We've all heard of curds and whey, but what exactly do they have to do with cheese making? I found out on this one-day course
The world (or the world of food, at least) can be broken down into two groups: cheese fans and cheese haters.
Philip and Keith of Wildes Cheese are most definitely the latter. They live and breathe their cheese, spending seven days a week working in their Tottenham micro dairy, carefully turning, washing and monitoring their many kinds of cheese, most of which are named after a notable Tottenham resident or street.
Luckily for those of us who also love cheese, they are more than willing to share their passion, opening their doors for full-day courses and shorter two-and-a-half-hour mozzarella-making sessions throughout the week.
I went along for the full-day course on a Saturday, where I learnt to make a hard Cheddar-style cheese, a blue cheese, a soft Brie-style cheese, a flavoured curd cheese and a mozzarella. Sounds like a lot. And it is. I have enough cheese to feed a large party currently maturing in my fridge at home.
Generosity is a theme at Wildes Cheese. While the location of the course might not be the height of glamour, the hosts are charming, funny, welcoming and knowledgeable in equal measure. This is not a heads-down, work-all-day course, though you'll certainly be kept busy. There were plentiful breaks for tea, cake and nibbles (cheese, of course), as well as sing-along sessions to Seventies classics on the sound system.
But as well as having fun, I've picked up plenty of new skills. I learnt about the right type of milk for cheese making, the importance of temperature, and the role of cultures and rennet. Even more excitingly, I now know exactly what curds and whey are, how they are formed, and how to work with them to create cheeses of all styles.
All of the instructions are geared to helping you make your own cheese at home, and the equipment is all things you can pick up from the supermarket or DIY shop, such as plastic buckets and thermometers. I'm not sure that, without expert guidance, I could be quite so accurate with the fiddler aspects of cheese making, but I've certainly come away with an even greater appreciation of my beloved cheese, which I think Philip and Keith would be happy to hear.
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