Making Cheese at Home: Two Easy Ways

by Paula Butler

At Standing Stone Farms, what started as a personal interest in raising goats eventually turned into a full-fledged business of boutique goat farming and cheese making. Later, when friends and family wanted to know how to turn milk into delicious butter and cheese themselves, it was only natural that I show them how the magic is done.

Luckily, making cheese at home has never been easier thanks to the wide variety of easy-to-access ingredients, tools and educational materials. But of all the ways to learn how to make cheese, two options that are really worth the investment are cheesemaking kits and workshops. A cheesemaking kit provides all the tools and many of the hard-to-find ingredients to make cheese on your own while a cheesemaking workshop gives you direct access to a teacher and hands-on learning opportunities. 

Cheesemaking Kit

If you like to figure things out on your own and enjoy a little quality time in the kitchen experimenting with different levels of heat, cooking time and ingredients then investing in one of our cheesemaking kits may be the perfect fit for you. It’s one of the most convenient ways to get started making cheese because it provides you with the tools and ingredients to make cheese in one neat package.

Our kits range in size and content but our most basic kit has essentials such as a recipe booklet, coagulants like rennet and citric acid as well as special additives such as cheese salt and calcium chloride (a must when store-bought milk is used). Start off learning to make crowd favorites such as chevre, mascarpone, mozzarella, queso blanco and ricotta, and then expand from there.

More advanced kits contain cultures and lipase to make hard cheese, an instant read thermometer, herbs & spices and DVD video instructions. Our most complete kit includes a strainer, cheese mold, and even a large pot and skimmer spoon to complete the job in addition to our most extensive cheese recipe book.

Cheese Making Workshops

Do you enjoy learning from an instructor? Prefer to have someone guide you through each step of the process instead of guessing your way to a final product? Then partaking in a cheese making workshop may be better suited for you. We offer both private and group cheese making workshops.

At our private workshop, you can choose between making cheese at home, at another off-site location or right on our farm about 20 miles northeast of Nashville. If you decide to come to our farm, you’ll have the chance to meet our beautiful herd of Nubian dairy goats. The class is very hands-on and can accommodate children as young as eight years old. 

There are additional group workshops suited for beginners, which are offered as 3-hour classes and 4- to 5-hour classes. Both classes highlight favorites such as butter, mozzarella, burrata and Italian ricotta, and provide a take-home recipe booklet of other popular cheeses that use preparation and cooking techniques similar to what you are taught in class. For added fun, both of these workshops are BYOB – you can’t truly enjoy cheese without a little wine!

Lastly, our full-day all-inclusive workshop combines the best of onsite with an extensive variety of cheese including traditional Greek-style feta, Belgium-style Feta, Ricotta, French-style chevre, cultured butter and our famous 45-minute mozzarella. Plus, you have our undivided attention when it comes to troubleshooting and reviewing our most detailed recipe booklet.

If you ask us, you don’t have to settle for store-bought cheese. Instead, have fun making cheese at home! 

Share:

---

Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.

Name *

Email *

Comment *

---

Also in Blog