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PAGE 10A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 23. 2010
Hey foodies, why not whey
in on cheese making?
By Angela Reinhardt
Remember that Monty
Python skit where John Cleese’s
character enters a cheese shop,
and finds the place is mysteri
ously devoid of cheddar, Gouda,
fromage blanc, or any other
ripened milk product?
If you don’t, Google “The
Cheese Shop” and laugh your
curds off.
The skit offers no explanation
for the absence of 90 percent of
the cheeses Cleese rattles
through, but a likely theory is the
cheese maker lost his patience
along the way.
While there are numerous
cheeses that take next to no time
to create, such as ricotta, many
are a slow, methodical process
requiring you to conjure up both
the scientist and the artist within
yourself.
With some varieties there is a
ton of downtime. You add an in
gredient, wait for an hour. You
add another ingredient, wait for
another hour. And then there are
some varieties that require time-
consuming amounts of “gentle”
stirring, lots of precision, and
weeks, sometimes months, of
ripening.
But the end result is so satis
fying (and tasty) the time in
vested becomes a moot point.
Participants in Ball Ground
resident Debbie Bump’s home
cheese making classes learn this
Here Debbie Bump flips
a batch of Camembert at one
of her cheese making classes
in Ball Ground.
After adding starter and
rennet to heated farm fresh
milk it coagulates, forming
curds.
quickly. Bump, a real estate
agent who has made what began
as a personal hobby into a part-
time career, takes participants
through the entire cheese making
process, start to finish. At the end
of a $60, six-hour session each
student has had hands-on experi
ence making ricotta, feta and
Camembert, which she describes
as “kindergarten, middle school,
and high school,” levels of
cheese making.
The pace of the class is slow
to begin. Two giant stainless-
steel pots sit atop Bump’s flattop
range and she fills each with
three gallons of “raw,” or unpas
teurized milk purchased from a
dairy farm in Ellijay. One pot is
for the feta, the other for the
Camembert.
“You can’t use the ultra-pas
teurized stuff you get from the
grocery store,” Bump tells the
four women in this particular
class. “Believe me. I’ve thrown
gallons down the sink.”
After slowly heating the milk
to the correct temperature, 86 de
grees for feta, 90 for Camembert,
you add the “starter,” a bacteria
culture that converts milk sugar
into lactic acid.
Then you wait.
At this point Bump whips out
samples of mozzarella with fresh
basil and tomatoes, feta with sun-
dried tomatoes and chives,
grapes, white cheese and two
loaves of Italian Feather Bread
made with whey left over from a
previous ricotta session.
The bread was visually stun
ning and it tasted so good with
the cheeses that I didn’t touch
my packed lunch.
After an hour of eating, chat
ting cheese and checking out the
hen house in the back yard we
added rennet and did more wait
ing.
This time the result of the
hour-long down time period was
more exciting. The milk had
gone solid.
“What you want is a clean
break,” Bump said, directing us
to place our (washed) hands on
top of the solidified milk, more
commonly known as the “curd.”
At this point the class gets
more interesting. In turn the stu
dents, all beginners, sliced the
curd into cubes, drained, ladeled
and flipped until our cheese was
ready for aging.
Bump stores the feta and
Camembert cheeses in her
cheese fridge and calls when
your batch is ready because stor
age temperatures and humidity
must be precise.
We also whipped up a batch
of fresh ricotta in less than thirty
minutes, which each student took
home as a welcome parting gift,
along with recipes and enough
whey to make the scrumptious
feather bread.
With three softer cheeses
under our belt Bump tells us why
she teaches hard cheese classes
by request only.
“It’s a lot more complicated
and involved, and they take
months and months to ripen,”
she said. “These [soft] cheeses
give students a good taste of
three different varieties. It’s a
Cheese making students enjoy a smattering of home made
cheeses, bread and grapes during class.
Instructor Debbie Bump shows a student how to strain the
curds from the whey.
good starting point.”
Bump’s class is the perfect
place for a pair (or a batch) of
foodie friends to spend an after
noon learning the ancient art.
Coming armed with cheese ques
tions and a pal will make the
downtime breeze by unnoticed.
If you are interested in cheese
making you can get started with
minimal supplies from an online
cheese making supply company.
Call Bump at 770-317-9542
or email her at
debbiebump@windstream.net to
help you get started.
She offers classes every other
week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., ro
tating from Thursday to Satur
day. Classes are limited to four
students and Bump says they are
filling up fast, so curd-tail it on
over.
Coffee & Cookies
with the Girl Scouts
Have you ever been part of
Girl Scouts - whether as a girl or
an adult? Have you ever wanted
to get to know more about the
Girl Scout program? Whether
you were part of Girl Scouts for
only a little while or for many
years, or you just want to know
more about Girl Scouts, we want
to meet you.
Local Girl Scout volunteers in
Pickens, Gilmer and Fannin
counties are hosting a Coffee &
Cookies afternoon so they can
meet and talk with you. This
event will be a great chance to
network with other adults and
meet those who have journeyed
through Girl Scouts sometime
during their lifetime or to find
out what is so great about Girl
Scouts.
The Coffee & Cookies will be
Saturday, Sept. 25 from 4-5 p.m.
at the Ellijay Church of Christ
Fellowship Hall. There is no cost
for the event, so please come join
us for some fellowship with the
Girl Scouts in your community.
If you need directions or have
questions, please contact Diane
Wilson at 770-893-7455 (call or
text) or e-mail to:
dwilson@gsgatl.org
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Special Thanks to
Al Lawson and Lawson Chevrolet
for the “Coolest Car” in the
Homecoming Parade!
From Chelsea Coleman
and Larry Coleman
U • K' Vl
I . IA l-l
Home Depot to hold
Pubic Safety event Oct. 9
L-R: Home Depot employees Kathy Kozik, Debi King, Valeria Watson, and Store Manager Andy
Ellise stand with Pickens County Sheriff Donnie Craig and staff member Kathy Quinton.
The Jasper Home Depot
would like to invite everyone to
the “Public Safety for Pickens
County” event to be held on Sat
urday, Oct. 9, from 10-2. This ex
citing event will include various
safety demonstrations by the
Pickens County Sheriff’s Office,
the Pickens County Fire Depart
ment, Pickens County Emer
gency Medical Services, the
Georgia State Patrol, Georgia
Power and others.
Local restaurants such as
Domino’s and Peking Garden
will be on site. There will also be
cotton candy, popcorn and hot
dogs. This event will be fun and
informative for all ages. The
Home Depot will be hosting a
Kid’s Workshop as well. So be
sure to come out and meet your
local Public Safety officials and
learn more about safety at home
and on our roadways.
Not sleeping well?
It's 4 a.m. You're wide awake. And the
clock isn't helping. The specialists at
Piedmont Mountainside Hospital Sleep
Center can. Whether you suffer from sleep
apnea, insomnia, restless leg syndrome,
narcolepsy or night terrors, our specialists
are committed to helping you get a
peaceful night's sleep again. It's all about
helping you restore, revitalize and rest. It's
the perfect balance between
health & care.
For more information, call 706-253-2378
or visit piedmontmountainsidehospital.org.
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