Behind-the-Scenes Mozzarella: Cheesemaking Classes & Teambuilding

As you know, I teach cheese classes. Cheese history and culture. Eating cheese and drinking things. Melting cheese and then eating it between toasted, buttery bread (grilled cheese class❤️while drinking things), and finally, I teach cheese-MAKING classes. It's full circle!

Over the years I've got a lot of questions about what it's like to teach or take cheesemaking classes. It's a little hard to show because, well, I'm normally too busy teaching the classes to take actual pictures, but with hopes of better addressing the question .... I hired a friend of mine to take pictures of one of my top-selling classes, mozzarella making, so you can see what's it like.

The public class took place at 18 Reasons, one of my favorite spots to teach in, and features tons of behind-the-scene photos. You'll also get a feeling for what it's like to take the classes. Private and teambuilding classes are a little different but this gives a great idea!

I hope you enjoy my cheeseamaking class photo diary!

Mozzarella Cheesemaking Classes - Behind-the-Scenes

Prepping for class. Before the Action!

Saying hello, then saying fascinating things about cheesemaking sciences to the Attentive future mozzarella makers of America

Warming the milk and adding the rennet

Draining the already-sexy curds

Mozzarella is ALLLL about the temperature of the stretching water-SUPER HOT. We dig the curds from the hot bowls with so many spoons- so we don’t burn our fingers.

Cheesemaking class hits! Balls accomplished!
Mozzarella necklace, anyone?

Oh, Hello Goat Cheese: I'm Back, Oozing Wheels & ❤️ Shapes

Oh, hello there! It's been a while, cheese lovers. Goat cheese lovers, this post is for you. 

I'm sorry I've been away from this blog for so long (hopefully you've had your dairy needs met in other ways), but I promise I've been away for an amazing reason.

My cheese class business has been as busy as a hummingbird in spring.

As always, I've been teaching public classes at places like 18 Reasons and Preserved (<-- a new one for me, love it), but in the past few months, my private class business has ramped up to 11. It's been wonderful and I'm very lucky! So while I've talked about cheese, paired it, and made it, because I've been doing it so much front of other people, and working on my next book, I haven't had time to blog my heart out here.

Luckily, I just hired a couple wonderful people for inspiration and to help me with the nuts and bolts of the business (oh, hello invoicing and newsletter links). Meaning I'm back!. I'm excited to tell you about what I've been doing while away, too.

I'm been making those oozing goat cheeses! And the little heart shaped one? Yup, made that too. I ❤ making ❤ cheeses (the next time you can learn how to make something like this with me is at 18 Reasons later this month, or in a private class).

I hadn't played around with goat's milk much since I taught a queso fresco fundraising class at Tomales Farmstead (I got to use their own milk, yay!) so I've been having a blast. Using what I learned from making cheese with Sleight Farms, and reading books and testing recipes from some of my favecheesemakingbooks, I developed these little guys here. Of course there was a lot of research and tasting.

Did I mention they ooze? They do. I maaaaay have forgotten one in my cheese cave (otherwise known as wine fridge) for a week too long. Oops.

I was also excited to make these cheeses because it's an amazing time to use goat's milk. Those green hills around California from all the rain = tons of delicious grasses and herbs for the ladies to snack on.

This also means it's a great time to buy goat cheese because many goats around the country are likewise getting their nibbles on. My northeastern friends, we've got your back until your goats can prance outside. Stay warm please.

A goat cheese or two I'd give 5 starts to are those made by Stepladder, Capriole's Sofia or Wabash Cannonball, Bonne Bouche, Prodigal Farms beauties, and Ruggle Hill's gems. Just to start. There's a lot of exploring to do, my friends.

Pair with Sauvignon Blanc, unoaked whites and sparklings, Gamay, or Cabernet Franc, and enjoy in front of a fire or Burning Log watching it rain or snow.

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.

Making (and Eating) Paneer with Miss Cheesemonger

Paneer curds draining in cheesecloth – photo by Vero Kherian

If you haven't already discovered Miss Cheesemonger's blog, welcome to the world of beautiful cheese photography! Vero and I have known each other for years but we've never actually had the chance to collaborate on a project. So when she asked me if I'd like to be featured on her blog after I announced I was leaving my full-time job to focus on teaching cheese making classes, I jumped at the chance (not only is Miss Cheesemonger a wonderful photographer, she's an opera singer/former lawyer too. So, you know, she's got some good stories). Our cheese of choice? Paneer.

