting to make their own, there are three cheesemaking seminars this month: with the Clever Crow Sea Salt Co. in Black Creek May 7-8, with Linnaea Farm on Cortes\u00a0Island May 14-15 and in Chilliwack at the Valley Permaculture Guild on May 28-29. For more information, visit theblacksheepschool.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dave Gordon<\/strong> is a Toronto-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in more than a hundred publications around the world. He is the managing editor of landmarkreport.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once a full-time organic farmer, David Asher offers workshops through his Black Sheep School of Cheesemaking. He has also recently published his own book, The Art of Natural Cheesemaking. (photo by Kelly Brown) Have you ever wanted your own cheese cave? If not, David Asher might convince you to crave one. Based on British Columbia\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[784],"tags":[5763,5762,5760,5761],"class_list":["post-18562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-artisanal","tag-asher","tag-cheese","tag-farming"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}