Discover the Best Cheese Making Classes in Los Angeles
All it takes to make your own cheese is a couple of simple ingredients and a bit of time. Whether you’ve got a taste for fresh mozzarella or for an aged bleu, the same steps and basic ingredients can be used to transform milk into a delicious block, ball, or wheel of cheese.
Everything starts with milk, which can be anything from a cow’s milk to a goat’s milk to a plant-based milk like soy. This milk is acidified by adding an acid or a bacterial culture, which causes the milk to produce more lactic acid which makes it easier for the milk to solidify into cheese curds. After the acidified milk is heated up a bit, a coagulant like rennet is added, which causes the milk to curdle and separate into solid curd and liquid whey. Once this solid curd has had some time to cook, it is cut into smaller blocks and drained, at which point it is ready to be formed into a solid cheese. The curds are salted and pressed, pulled, or otherwise formed into cheese that can be enjoyed immediately or aged to develop more flavor.
Why You Should Learn Cheese Making in Los Angeles
Charcuterie boards have become quite trendy in recent years, and grocery stores have increased their cheese selections to help meet this demand. While it is becoming increasingly easy to find a variety of cheeses in a store, part of the appeal of the charcuterie board is an appreciation for cheese as an artisanal product rather than a mass-produced food. Those who truly value food making as a craft may be interested in going the extra step and learning how to make cheese by hand.
With the rise of craft sites like Etsy and a glut of online blogs and forums, it has never been easier to get into this type of artisanal hobby. Even if there are no local hot spots to meet fellow cheese makers, there are thriving online communities where passionate individuals share tips, tricks, and advice to help newbies enter the hobby or just share projects and chat cheese.
In-Person Cheese Making Classes in Los Angeles
The best way to learn how to make cheese is with plenty of hands-on practice, and there is no better way to get this practice than by enrolling in a cheese making class. Instead of following an online blog or a YouTube video, consider taking advantage of one of the many options for cheese making available in the greater Los Angeles area to work with an expert instructor in person.
Inglewood, just Southwest of Los Angeles, is home to VPN Americas, the American branch of the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana, an international organization started by a group of pizza makers in Naples. This organization is dedicated to the art of pizza making, preserving the tradition of methods and techniques used to make authentic Neapolitan pizza that started in Naples, Italy more than 300 years ago. And the authentic method for making a proper pizza includes making the cheese by hand.
The Regular Pizza Course and the Professional Pizza Course at VPN Americas teach much more than just making cheese, but are a great option for those whose interest in cheese intersects with a broader culinary interest in pizza. As part of the comprehensive hands-on practice offered in these workshops, participants learn how to prepare several different types of cheeses appropriate for pizza usage, including ricotta, fresh mozzarella, smoked mozzarella, and burrata. These classes also include, depending on availability, a 30-minute tour of a local cheese factory where participants can watch the process of producing mozzarella on a larger scale.
Virtual Cheese Making Classes
Sometimes it can be hard to find the perfect cheese making class. Whether it’s because the classroom is too far away, the class time causes scheduling conflicts, or the course content isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, there are times when the classes available don’t quite fit. Luckily, there are plenty of online cheese making classes that can provide the same quality access to an expert instructor.
While these online classes come with added flexibility, they do impose one restriction: they require a bit more prep work upfront. While an in-person class will provide the materials and a work space set up for cheese making, you’ll need to take those matters into your own hands with an online class. While the class should provide a shopping list, expect to go shopping for those materials on your own time prior to the class date.
Currently, online classes are a good option for those looking to work with cheese in applications like cooking and tasting. If you’re looking for something a bit more focused on the step-by-step process of making cheeses, be sure to check back regularly; CourseHorse’s listings are constantly updating.
Cheese plays a huge part in many refined social gatherings. Whether through a charcuterie board or a wine and cheese tasting, classy gatherings can go a long way by focusing on the flavor of cheese. If the principles of taste and pairings are important, then a tasting session may be a great way to learn about cheese. NYC Wine Company provides sessions focused on palate development in their wine tasting classes like Islands & Volcanoes. While wine is the star of the show here, this class also provides suggestions for cheese pairings. And because NYC Wine Company wants to get people to get in touch with their taste buds, a class like this can be a great option to develop tasting skills and pairing principles.
While tasting a cheese by itself is one thing, another way to get good usage from artisanal cheese is to incorporate it into a recipe. Aspiring cheese connoisseurs who enjoy cooking may be interested in a cooking class to help weave their own cheeses into delicious dishes. The League of Kitchens hosts several online cooking classes where immigrants teach traditional recipes from a wide range of world cuisines. Feta is a staple of Greek cooking, so The Greek Online Workshop and the Greek Cooking Online are great ways to learn how to put feta to use in traditional dishes like spanakopita and bouyiardi.
Private Group Cheese Making Classes in Los Angeles
A hands-on activity can form the cornerstone of a great social event or team-building exercise. While some cheeses take a long time to age, many cheeses like mozzarella can be thrown to under an hour, and the techniques for hand-pulling make it a great hands-on social activity for those looking to bond over an activity and a meal. CourseHorse offers live online cheese-related cooking and tasting classes for private groups in Los Angeles to help make bonding over cheese a reality.
If you’re more interested in making cheese than in eating cheese, you can contact CourseHorse to learn about additional options for cheese making classes, and they will get to work scheduling the perfect event for your group.
Once you’ve booked your perfect event with CourseHorse, you’ll receive a confirmation within 24 hours, and your event provider will also follow up with a personal introduction. CourseHorse also makes it easy to change your group size after you’ve booked; if you need to add to your party or otherwise adjust your headcount, you can easily change your group online, and CourseHorse won’t finalize payment for the class until you’ve finalized your headcount. Virtual classes are hosted over Zoom, but CourseHorse can accommodate other online platforms like Microsoft Teams and Google Meets for your convenience.
Made in NYC
