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College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

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Learn to Make Cheese With OSU Extension Workshop

September 4, 2008

JEFFERSON, Ohio -- Enhance your dairy operation with a farmstead cheese business with the aid of an Ohio State University Extension cheese-making workshop.

OSU Extension in Ashtabula County will offer the workshop Nov. 19-21. "Hands-On Basic Cheese Making -- Enhancing Dairy Profitability with Cheese," is packed with information on a milk quality, ingredients used in cheese making, cheese-making processes and techniques and tips for establishing a cheese-making business.

Registration is $425 per person and includes course tuition, resource materials, all workshop supplies, lunches and refreshments. Registration is limited to 15 people and is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Peter Dixon, one of the nation's premier cheese-making instructors and operator of the Center for Farmstead Milk Processing in Vermont, will teach the course. Dixon's experience includes training with fourth-generation French cheese makers; working as a cheese maker and quality control manager at Shelburne Farms and Vermont Butter and Cheese; consulting on international development projects to create farmstead cheese cooperatives, improve product quality, and develop brand recognition for local sheep cheeses; and developing and operating food safety programs for Vermont Butter and Cheese Company and the Vermont shepherd cheese producers.

David Marrison, an OSU Extension educator for Ashtabula County, said that the workshop is intended for those interested in a value-added opportunity in meeting the public's growing demand for local cheeses.

"Farmstead and artisan cheese operations allow dairy farm families to become price-makers instead of price-takers for their milk," said Marrison. The heart of the workshop is the hands-on opportunity to make a number of different cheeses, including Gouda, Havarti, lactic, Tome, provolone, ricotta and mozzarella.

According to the Ohio Department of Agriculture, Ohio ranks eighth in the nation in general cheese making, and first in the nation in Swiss cheese production.

For more information, contact the OSU Extension office in Ashtabula County at (440) 576-9008, or e-mail Abbey Averill at averill.10@osu.edu.

Author(s): 
Candace Pollock
Source(s): 
David Marrison