Paneer is a soft, mild, fresh, and lightly pressed cheese popular over much of South Asia. It's fluffy even when pressed, tastes like the milk from which it's made- use the good stuff-, and is meant to be consumed within days of making it. Not a problem for Vero and I- we ate a half-batch topped with sea salt while chatting.

And... it just so happens to be only slightly harder to make than ricotta. Just takes a little patience.

Paneer & Paneer Recipe

Head on over to Miss Cheesemonger's blog to check out more of her beautiful photos (all featured here are Vero's) and for a paneer recipe if you'd like to try your own batch. Or, if you need a photographer - Vero is one of my faves.

Squeezing lemons to acidify the milk. Photo by Vero Kherian.

Vero took this picture right after she asked if anyone ever told me I looked like Britney Spears. I may have laughed.

Thank you, Vero, the day was very fun! I had tons of fun and enjoyed eating a half-pound of cheese with you.

Cheese Making Classes: Creamy Camembert & Flying Solo

Cheese making classes Bay Area, here I come.

After ten years, this week is the first week where I have complete control over when I wake up. I don't have to leave my home at a specific time to open the doors of a wine shop in fear of a delivery person absconding with our wine if I'm five late. Don't have to pack my lunch the night before or start prepping dinner before I leave because I won't arrive home from work till 9pm. Don't have to obsess about if I'm adding cultures to milk too early before I leave for work since I can now monitor my cheese making experiments from home all day long. 

I am now flying solo. 

From June on, you can find me either at home obsessing over camembert fluffiness (rather than while at the wine shop- good change?), teaching cheese lovers how to make ricotta or mozzarella at their homes or at public cheese making classes in the Bay Area (lucky, lucky girl), or writing. It's taken me a while to get to this place.

Camembert stacks- cheese making classes

In addition to teaching cheese making classes where I show people the proper way to massage mozzarella curds into cream to create burrata, now I have time to pitch magazines and pursue that England and Ireland writing project I've been researching and dreaming about.

Though leaving a place you've been working at with dear friends for ten years, and doing things that reflect the realities of self-employment like spending two hours on the phone and on the Covered California website makes me feel a little anxious, I'm overall so happy. I'm venturing out on my own (and also, those Covered California people were really nice).

I've learned that sometimes you have to firmly close some doors for others to open. And they're opening. This week I've taught students at 18 Reasons how to make burrata, am prepping for private classes and a writing retreat-lockdown next week, and I met with amazing people for whom I'll be teaching classes in the future. There are a lot of cool people around here, and now I finally have time to work for and with them (you may of course include yourself in this list).

If you'd like to schedule a private event, consider me more open. If you'd like to come to one of my public classes, you can find me all over the bay area. If you come over to my house any time soon, expect it to smell of cheese recipes I'm testing. Camembert pictures are the results of test batches (cheese babes, a couple days old, no mold rind yet) for an upcoming class I'm teaching at The Cheese School. Yes, I added extra cream.

Thank you all for helping to make this happen. I look forward to cheese and writing adventures with you in the future. Thank you family, friends, and readers for your support.

From Pairing 101 to Making Brie at Home: New Cheese Classes Bay Area

Last week I hit up New York City. I visited friends, ate pizza (whoa, Don Antonio), went to Russ & Daughters, scouted out Cato Corner in the Union Square farmer's market and tasted everything they offered, ate at Katz deli twice, and consumed my fair share of rye cocktails. Now that I'm back in California, I'm eating vegetable soup, hitting up a pilates and yoga class or two, then....

Planning to fill my fridge with the rich, rich cheese I'm making in preparation for March and April's cheese classes Bay Area.

Below are some of my favorite classes I'll be teaching the next couple months. Also, even though my name is "It's Not You, It's Brie," and I have made such rich wheels with cheesemakers, I am teaching my first brie cheesemaking class in April! Yeah, I'm kinda stoked. In addition to these classes, I'll also be selecting and serving the cheese for Ridge Winery's two upcoming Montebello releases in April and May, and a May Kermit Lynch wine tasting, so please stop by and say hello if you're attending!

