Courses

In this course, we will discover how humanity is bound to cheese and how cheese is a magical summation of the land, animals, and chemistry from which it is cultivated. We will taste nearly two dozen cheeses throughout the course. Get ready for fresh, unripened cheeses, bloomy rind cheeses (brie types), washed rind cheeses (taleggio types), cheddars, alpine cheeses (swiss types), parmesan cheeses, washed curd cheeses (gouda types), manchegos, blue cheeses, and more. We’ll familiarize ourselves with the possibilities each style presents and consider the economics behind a cheese’s price tag.

By delving into the historical origins of cheese, students will learn how geographic and cultural circumstances yielded unique recipes and styles of cheese—no, blue cheese didn’t come from a shepherd’s lost lunch, but you can thank the farmwives of northern France for your brie-style cheeses and the monks of Burgundy for your stinky cheeses. We will examine the science of cheesemaking, from the nuances of milk chemistry to the fundamentals of cheesemaking and the alchemy of affinage (cheese aging), each with its myriad influences on a cheese’s flavor, texture, and ageability. We will learn that cheese types have objective flavors and aromas that can be anticipated and used to guide pairing. By the end of the course, students will have a deeper understanding of cheesemaking past and present, as well as a robust cheese vocabulary and an expanded palate.