Event

Cheesemaking -- Hard Cheeses

Once you've made Manchego, Spain's most famous cheese, you'll be ready to take on almost any hard cheese.

This is a hands-on class where YOU will make your own wheel of Manchego. Fromanger Harold Lieberman will begin by briefly describing the origins, biology and chemistry of cheese. Then, unlike earlier demonstration classes, each of us will use the tools of the trade to cook, drain, and press our wheels as milk takes its "leap toward immortality."

Harold will provide the presses (available to purchase at the end of the class), and students will bring a gallon of whole, (NOT ultra-pasteurized) milk, and several common kitchen utensils. For a succinct list of what to bring, visit www.AgHall/cheese-canning/La-Mancha_equipment-list.html

Once our wheels are formed, the aging process/affinage begins. Unless you have access to a cheese cellar or special refrigerator, Harold will 'ripen' your cheese for several weeks in his curing cabinet.

With over 1150 different cheeses in just the UK and France alone, making cheese can be an endless exploration of different cultures and tastes, and the cheese of Don Quixote de la Mancha, Manchego, is a perfect place to begin the journey.