As always, the public classes fill up fast, and you can contact me with private class requests at kirstin@itsnotyouitsbrie.com

Making mozzarella in a private class, photo by Molly DeCoudreaux

PUBLIC CHEESE CLASSES BAY AREA

Cheese & Wine Pairing 101

 Tuesday, March 15th, 6pm, Solano Cellars

Tuesday, March 15th, Kirstin and Julie will break down the rules of cheese and wine pairing for a taste-on intensive class. You will learn. And you will eat and drink.... Many of you know by now: Cheese and wine are delicious together. But let's admit it, like Kim & Kanye or Liz and Richard Burton, the two can be a finicky pairing.

New California Cheese and Wine: The Modern Movement

Saturday, March 19th, 10am, The Sonoma Artisan Cheese Festival in Petaluma

Presenters: Kirstin Jackson, Author of “It’s Not You, It’s Brie: Unwrapping America’s Unique Culture of Cheese,” Dan Petroski, Winemaker, Massican and Larkmead Vineyards: California’s wine and cheese scene is at the height of deliciousness and sophistication, but things have changed dramatically since the founding dairy families cut their first curd and the grand families of California wine made their names with rich Cabernets........

Cheesemaking: Mozzarella, Burrata, Ricotta

Saturday, March 26; Sunday, April 24th; Wednesday, May 18th, Sunday, June 26th, 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....

It's Not You, It's Brie. Brie at Home

Wednesday, April 6th, 6pm, 18 Reasons

A hands-on cheesemaking class culminating in dinner served with wine and beer. Smooth, rich and decadent, bloomy-rinded cheeses like brie engage senses in a special way. They also lend themselves to a wide variety of pairings and cooking methods. And you can make them at home!....

Spring Sparklers, 

Wednesday, April 20th, 6:30pm, The Cheese School

Prosecco, cava, California sparkling wine, champagne. If you ask us, everything tastes better with bubbles. But some cheeses really do sing to the tune of fruity, floral effervescence....

Hope you're able to make a few! 

Burrata Comes to You: My New Mobile Cheesemaking Classes

As the sun beams through the moody sky outside after this week's early rains, I sit inside smiling, thinking of the upcoming holidays, and big changes. This week I have something I'm overjoyed to share with you. It involves cheesemaking classes in the Bay Area, me, and, you.

I'm launching a mobile cheesemaking class business.

Just in time for the holidays. Though my list of to-dos for launching are long and big changes often evoke fear, the feeling of calm and happiness washing over me assures me I'm in the right place, doing the right thing. Honestly, I feel pretty blissful.

Starting a cheesemaking class business is something I’ve been thinking about since I got back from the Comté region of Jura years ago, when driving around the British Isles, and while visiting artisan cheesemakers from California to Rhode Island. Simply, the cheese and the cheesemakers got under my skin.

When in England and Ireland making cheese, I fell in love with the way the curd feels on your fingers as you scoop it into wheels. The way mozzarella gently gives when you stretch it, pasta filata style. The way buttermilk transforms milk into fluffy fromage blanc, and the way homemade ricotta transforms even the simplest of dishes.

And I’d be honored to share this with you. 

Stretchy mozzarella. Cream-filled burrata. Soft fromage blanc.

Fluffy ricotta. Crumbly snow-white chevre. 

I will travel to your home or Bay Area business to teach you how to stretch mozzarella, make fresh cheeses like creamy burrata or homemade ricotta. Cheesemaking classes ares fun, delicious, perfect for holidays, team building, or parties with friends or family around your kitchen.

A few example classes

Burrata by Hand: Creamy decadence from start to finish

Fresh Cheeses & the Kitchen: Making and cooking with fromage blanc and ricotta

Cheese Lover Gifts: Making chevre, truffles, and candied walnuts for the holidays

Stretch & Sip: Stretch mozzarella curds, and a fresh cheese and wine pairing

And yes, if you’re more wine than cheesemaking-inclined, I'd happily travel with my cheese and wine pairing classes to your next team building event or gathering too.

Expect to see more blog posts and some lovely changes on this site as I refresh a little and hang out more with others. I'm sorry I haven't been writing as much on the blog- I've been preparing to launch! I hope you find it as exciting as I do. Thank you so much for reading and your support. I feel very blessed as I move forward into this new venture.

If you'd like to reach me for questions or discuss booking, please contact me at kirstin@itsnotyouitsbrie.com.