Boston Flora

Tag: cheese making

  • Sunday, January 26, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Cheese Making at Home

    Learn how to make a simple, delicious cheese in your own kitchen. Berkshire Botanical Garden’s own Chris Wellens will cover equipment, supplies, and basic techniques used in making nearly all types of cheese. While making 3 types of cheese, fresh from start to finish, an emphasis will be on making a unique cheese unlike any at your local grocery store. After enjoying the fresh-made cheeses, each person will take home instructions and a set of ingredients to make a batch or two at home. This workshop is for beginners, and participants will learn by doing.

    Chris Wellens is the Director of Education at BBG and is an avid cheesemaker at home. He has taught the art of cheesemaking to adults, children, and educators throughout New England. He also teaches on a wide variety of other topics involving the environment, gardening, beekeeping, and agriculture.

    Sponsored by Guido’s Fresh Marketplace. To place your name on a wait list visit https://www.berkshirebotanical.org/events/cheese-making-home-0

     

  • Saturday, October 22 – 9:00 am – 2:30 pm – Cheese-Making and Farmhouse Cider-Making

    At Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, learn how to make a simple, delicious cheese in your own kitchen. BBG’s own Chris Wellens will cover equipment, supplies, and basic techniques used in making most types of cheese. Each participant will make a batch of fresh mozzarella from start to finish, as well as take home instructions and a set of ingredients to make a batch or two at home. This workshop is for beginners, and participants will learn by doing. $5 materials cost paid to the instructor. The cheese making session will be held from 9 – 11. Then, at 11:30, after a short break, you will delve into the mysteries of cider. In New England, cider-making is to autumn what maple sugaring is to the spring season: a cultural activity. Cider expert Dennis D. Picard will teach us the history and process of this American tradition from the selection and collection of apples to the pressing of the fruit which results not merely in apple juice, but the extracted liquid from apples which is capable of fermentation. Picard will teach us how the fermentation process can result in 4% to 8% alcohol content in the cider that allows it to be kept from just after it is made all the way to the next season’s apple harvest. This program includes a slide presentation, a lesson on apple selection and varietal characteristics, grinding and pressing techniques, and an understanding of the art of fermentation.

    Dennis D. Picard has been a museum professional in the “Living History” field for over 30 years. He began his career at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA, where he eventually spent 12 years filling various positions, including “lead interpreter,” where he researched and designed many public programs that are still offered by that institution today. He is presently director at Storrowton Village Museum in West Springfield, MA.

    You may sign up for each session separately (cheese course is $40 for BBG members, $45 for nonmembers, and cider is $25 for BBG members and $30 for nonmembers) or enjoy a 10% discount if you register for both. Call 413-298-3926 to register.

  • Saturday, March 9, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Making Goat Cheese

    Join Hawthorne Valley Farm’s cheese maker, Peter Kindel, on Saturday, March 9 at the Town of Stockbridge Town Offices, 50 Main Street in Stockbridge, for a cheese-making workshop using goat’s milk. He will demonstrate how to make a fresh chevre and a hard tome and will share tips and techniques for making fresh and aged goat cheeses from start to finish. The demonstration will be followed by a tasting and discussion of different goat cheeses.

    Peter Kindel has been making, selling, tasting and teaching about cheese for 18 years. It began as a hobby, but after studying cheese-making in France, England and Scotland, he worked in such highly acclaimed cheese outlets in NYC as Picholine, Artisanal and Murray’s Cheese. He has made cheese in Vermont, Colorado and California, and currently leads the Hawthorne Valley farm creamery in New York’s Hudson Valley (below.) The program is sponsored by the Berkshire Botanical Garden and is $45 for BBG members, $50 for non members, and you may sign up at www.berkshirebotanical.org.

  • Saturday, February 4, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Cheese-Making Workshop

    With the abundance of local and raw milk, homeowners can now expand their domestic arts into the realm of cheese making. This Berkshire Botanical Garden program on Saturday, February 4, from 1 – 3 will introduce the craft of basic fresh cheese making, both concepts and process. Participants will watch and help local homesteader/farmer Dominic Palumbo, from Moon in the Pond Farm, make a simple “Farm Cheese.” The program will conclude with a tasting and tips for how to turn your wonderful cheese into the perfect treat for family or guests including how and what to serve it with. This program will be held off site.

    Dominic Palumbo owns Moon in the Pond Farm, a NOFA (Northeast Organic Farmers Association) certified organic farm in Sheffield, MA. He produces organic eggs, milk, meat, wool, yarn and honey. Register on line at www.berkshirebotanical.org ($30 BBG members, $35 non-members) and directions will be sent.