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CHEESE lovers! Join us for the Fifth Annual SF Cheese Fest! Mingle with 20+ Guild-member cheesemakers from across the state, sampling dozens of new and classic California cheeses. Joining us will be pioneering producers like Bellwether Farms, Cowgirl Creamery, Cypress Grove Cheese, Di Stefano Cheese, Point Reyes Farmstead, and some of California’s newest producers like Bivalve Dairy, Daily Driver, Folly Cheese Co., Wm Cofield Cheesemakers, and Moonside Creamery, among others. The Cheese School of San Franciso, Gus’s Community Market, and Mission Cheese will offer inspired bites, alongside samples of cured meats, pickles, jams, and chocolate, all from local makers. Wet your whistle with libations from the Bay Area’s finest brewers, winemakers, and cidermakers. While you sip and sample, you’ll enjoy live music by the renowned SF-based gypsy jazz banch Gaucho. All attendees will receive a free 1-year subscription to Culture Magazine. Entry includes all bites and beverages.

All ticket proceeds from this fun and flavoriful evening benefit the California Artisan Cheese Guild, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to the education and support of artisan cheese making. Tickets are non refundable.

Photo by Ellen Cronin.

We’ve got a great line-up of Sunday Seminars as part of this year’s SF Cheese Fest celebration, in collaboration with our friends at The Cheese School of San Francisco. Whether it’s Hands-On Cheesemaking, paring Cheese & SF Chocolate, or creating a Happier Hour, we’ve got you covered. Details: https://www.sfcheesefest.com/tickets

Cheesemakers, we invite you to join the California Artisan Cheese Guild and Professor Moshe Rosenberg of UC Davis for this in-depth session on the art, the science, and the technology of cheesemaking.

About the class:

The success of cheesemakers, and especially of artisan cheesemakers in the current marketplace is critically dependent on the unique quality attributes of the cheeses they make and deliver. The highly competitive nature of the marketplace requires cheese makers to develop competitive skills that can allow them to design, and prepare unique cheeses, in a way that reflects both the elements of terroir and the technical skills of the cheesemaker. This course is design to address the unique needs and challenges associated with small- scale cheesemaking. The course consists of two full days of lectures and discussions.

The course will introduce and discuss the multitude of scientific and technical disciplines that collectively govern the quality of milk for cheese making, the transformation of milk to curd and, later on, the development of cheese quality attributes. The course is designed to equip the participants with the basic understanding and practical information needed to successfully design, prepare and market high quality, commercially competitive cheeses.

Unlike traditional cheese making courses, this course will address and discuss the distinctive relationships between elements of terroir and cheese making practices that allow designing and preparing cheeses with regional uniqueness. The course will discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with utilization of goats, ewes and cows milk in cheese making.

Topics that are covered and discussed during the course:

Quality, composition and processibility of goat, ewe and cow’s milk
Cold storage of milk and its implications on cheese making and on cheese quality
Somatic cells and the impact of SCC on cheese making and on cheese quality
Microorganisms in cheese making
Enzymes in cheese making
Terroir elements in cheese making
Transforming milk into curd: acid and enzymatic curds In-the-vat curd manipulations – controlling moisture content, acidity, texture and quality
Curd drainage and pressing
Salt in cheese making: dry salting and brining operations
Cheese aging operations
Flavor and texture development in cheese
Wisely selecting enzymes and microbial starter for cheese making
Wisely selecting equipment for cheese making
Designing cheese quality attributes
Cleaning and sanitizing operations in cheese making
Trouble shooting in cheese making – identifying cause and effect relationships
Basic analyses that make life easier
Who should attend?

The course is highly valuable to: artisan and small-scale cheese makers, those who consider becoming cheese makers, cheese marketers and dealers, cheese buyers as well as those who use cheese in culinary applications.

Ticket price includes two days of instruction, class materials, as well as coffee/light breakfast and lunch each day.

Class is from 8:30am-4:30pm on September 24 and September 25.

Instructor: Dr. Moshe Rosenberg, Professor and Dairy Specialist

Department of Food Science and Technology University of California, Davis Davis, CA 95616

Cheesemakers, we invite you to join the California Artisan Cheese Guild and Professor Moshe Rosenberg of UC Davis for this in-depth session on the art, the science, and the technology of cheesemaking.

