May the Force Brie With You :

A step-by-step guide to brie cheese, courtesy of

Trumansburg Middle School & Master Yoda

By Elizabeth Goodwin

The best cheese begins with the best quality milk. At 8:20 AM, the magic began…the Brie

Boys (left to right: Jaden S. and Evan B.) poured Ithaca Milk into the cheese vat.

“Ready are you?...A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind.”

The Brie Boys turned on the burner, and monitored the milk as it heated to 90˚F. For 2 gallons of milk, this takes 15-20 minutes. It is important to heat the milk gently and slowly, to avoid solids sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.

“Patience you must have, my young padawan.”

Once the milk has reached the desired temperature, turn off the burner completely. It is time to add the cultures – C 101, Geotrichum C7, and P. candidum.  (Unfortunately, we forgot to take pictures of this step. So, this is a picture of the culture packets on the table).

“Feel the force!”

Next, to make the potion complete, add calcium chloride. Any milk that has been pasteurized and cold-stored should have CaCl added to it. It is sometimes recommended when using raw milk, as well. (We also did not take pictures of this step, so Evan is pictured here acting it out post-fact. In reality the CaCl was carefully measured out J).  

Stir in additions gently and thoroughly!

“You will find only what you bring in.”

While maintaining the temperature at 90˚F, let the milk rest for 30 minutes. We were able to do this by simply putting a cover on the pot. If you notice the temperature dropping, perhaps try wrapping the pot with towels. Because brie uses a mesophilic starter, it would be better for the milk temperature to drop a bit than get too warm, so we don’t advise turning on the burner.

When the timer goes off (we hope you are using a timer), add the rennet, stirring it into the milk gently for 1 minute. Now find something to do (sanitize equipment?), because you must put the lid back on and let the milk rest for 90 minutes.

“Difficult to see. Always in motion the future is.”

As Master Yoda promised, our patience serves us…behold! A firm

curd mass! This is where the real fun begins. It is time to transfer the curd into the prepared mould(s). The mould should be sitting on a draining mat. We set up our mould + draining mat on a drying rack inside a large plastic tub, to contain the whey. (It sounds complicated, but it’s not).

Transfer the curd to the mold in thin layers, using a slotted spoon (as you can see, we did not use a slotted spoon at first – oops). It is best to take this process slow. After each addition, give the curd time to settle and drain off whey.

If all the curd does not fit when the mold(s) is full, simply wait and the curd will settle. Then add the rest. (This is also a reason to have more than one mold on hand).

For many more pictures of this process, flip to the last page.

“Mudhole? Slimy? My home this is!”

Allow the curds to settle at ambient temperature 68-74˚F (we figured room temperature on a warm, sunny day would do the trick).

Picture above taken at 1:00 pm…not bad for 4.5 hours!

Picture above taken at 1:00 pm…not bad for 4.5 hours!

Picture above taken at 1:00 pm…not bad for 4.5 hours!

To assure complete draining of the cheese, it will need to be turned regularly. Reference the recipe from cheesemaking.com for information on turning the cheese. Our process is somewhat different than what their recipe describes.

We were able to confidently slide our cheeses out of their moulds and turn them after they had been left to drain overnight.

“Do or not do. There is no try.”

Turning the cheese…

“The future of all Jedi uncertain is. Move forward cautiously we must.”

During the next 18-24 hours (Draining Day 1), the cheese will drain down to about ⅓ of the original curd height.

Flip the young cheese several times during this time.

“If no mistake you have made, losing you are. A different game you should play.”

At this point, much has been accomplished. But this is not the end. Stay tuned for the next installment of “May the Force Brie With You” …

Draining Day 2 and Storage

“Much to learn you still have, my old padawan. This is just the beginning!

Localvore Club Gets Some Culture

Localvore Club hasn't been able to cook for the past few weeks because the Home & Careers students have needed the kitchen. That doesn't mean we've been idle, though. Students have been exploring the world of cultured foods--in other words, yogurt and cheese! Their first experiment was filmjolk. See below for a peek into this fascinating food!

