Karla Simmons of Middletown's Simmons Farm has been making cheese for years. "We started in our kitchen many years ago, making it for friends and family while we perfected our technique and recipes," …
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Karla Simmons of Middletown's Simmons Farm has been making cheese for years. "We started in our kitchen many years ago, making it for friends and family while we perfected our technique and recipes," she said. In 2011 Simmons Farm built a certified dairy, and they have been making cheese to sell to the public through the farmers market, farm stand, and their CSA, ever since. Karla makes all the cheese at the farm from start to finish.
Mozzarella is perhaps the simplest cheese to make — which makes it an ideal first cheese for novices to learn to make. Simmons Farm is offering mozzarella cheese making classes in which students can learn the process of making the cheese, from start to finish.
It's a fun, hands-on experience where participants have the opportunity to make and stretch Mozzarella, learn the farm's history and its current day activities. Karla also talks about the milking process and leads a short but informative tour through the dairy. Once the Mozzarella production is underway, participants make butter and then sit together to enjoy conversation, some Simmons Farm Chevre and local wine and beer. The class concludes with the stretching of the Mozzarella and each participant leaves with the bag containing a cheese making kit, a Simmons Farm gift bag, the mozzarella they made and a 1/4 lb. of fresh made butter.
Cheesemaking classes are about three hours long, held on Saturday afternoons from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. You can register on eventbrite, or link from simmonsorganicfarmri.com.
Karla uses a 52 gallon pasteurizer/cheese vat to process cheese, but you don't need such a set up to get good results at home. The cheese making kit provided offers participants the ingredients and cheese cloth to process the cheese at home, all that is needed is a large stainless steel pan and a stovetop. "Cheesemaking is a science as well as a craft," said Karla. "People should be able to make it at home."
In addition to offering classes in mozzarella, Simmons Farm also offers Cheddar and Chèvre for sale — the latter in a number of different flavors, including plain, garlic and herb, herbes de Provence, cranberry walnut, ginger, chipotle black pepper and, seasonally, wasabi, blueberry, strawberry, pumpkin and cinnamon honey.