Tuesday, June 29, 2010

"Say Cheese!"

This year, we decided upon a "staycation", where you stay in your neighborhood and take little day trips or do fun things around your area. Our staycation was last week. We went to the beach in Cape Cod one day, had water balloon fights, just spent quality time together. Then, I received an email for a cheese making workshop. I thought that this would be right up my son's alley since he loves science, and food. All that was required of us was to bring a half gallon of milk, and a donation for the space where the class was held. I was excited. I also was unprepared for what lie ahead.
We arrived at the location, and realized it was inside of a garage. A tiny garage. The temperature was in the high 80's that day so it was hot. There were no fans, no open windows, just stale heat inside of this garage....and at least 15 people. It kind of felt like it was some secret cheese making society that met in this garage to avoid being caught by...well, whoever would want to catch us...who would? Anyway, I was just very excited to learn how to make cheese so at first the heat didn't bother me...at first.
The kids started to get a little restless and my son was touching everything. At one point, the instructor had us "touch" the milk to check the temperature and everyone was putting their hands in one anothers milk. Some were even tasting it and then putting their fingers back in. Needless to say, this was not the most sanitary of situations. I was still intrigued at the whole process but, I was still trying to keep track of my children and make sure they were involved but, not hurting themselves or anyone else.
At one point I looked back to find Kent and he was gone. I later found out that the intense heat, crowd of people, and curdled milk smell in a tiny garage did not settle well with him. I started to feel slightly light-headed at one point and the children were getting really cranky as well. I went outside to find Kent and we ended up leaving a little early but, not too early that I didn't finish my cheese.
Well, my cheese turned out more like ricotta, but others did leave with a nice ball of mozzarella. I, needless to say did not bring my cheese home.
I think I will try making some at home, in maybe slightly better conditions.

2 comments:

Circular Logic said...

Is it something that would be possible to make at home? I guess I thought it would require fancy equipment and ingredients. I would love to give it a try!

G. said...

Yes, you can make it at home. You just need to purchase rennet tablets. We used pots and pans, and burners. It's trial and error, though. There are websites with instructions as well.