Affinage
This past weekend I attended a workshop on affinage, the art of aging cheese, sponsored by the New England Cheesemaking Company, in the quaint western Massachusetts town of Shelburne Falls.
The class was run by Jim Wallace, the mastermind behind all the great cheese "guidelines" on the New England Cheesemaking website--just don't call them "recipes"!
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| the cheese-aging "bible" |
We were encouraged to use ALL of our senses at every stage of the cheesemaking process.
We were introduced to the esoteric concepts of flocculation point and pH testing of the curds.
There was a lot of emphasis on making the best cheese possible from the get-go....
After all, what point is there of aging a lousy cheese??!
There are some bonuses to cheesemaking--Here's a batch of butter made from the cream risen from a big bucket of whey! It tasted like the most expensive European cultured butter.
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| a highly recommended read |
Another highlightwas having Jim critique and troubleshoot cheeses that we had brought along with us, then showing us how to treat them. Amazingly, our "problem cheeses" were diamonds in the rough, and he demonstrated how to knock back molds, brushed them down, and even how to give a cheese a bath!
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| a natural bristle horse brush knocked back the mold! |
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| Then my Brick got a good scrubbing with water |
My Brick cheese was no problem at all, after all! In fact, it was super tasty!
Another perk of the experience, was trying some amazing cheeses. Blew my mind!!!
Back home again, and dreaming up the next cheeses to try making....
Manchego, Reblochon, Beaufort...