Art of plant-based cheese making with Karen McAthy

Join Chef Karen McAthy, founder of Blue Heron, and author of The Art of Plant-based Cheese making in learning how to make cultured, fresh, vegan cheese! This four-class course (held over four days), is homework driven, focused on getting students to make their own vegan cheeses from growing cultures to easy ageing techniques!

Students will learn :

• About lacto-fermentation and culturing (differences, how it works, etc)
• The role of microbes in creating flavor and texture in plant-based cheesemaking
• The difference between cultured and non-cultured plant-based cheeses, and the in-between
• How to start and grow some key plant-based lactic acid cultures safe for use at home
• How to choose a plant-based medium for cheese making and what to think about when choosing
• 3 base/core cheese recipes
• Basic aging method for at home plant-based cheesemaking
• Review of key equipment, variables affecting cheesemaking, historical context of cheesemaking as a practice

The course is homework driven, with lecture/demo component. Students are asked to bring their ‘assignments’ back to the second and third classes for review, discussion, and comparison.

Students are asked to bring a notebook.

Key starter cultures are included in the course price, and a Blue Heron Cheese tasting concludes the last day of the course. Each course day, Chef Karen will provide a cheesy snack, a fun way to highlight different ways vegan cheeses can be used.

The last day of the course concludes with a plant-based cheese tasting of Blue Heron cheeses along with any of the cheeses students made and wish to share.

Tickets for this class are $200 for a series of 4 sessions. Ticket sales close the day before the event.

Refund Policy

No cash refunds are available for the cultural events, workshop & classes. With at least 7 days’ notice, we would be happy to provide a credit to use towards other workshops and selected Il Centro initiatives (please inquire).  If you give us less than 7 days’ notice, we may be able to issue a credit if we can fill your seat from our waiting list, but there is no guarantee. No credit will be issued for no-shows: whether you are able to attend or not, the instructor still needs to be fairly compensated. All tickets are 100% transferable at any time – just provide your receipt to the person attending or let us know their name by phone or email.