Filmjolk presentation from tburgMS

The Students Weigh In

Since the Localvore Lunches are on a pause, our students have had time to reflect on their experience this fall. Their entries below will also be published in the upcoming issue of the Trumansburg Troubadour, a student-run newsletter of the TCSD Foundation, which has so generously supported our club. 

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Matthew S. writes: 

The Localvore Club is a group of people who cook for the adults in the middle school in Tburg every Thursday. I came up with the idea by reading a boring book for me called Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. My teacher’s name is Ms. Bryant and she asked us, “what could we do that would make you interested in this book?” I told her I wanted to cook. I wanted to cook for the teachers for working hard even when kids were being jerks; they still went on teaching no matter what. Ms. Bryant also said other students could join if they wanted to and if their teachers were okay with them missing some classes, as long as they promised to make up the work. My friend is Alex O., my best friend. We cook together with a teacher named Ms. Salib, our 8th grade science teacher.

Matthew & Alex cook up some spaghetti squash.

 Alex O. writes: 

I started by joining in and cooking on Wednesdays every week because my friend Matthew wanted me to join.  I think that anyone can join if you wanted to in the school . We come up to the library every Thursday, well almost every Thursday, when Matthew and I want to.  Cooking with Ms. Salib is fun because she keeps things fun and crazy. When we made cowboy cookies I got to use an electric mixer for the first time and it was so much fun!  

Matthew writes:

Alex and Ms. Salib in the kitchen

This week coming up is our Thanksgiving lunch. Our last one for 10 weeks.  At the end of the year we are going on a field trip in Ithaca,  going to a food truck and we are going all over the place. It’s going to be blast. The Thanksgiving lunch was successful. We all had a fun time with the teachers and classmates.

Donavan L. writes:

Donavan & Kasieum peeled a lot of carrots...with a smile!

I am a member of the Localvore Club, which means a Localvore is a person dedicated to eating food grown and produced locally.   I like cooking and I also like when there is a mystery vegetable in the baked goods for the kids to guess.  I like it because it’s like a snack and I also like it because it’s fun to guess.  I did guessed one right, it was a muffin with chocolate frosting with the pumpkin in it.  It was fun peeling carrots and chopping apples with the peeler machine.  

We also suggested the meat to have in the dish, like chicken.

Matthew started the club when we were reading Omnivore’s Dilemma last year.  The book is about eating healthy foods and buying the ingredients from local farmers.  I thought it was a good idea when Matthew suggested to make lunch for the teachers and have the kids help.  This will be the last week for the whole project.  It was fun when it was going on and I  wish it would go on for a couple more weeks.
 

Alyssa F. writes:

My name is Alyssa and  I'm part of the Localvore Cooking Club and I learned a lot of new things.  One of the things I learned how to make during the first week was how to make goat cheese, mozzarella cheese and butter at home.  I learned that it is really easy to make these things and it´s a lot cheaper to do it yourself.   The second week, Ms. Brisson taught us how to make menus look nice so the staff would want to buy the lunches.  We learned new computer skills to do these things.  We also learned very important things such as food safety and keeping your hands clean to protect the food.

My favorite part about the Localvore Club is when I see all the teachers are coming in to get their food and they have the biggest smiles on their faces. That's when I smile and that's what makes my day. The teachers always say thank you for all this food and we even get to talk and hang out a bit in the library while they eat .When we cook it's always something new to learn when we cook and it's always good to see everyone that cooks with a smile on their face and ready to cook.

When Mrs.Bryant cooks with us she has to stay here after school when she has to be  somewhere and she gives up all her time to finish all the baking. She also cleans up all the stuff that nobody picked up but we are getting better at cleaning up too so it´s not all on her. I thank Mrs. Bryant  a lot that she does for everybody  and when she gives up all her time for this.  There is also a lot of my teachers who have now retired that come and help us.  There are a lot of people helping with this club and that´s what makes it so fun!

