You can’t keep a good woman down! Kim Mack works full time as a Contracts Analyst for the County of Sacramento Department of Human Assistance. She has a son, 35, two stepdaughters 27 and 29, a grandson 6 and a granddaughter 3.
You’d think that would be enough, but in her “spare” time, Kim runs a business called Scratch Made Life, where she teaches classes in kombucha, canning & pickling, baking, pasta making and cheesemaking.
She offers a full schedule of classes for making Camembert, Cheese Curds & Poutine, Baby Swiss, Cambozola (Creamy Blue Brie), Gruyere, Feta, Asiago, etc. (click here).
She limits her cheesemaking classes to 10 or less because she teaches them in her kitchen.
Some of her other classes are larger and she sets them up in her living room.
Kim’s Story
I started making cheese about a year and a half ago…
I used to sell my baked goods and cannoli was one of my most requested items.
Grocery store ricotta doesn’t cut it for the quality needed for cannoli, so I was spending $30-35 dollars at a high end specialty market to get my ricotta. I thought to myself, “How hard can this be to make?” I found a recipe for whole milk ricotta and it was easy and it was wonderful so, I wondered what it would be like to make other cheeses. The passion was born.
Cheesemaking is so much fun and I am blown away by how fast I have taken to it! I love being able to take my knowledge to try to re-create cheeses that I don’t have an exact step-by-step recipe for (but which I can figure out – most of the time).
Since I started making cheese, I have made 40 different types and I have been teaching classes for a year.
I was posting cheese pics on Facebook when a friend asked if I would be willing to teach others how to make cheese. So I said sure and my business/hobby was born.
I limit the participants in cheese classes to 10. It is a good size for my kitchen and keeps the class small enough that I can work with everyone, really pay attention to what is going on and have a lot of fun with the class.
It has really been a blast teaching these classes, meeting really awesome people and growing our cheese making community in Northern California. When I first started making cheese, I searched far and wide to connect with other home cheese makers and it was a difficult task. But now, through Scratch Made Life, I am meeting them and teaching them.
I don’t teach just cheesemaking – although it is the majority of my classes because there is such a void in that area – I also teach baking, canning, pickling, basic gardening, and classes that I call “putting it all together.” For example – It may be a pizza class, so we make mozzarella, ricotta, the crust and the sauces, all from scratch.
Right now I have a Pasta, Pasta and a Poutine class scheduled!
Recently, I had the experience of a lifetime (for this city girl). I went to a sheep dairy and got to milk sheep.
It was SO much fun. Then I went home and made a four gallon batch of Gouda and a two gallon batch of Camembert with that fresh, beautiful sheep’s milk. Just amazing to work with!
I love making things from scratch (thus the business name “Scratch Made Life”) which fits right in with Sacramento being the Farm to Fork capital! You can see that most of by hobbies are culinary related, as that is where I find the majority of my talents are.
I tell beginning cheese makers to be patient, do their research and follow the recipe EXACTLY! (And then I tell them to take my classes.)
Merryl Winstein, author, Successful Cheesemaking® book says
Kim, my big, red “SUCCESSFUL CHEESEMAKING®” book would take you many steps further in your fantastic cheese-teaching and cheese making life……Since I’m a cheesemaking teacher too, I made my 630pp, step-by-step book with 800 photos so people could easily learn the processes for every type of cheese and get their questions answered……..I think it would be helpful to you since you are so interested in details……Please take a look on my site, http://www.CheeseMakingClass.com
Tony Pizzo says
Hello Kim
I’m writing to you from Windsor, Ontario Canada. Unfortunately it will be quite difficult to attend one of your classes. My wife and I attended a Ricotta and Mozzarella Cheese making class a couple of weeks ago in Michigan. We enjoyed the learning experience and this weekend we made our first batch of Ricotta at home and it was excellent. We’re planning on making Mozzarella this weekend but we cannot find Cheese Curds, I noticed that cheese curd making is a class you teach. Would it be possible to get a recipe from you on how to make cheese curds.
Tony Pizzo
Jeri Case says
There is a recipe on our website for making cheese curds – https://cheesemaking.com/products/cheese-curds-recipe-traditional
Kim says
Tony my recipe is very similar to the one that Jeri posted for you. Only differences is that I just use MM100 culture and I put in my flavors at the very beginning when I heat up the milk versus milling them in after curd development. Good luck!
Do you get your milk from a local dairy or a store? I also buy Strauss from Sprouts, but thought I might try some raw milk cheese. I’m in Dixon.
Vickie,
I use mostly the Strauss which I also get from Sprouts, sometimes the Sac Co-Op. On rare occasion I buy the raw milk that Sprouts carries but I also have several friends that I get raw milk from. There is nothing like working with raw milk for cheesemaking!
Kim
What a blessing to live this life. It seems just about perfect. I admire your talents. Great work.
Great article! She is a fantastic teacher!
I appreciate it Deanna!
Absolutely fabulous!! Kim is great not only with teaching she is wonderful with supporting her fellow curders!
Thanks you! Appreciate it!
I’m in awe!
Margaret – Aw, thank you so much! I am having SO much fun, that makes it easy!
What a wonderful never ending experience that cheese making is !!
That is is!