Professional Artisan Cheesemaking Workshop coming up

10 July 2018

ASCA Professional Artisan Cheesemaking Workshops with Ivan Larcher - book now

For professional cheesemakers, buttermakers and start-up cheesemakers who are ASCA members, we have 2 upcoming 2-day workshops with Ivan Larcher (both subsidised by ASCA):

1. Professional Artisan Cheesemaking Fundamentals Workshop (Mon 30/Tue 31 July)

2. Advanced Professional Artisan Cheesemakers' Workshop (Wed 1/Thur 2 August)

Bookings are now open - see below.

Ivan Larcher is a world-renowned cheesemaker, educator and consultant, who provides technical support and training for artisan and farmhouse cheesemakers in the USA, Canada, the UK, Europe, Scandinavia, South America, the Middle East and Australia (see below for more information about Ivan and our cheesemakers’ responses to what he provides.)

ASCA arranges for Ivan to visit Australia twice a year. These workshops are a great opportunity for Australian artisan cheesemakers to access Ivan’s expertise, expertise which is not available elsewhere in Australia. 

Workshop 1:  Professional Artisan Cheesemaking Fundamentals Workshop
Melbourne, Monday 30 July and Tuesday 31 July 2018

Perfect for upcoming professional cheesemakers, those who want to become professional cheesemakers, or just those who want a refresher of the all-important basics of professional artisan cheesemaking -  a structured small-scale classroom-style workshop over 2 days to learn what is required to make great artisan cheese, including the latest tips and techniques for improving artisan cheese outcomes.

Led by world-renowned master cheesemaker and educator Ivan Larcher, 'Professional Artisan Cheesemaking Fundamentals' will provide you with the practical and scientific knowledge needed to create exquisite small-scale artisanal cheese. This workshop offers a whole-system perspective on cheesemaking:

   * beginning on the farm, with the animals, their milk and milk quality

   * then diving deep into both the science and art of cheesemaking by exploring raw and pasteurised milk theory, cheese microbiology, coagulants, curdling mechanisms, and starters

   * and the importance of using pH meters correctly

   * then looking at the artisanal production of lactic, hard, soft, semi-soft and brie/camembert-style cheeses

   * then the focus shifts to affinage, with attention to ripening cultures, climate control, rind treatment, and handling throughout the ageing process

   * finishing with a session on defects and troubleshooting, providing invaluable tools for managing production and working through the challenges of the inherently variable processes of milk quality, cheesemaking and ageing. 

Part of the workshop will be set aside for Ivan to address individual cheesemakers' issues - issues might be specific to a style of cheese, general or specific issues in the cheesemaking process or problems or opportunities facing cheesemakers. 

Workshop 2:  Advanced Professional Artisan Cheesemaking Workshop
Melbourne, Wednesday 1 and Tuesday 2 August 2018

Well-suited to cheesemakers who have done Ivan's workshops before, or who plan to do the Fundamentals workshop before the Advanced one. This workshop will cover a range of practical issues faced by professional artisan cheesemakers and buttermakers, including:

   * Drainage issues and cheese ripening/rind development

   * Affinage - practical techniques for caring/developing the right conditions for ripening of semi-hard and hard cheeses (especially when you don't own an expensive air system!)

   * Lactic and soft cheeses - techniques for getting good curd set throughout the year

   * Cultures - more information about the STANDA range of cultures and practical issues in using them, including hearing from those who have used them to develop new or improve existing cheeses, butters and yogurts

   * Raw milk cheesemaking in Australia - update on the key issues for raw milk cheesemaking in Australia, including hearing from those who are doing it well

   * General troubleshooting session - your opportunity to ask Ivan to solve particular problems with cheesemaking or ripening

Part of the workshop will be set aside for Ivan to address individual cheesemakers' issues - issues might be specific to a style of cheese, general or specific issues in the cheesemaking process or problems or opportunities facing cheesemakers. 

Other workshop details

   * Ivan teaches the methods and tools used by the great cheesemakers of the world, in a practical way that enables cheesemakers to apply the techniques to their own cheesemaking. They do not require you to buy expensive equipment.

   * 2-day interactive small-scale workshops, including extensive notes and plenty of opportunities to ask questions

   * Opportunity to bring along cheeses for evaluation by Ivan, both good and bad (don't be shy, we all have them!)

   * Lunch and morning/afternoon tea/coffee included each day

   * Available exclusively to ASCA Cheesemaker, Start-Up Cheesemaker and Buttermaker members, and the cost is subsidised by ASCA

ASCA gratefully acknowledges the sponsorship of the RASV in hosting this workshop.

We look forward to seeing many members at these workshops, which will also serve as important networking and information-sharing sessions for our Cheesemaker, Start-Up Cheesemaker and Buttermaker members.

Cheesemaker responses to Ivan Larcher

By way of background for those who don't know him, Ivan is a world-renowned cheesemaker, educator and consultant. He visits Australia twice a year exclusively for ASCA to work with our cheesemaker members. 

Many of you have participated in Professional Cheesemaking Workshops we have run with Ivan in previous years in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Others would have experienced his one-on-one consultancies or his various Dairy Australia webinars.

The feedback is that Ivan's practical expertise and ability to communicate it to our cheesemakers is outstanding. A typical comment was "I can highly recommend him and really no one in our industry should miss this opportunity." See here for more comments from ASCA cheesemakers about Ivan's teaching and expertise.

Ivan's expertise is highly sought-after throughout the world, so it is difficult to get as much of his time as we would like. This is particularly now that he runs his own small dairy and cheesemaking business, as well as conducting cheesemaking classes, on the farm he and his wife, Julie, own in central France. Indeed, he has pulled out of much of the consulting and teaching work he did for many years in the UK and the US so that he can focus on his new business - and on Australia. 

Ivan is committed to continuing to visit Australia twice a year (and hopefully more often in future) to work with our cheesemakers and contribute to our growing artisan cheese industry.

Cost: $550 for each; $950 for both

Tickets / Information: see booking links above