I’ve been reminded that today is my 10th anniversary of cheesemaking. Twitter figures into this story–as it does into the origin of the podcast–so let me see if I can tell this story in the right way…

Kid1’s birthday is just a few days after Christmas, so it’s always tough to come up with 2 events’ worth of presents all in one fell swoop. I was feeling a bit stumped.

I had 2 friends, one in Kentucky and one in Tennesse, who used to argue back and forth about whose state was the most redneck (each claiming the crown for their own state). One day one of them tweeted this:

Hmm….parent & child cheesemaking class?

Kid1 had loved cheeses of all kinds since he was a baby. Everything from brie to blue, since before he could talk.

I wondered if I might find such a thing in my area..and thanks to the power of Lord Google, I discovered that YES, there was a parent & child cheesemaking class scheduled for Jan 6, just a week after his birthday, at the San Francisco Cheese School. It was taught by one Louella Hill.

We made creme fraiche, ricotta, and stretched some pre-made mozzarella curd. I had never before had such ricotta!
In between, we tasted a couple of cheeses, burrata and a goat cheddar (with wine for the parents, sparkling cider for the kids)…

Then we got a 20-minute overview of cheesemaking science. Kid1 is a great fan of science and was an enthusiastic audience for that portion especially.

A couple of years later I took a Pecorino class from her. She kinda thought she recognized me when I walked in, so I showed her the picture of Kid1 stretching curd. Her whole face lit up and she exclaimed, “Oh, I remember him! He was SOOO excited about it all!”

When she signed the copy of her book that we bought, she addressed it to Kid1, telling him he’d be a great cheesemaker some day. In point of fact, he has demonstrated no further interest in making cheese, but he is quite happy to have a mom who makes it for him.

So here we are, 10 years later, several cheeses always in the cave, a podcast, and who knows where this will all go next. All thanks to Kid1 and his fondness for cheese. And a bit of inspiration from Twitter friends.

Originally tweeted by IntoTheCurdverse (@curdverse) on January 7, 2023.