FRENCH CHEESE MAKING CLASS

During a weekend in May this year I took a French cheese making class in western Massachusetts from Jim Wallace, the big cheese tech guy. There were 8 of us eager students in his basement learning the finer points of Reblochon, Brie, and Tomme de Savoie. They were all made with local jersery milk and Jim took us from the initial heating of the milk, tho not pasteurized, to the eventual pressing and placing in his cheese cave for aging. During our lunch times he brought out wheels from former classes for us to taste and discuss. Three of the students brought cheeses they had made which Jim opened, critiqued and we all then enjoyed, except one soft cheese that was too old and quite bitter. One was a cheddar that traveled clear from Nairobi, Kenya, another, a goat cheese came down from Canada. It was a fabulous two days, making, smelling, talking about and eating cheese. Jim is a regular tinkerer, in addition to making cheese he also makes wine with grapes he gets from Argentina, plus makes his own cheese and wine cultures, and interesting things of every sort hiding out in his basement laboratory.