Faith, Beer, and Other Things That Interest Geoff

There's no big secret to making cheese: Let milk curdle; separate the curds from the whey, or watery remains; salt; press; and age.

Cheese. It's been done the same way for centuries.

Making great cheese is another matter. That's a mix of science, experience, art - and more than a little obsession.

Crafting distinctive artisanal cheese was long the domain of European makers, while U.S. dairies focused on mass production of cheddar and other popular American cheeses.

But over the last two decades, a small but growing group of cheese-makers in California, Wisconsin, Vermont - and even Southeastern Pennsylvania - have set out to prove that fine U.S. cheeses, like wines, can stand up without shame next to the old-world competition.

Ask Trent Hendricks, a Montgomery County man who chucked a successful trucking business to make cheese. In just four years, he has won several national awards and has seen his products land on the menus of fine restaurants.
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There are any number of decisions to be made in processing and aging that determine what kind of cheese will result. Do you wash the curds or not? Heat the curds or not? Mill the curds before pressing? Salt the curds before ripening and, if so, how much? Let the cheese ripen after dipping in wax or acquire a hard-rind? Acquire a white mold or blue?

"It still amazes me how you can take one thing and come out with such an incredibly large variety of products," Hendricks says.