If you’ve been following my series on making Galen’s Good Old—my gouda-style cheese—you know I’ve covered washing curds and damming them together. Now it’s time for the final step, brining, that turns those pressed curds into the finished cheese you buy. Brining cheese is one of the oldest preservation techniques Read more
What Happens After Washing the Curds So you’ve learned how I wash our Gouda curds to reduce acidity—now let me show you what happens next. After I’ve stirred those curds for several hours, it’s time for one of my favorite steps: damming. Building the Dam Here’s what I do. I Read more
Now that you’ve followed the cheddar making process from pasture to your plate, it’s time to go back to the beginning. Let’s talk about how the cheese making process is different for my other cheeses. Have you ever wondered why gouda cheese tastes sweeter than cheddar? The answer is in Read more
When my parents first started making cheese at Clover Creek many years ago, they used a hot wax coat to package each wedge for sale. It seemed simple enough. But boy, did they burn their fingers! And worse, some customers told them the wax cracked. Mold grew underneath. Not good. Read more
Did you know that up until now, all of my cheesemaking posts have only covered the first 24 hours of the process? It’s pretty amazing how we can turn liquid milk into a solid wheel of cheese in just a few hours, right? But the real magic happens after that—when Read more
Last month, you joined me in the cheese room to see how we press loose curds into wheels. Today, I want to share a story about how necessity led us to one of our favorite cheeses, Four Leaf Clover, and the community partnerships that make these clothbound truckles possible. When Read more
Rennet, curds, whey, cheddaring. As you may have noticed throughout this series, cheesemaking has its special vocabulary. Before I can explain the next steps in our process, there are two more essential terms to define: hoops and followers. What are Hoops? Hoops are cylindrical containers that transform loose curds into Read more
Did you know that “cheddaring” is actually a verb in cheesemaking? At Clover Creek Cheese Cellar, this traditional technique is at the heart of what makes our cheddar so delicious for your family’s table. The History Behind Cheddaring: Born from Necessity Cheddar cheese wasn’t just invented. It was problem-solving at Read more
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