May & June Public Cheese Classes and Pairings Up!

Spring Classes & Events 

Proving it's possible we live in California not Ireland, May brings us two weeks of spring without rain! And strawberries and asparagus. It's a festivus of ruby and emerald hues out there, with vegetables that need just a quick searing before eating. Spring also brings ample fresh milk from local animals grazing lush fields. With lushness in mind, May and June is packed with cheese classes.

June is for those of you asking me to teach another Camembert class. 

Maybe you've refined your fluffy ricotta and want to go a touch bolder, or make cheese for spring salads. Feta's your girl. Maybe you're crazy about rich cheeses and want to raise a babe to maturity over weeks.Camembert is your buttery wheel. Or maybe you just want to make cheese from pure cream. Meet unabashed mascarpone.Or perhaps you'd like to serve party cheese & wine with budgetary moderation.

May and June public classes follow. As always, classes fill up fast, consider reserving your spot early. If interested in a private class for your friends, party, or employees, please email me at kirstin@itsnotyouitsbrie.com!

Hope to see you around!

May & June Public Events and Classes 

Ridge Montebello Collector Tasting

May 13-14th, Santa Cruz, Ridge Montebello

Join us for our 16th annual Component Tasting on March 11th & 12th. This event is an exclusive opportunity for Monte Bello Collector Members to participate firsthand in the assemblage process and taste barrel samples of the separate varietal components for the 2016 vintage of Monte Bello. [I pair the cheese, tell the creamery's stories, and talk cheese at the event].

Kermit Lynch Spring Wine Release 

May 19th, Friday, 6:30-8:30pm, Berkeley, Julia Morgan Room

In the stunning setting of Julia Morgan Hall in the UC Botanical Garden at Berkeley, taste spring selections, new arrivals, and a few very special bottlings from our French and Italian portfolios. (I'll be catering, pairing, and talking cheese)

Mozzarella & Burrata Making

May 21st, Sunday, 11:00-2pm, San Francisco, The Cheese School

Mozzarella on nearly every aspiring home-cheesemaker’s to-do list. Yet, it’s not easy to get it right. Why won’t your curds form a ball? When you do get the ball to form, why is it hard enough for a game of hacky-sack? These are the mysteries of mozzarella. In this class, your instructor, who is also a cheesemaker, will not only demystify the mozz,....

Entertaining on a Budget: Cheese & Wine Pairing

June 7th, Tuesday, 6-8:00pm, San Francisco, 18 Reasons

Always the stars of a dinner party but often admonished for their price tag, great cheese and wine can get a bad rap for thinning the wallets of their adoring hosts. But it doesn't have to be this way. Cheese-and-wine party thrower and cheese and wine expert, It's Not You, It's Brie book author Kirstin Jackson will prove that you don't have to leave your favorites behind to throw a budget-friendly bash. 

Basic Cheesemaking: Feta, Mascarpone, and Ricotta

June 18th, Sunday 11-2pm, San Francisco, The Cheese School

Ricotta, mascarpone, and feta are the cheeses that make appetizers and main courses sing. In this hands-on class, cheesemaker Kirstin Jackson will teach you how to make the cheeses that will become staples in your fridge for many more meals to come. You'll try your creations in class and bring some home to share, or not. 

 Feta & Summer Recipes

June 21st, Thursday 6-9:30pm, San Francisco, 18 Reasons

Feta is not only one of the most highly consumed and adored cheeses in the world, it also loves spring and summer seasonal dishes as much as you do!  In this action-packed evening class, you will learn the basics of cheesemaking, including which milk to use and where to find rennet, talk feta lore, taste perfect examples, and make your own feta from scratch. Then you'll master two party-friendly feta recipes perfect for the season, and leave with cheese to brine or marinate at home.

Camembert Cheesemaking

June 25th, Sunday 11-2pm, San Francisco, The Cheese School

Your ovalini are moist and perfectly round. Your chevre is fluffy and tangy. Now you’re ready for your next challenge: Camembert. In this class, you’ll learn how to make the French classic (with a twist) from author Kirstin Jackson. Kirstin will lead you in inoculating fresh milk, recognizing when the curd has set, then layering the curd in the form.....

Hope to see you around!

A Visit to Tomales Farmstead: When a Guild Class Means Baby Goats

Early December I had the lucky opportunity to visit this dear kid above. Just as snuggly as she looks, Sweet Pea (whose given name I may have forgotten) pranced up to the fence to demand head scratches and nibble on my fingers. Only a year or two from now, Sweet Pea will not only give snuggles, she will be a valuable milk supplier to Tomales Farmstead Creamery.

Classes at Tomales Farmstead mean baby goats.

This post is a photo dairy of my recent visit to Tomales Farmstead, where I taught a class to some amazing cheese lovers who bid on a class with me at the creamery to raise money for the California Cheese Guild. Bless you, cheese lovers.

After a farm tour and tasting (which anyone can arrange) I taught the class how to make cheese: whole-milk ricotta from the farm's goat milk and Straus cow's milk, traditional ricotta from leftover whey, and queso fresco with milk from the creamery's goat herd. Raw milk, ya'll. This was one of my favorite classes to teach.

Not only did I get to team up with Hadley, one of the Tomales Farmstead cheesemakers (below) and ask her geeky cheese questions, I got to cuddle with her baby between culturing and pressing the queso fresco. Classes at Tomales Farmstead can mean human babies, too.

We visited the growing babes, attempted to herd some goats to the pastures after being milked, peeked in the creamery, and made and likely each ate more cheese in three hours than one should in a week. That's all to say that we left very happy.

Thanks for the opportunity, Tomales Farmstead! I look forward to joining you again soon.

Baby Tomales Farmstead Atika

As a heads up, if you, like me love the combo tour and class events, I'll be teaching a Cheesemaking 101 class nearby at Point Reyes Creamery's The Fork on Saturday, January 13th. We'll tour the farm, visit the creamery, taste Point Reyes's lineup, have lunch, then make cheese with the same milk and cream used for beauties like Bay Blue. Queso fresco, creme fraiche, cultured butter, and ricotta. Tickets up.

Ricotta & 3 Seasonal Recipes: New Cheese Making Class, Berkeley

Cheese Making Class: Two Ricottas + 3 Easy Seasonal Recipes

July 9th, 3:00-5:30pm, Potliquor, Berkeley

I'm pleased to announce my first public Berkeley cheese making class!

After months of teaching ricotta, feta, and burrata cheese making classes all over San Francisco, I'm broadening my public cheese making class circle to Berkeley. Hello, Berkeley!

My first cheese making class is all about ricotta. But not just ricotta made from milk and cream. Traditional, true ricotta, made from whey, too. And three seasonal ricotta recipes from the cheese we made.

The class will kick off with us making fluffy ricotta from whole milk and cream (always, cream). With its clean and rich flavors, ricotta is a perfect cheese to have at your fingertips for easy summer entertaining.

Then we'll make -ricottone- also known as true Italian ricotta from our own ricotta whey.

I'm excited to show you howto make whey ricotta in a cheese makingclass- mainly just whole milk ricotta is the focus. Dense and rich, this ingenious cheese has long had my heart.

Next we'll make 3 easy, seasonal dishes that are perfect for summer entertaining with the cheese we just made.

• Spring green salad and baked ricotta

• Herbed green pea and ricotta crostini

• A simple Italian dessert of fresh ricotta, local nuts, candied fruit and zest

Then we'll eat them together at the end of class!

I hope you can join me for this fun workshop! Don't hesitate to reach out with questions, my cheese making classes can fill up fast.