About the class:

The success of cheesemakers, and especially of artisan cheesemakers in the current marketplace is critically dependent on the unique quality attributes of the cheeses they make and deliver. The highly competitive nature of the marketplace requires cheese makers to develop competitive skills that can allow them to design, and prepare unique cheeses, in a way that reflects both the elements of terroir and the technical skills of the cheesemaker. This course is design to address the unique needs and challenges associated with small- scale cheesemaking. The course consists of two full days of lectures and discussions.

The course will introduce and discuss the multitude of scientific and technical disciplines that collectively govern the quality of milk for cheese making, the transformation of milk to curd and, later on, the development of cheese quality attributes. The course is designed to equip the participants with the basic understanding and practical information needed to successfully design, prepare and market high quality, commercially competitive cheeses.

Unlike traditional cheese making courses, this course will address and discuss the distinctive relationships between elements of terroir and cheese making practices that allow designing and preparing cheeses with regional uniqueness. The course will discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with utilization of goats, ewes and cows milk in cheese making.

Topics that are covered and discussed during the course:

Quality, composition and processibility of goat, ewe and cow’s milk
Cold storage of milk and its implications on cheese making and on cheese quality
Somatic cells and the impact of SCC on cheese making and on cheese quality
Microorganisms in cheese making
Enzymes in cheese making
Terroir elements in cheese making
Transforming milk into curd: acid and enzymatic curds In-the-vat curd manipulations – controlling moisture content, acidity, texture and quality
Curd drainage and pressing
Salt in cheese making: dry salting and brining operations
Cheese aging operations
Flavor and texture development in cheese
Wisely selecting enzymes and microbial starter for cheese making
Wisely selecting equipment for cheese making
Designing cheese quality attributes
Cleaning and sanitizing operations in cheese making
Trouble shooting in cheese making – identifying cause and effect relationships
Basic analyses that make life easier
Who should attend?

The course is highly valuable to: artisan and small-scale cheese makers, those who consider becoming cheese makers, cheese marketers and dealers, cheese buyers as well as those who use cheese in culinary applications.

Ticket price includes two days of instruction, class materials, as well as coffee/light breakfast and lunch each day.

Class is from 8:30am-4:30pm on September 24 and September 25.

Instructor: Dr. Moshe Rosenberg, Professor and Dairy Specialist

Department of Food Science and Technology University of California, Davis Davis, CA 95616

The California Artisan Cheese Guild is thrilled to announce that the National Dairy Food Safety Coalition will offer a two day Artisan Dairy Food Safety Plan Coaching Workshop in San Rafael, CA, on October 17 and 18, 2019.
These workshops are intended for artisan cheese and dairy food producers who are preparing to create, or are already developing, a Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) compliant, preventive control (PC)-based, food safety plan for their facility. The goal of these workshops is to provide Food Safety Plan review and coaching sessions that guide attendees through each step in development process. Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI) lead trainers will be present to review key food safety plan topics and after each section participants will split into groups and develop those sections of their food safety plan with coaching from the trainers. Templates (digital and paper) will be provided to facilitate plan development; attendees are encouraged to bring their current or in-progress plans.

1. The workshops is limited to the first 20 registrants. Additional registrants will be added to a wait list and additional workshops scheduled as needed to meet demand.
2. There are NO prerequisites. PCQI certification is recommended but not required prior to enrollment.
3. If started, attendees should bring a plan to develop. Multiple products may be grouped under a single plan; please work with the course coach (dairyfoodsafetycoach@cornell.edu) if you need assistance determining if products should be grouped or split.
4. Attendees who wish to work on digital versions of their plans are encouraged to bring their own laptops.

Who Should Attend: Artisan cheese and dairy food producers just starting off, those taking the next step in their Food Safety Plan Development, and those looking for a review of their current plans.

Note: These workshops are NOT intended to provide PCQI certification. Attendees are encouraged to enroll and complete the Food Safety for Artisan/Farmstead Cheesemakers prior to taking this workshop. The link, along with a code, to this online training will be provided upon registration.

These workshops are made possible through the support of a USDA grant, obtained in collaboration with North Carolina State University, University of Connecticut, and the Innovation Center for US Dairy.

Registration: https://dairyextension.foodscience.cornell.edu/content/1017-1819-artisan-dairy-food-safety-plan-coaching-workshop-california/