You’ve probably recited “Little Miss Muffet” countless times, but have you ever wondered what curds and whey are? Without curds and whey, we would never have the delicious cheeses you love to share with your family, and it all begins with a special ingredient called rennet. What is Rennet? Rennet Read more…
Have you ever wondered how a simple glass of milk transforms into the rich, flavorful cheeses you love? Let’s take another peek behind the scenes at Clover Creek Cheese Cellar and explore the fascinating world of cheese cultures. Good Bacteria: Not All Microbes Are Bad During our school tours, we Read more…
Have you experienced that peaceful feeling of waking up at dawn, when the world is still quiet and full of promise? That’s how each morning milking for a cheesemaking day begins at Clover Creek Cheese Cellar. Before you’ve even poured your first cup of coffee, Dave is pulling on his Read more…
When we started making cheese, we packaged each retail wedge by coating it in wax. We burned our fingers a few times dipping the cheese, but packaging this way wasn’t too difficult. Then a few customers complained that the wax would crack and later they would find mold underneath. We Read more…
Affinage is a French word that refers to caring for cheese as it ages. The aging process is where our cheese matures and develops its awesome flavor. We make our cheeses in an artisan European style. Cheese factories suffocate cheese in vacuum pack bags right after they come out of Read more…
Rennet, curds, whey, cheddaring. As you may have noticed throughout this series, cheese making has its own special vocabulary. Before I can explain the next steps in cheesemaking there are two more words that I need to define. Hoops are the containers we use to mold the curds into a Read more…
Did you know that in cheesemaking, cheddaring is a verb? Cheddaring is a process that cheesemakers use to further acidify the curds and draw more whey out. This process is what allows cheddar cheese to last a long time. But, before we can get to the cheddaring process, first we Read more…