Alyssa & Kelli were ready for our Cowboy Lunch (chili & cornbread)

Mari writes:

My name is Mari Wilson and I am part of the Trumansburg Middle School Localvore club. My favorite part of the club was the mystery vegetable. We put a mystery vegetable in some of the desserts. After tasting the dessert, people had to take slips of paper and guess what the mystery vegetable was. One time I thought that I tasted rutabaga, but it was really celeriac!  

I appreciated the apple roses. The apple roses were pastries that looked like roses. You could top them with caramel sauce. I am going to help make them for Thanksgiving.

I liked it when my mom came and tasted the food. I was wearing a grin. I felt joyful. My mom loved the chocolate kale cupcakes. The cupcakes were also part of my birthday celebration.

Mari tells Mr. Begeal why he should eat carrots!

I researched a vegetable each week that was in our menu, then I shared my information with the teachers when they came for lunch.  I learned a lot of facts about healthy eating. I even dressed up as the “Bean Queen” and talked to teachers about the nutritional facts of black beans.

I loved it when the club made mozzarella cheese. It is my favorite kind of cheese! We also made butter and goat cheese.

Summing up a busy fall

It has been a while since we've managed a blog post. It has been a whirlwind of a fall, full of learning and challenges. Students have been truly enjoying cooking, researching, and serving our Thursday lunches, and everyone is a bit sad that we are on a hiatus (the Home & Careers room where we do the cooking is in use 9th period during the next quarter). This pause seems like a good time to sum up and take stock.

Alyssa designed a survey to send to staff, asking about their favorite meals. As you can see below, the veggie lasagne was the hands down favorite.:




The poll was done before our November 5 Harvest Festival, though, and that was a truly spectacular meal featuring 2 kinds of soup, roasted vegetables, and homemade rolls. Staff baked many, many pumpkin treats for students to sample, and Mrs. Bryant baked a mystery vegetable cupcake for staff. No one guessed that celeriac was the mystery ingredient!

Students learned so much the first semester--not just about cooking, but about teamwork, communication, and responsibility. They also had some fun along the way!

Kelli with a finished crisp

Everyone got in the act to make apple crisp!

Mari dressed up as the Bean Queen

Cooking With Friends

Cooking With Friends

by Kelli
“Cooking with friends.” That is the advice that Mark Bittman gives in his Time magazine article, The Truth About Home Cooking.  Alyssa and I agree because it makes cooking more fun.

Alyssa and I think that this is a good idea too. When we cook together it makes it really fun because we can spend more time together and we are cooking for other people to enjoy the food.

Alyssa and I love to see the teachers smiles and their surprised faces and that make us feel really good and happy!

Kelli & Alyssa cook up some applesauce

Why I Like To Cook

by Mari

My name is Mari.  I love the Localvore program because of the cooking skills.  We are learning about applesauce making.  I research the featured fruits and vegetables that we use in the lunches that we serve. We know that apples are the perfect diet food.  I like the things we eat.  

I greet the teachers when they come in to get their lunch.  I tell them about the featured foods.  I like when we have a mystery ingredient and when the winner gets announced on the announcements.  They win a prize.

Mari researches about some of our ingredients

Mari chooses apples for this week's meal

Mari tells Mr. Robinson about the health benefits of zucchini

Cooking and ELA

by Angelina

 In class we read an article by Mark Bittman “The Truth About Home Cooking”  and in doing so we cooked a healthy meal for the teachers here at school.  My job was to help peel carrots!  I am the one sitting in the wheelchair and I found out that I really enjoy cooking!  The reason that I was peeling so many carrots was, they were going into a daikon salad.  You may be wondering what a daikon salad is?  A daikon is a white radish.  So in ELA cooking class we had to peel and ribbon carrots and the daikon radishes and mix them all together.  

Angelina peels carrots for carrot-daikon salad. Mrs. Starkweather & Nurse Donna helped, too!