Maureen has made 49 different kinds of cheese so far and she’s a relative beginner. We’ll call her a “Quick-Start Master of Cheese Making.”
She learned it all while working full time, gardening and making fabulous furniture. In other words, she’s just another home cheesemaker, doing impossible things in relative obscurity.
We know just how amazing she is and we’re honored that she took the time to do this interview.
Maureen’s Story
I am a physician assistant by profession, but I have many hobbies. I started making cheese about 2 years ago, just about when the pandemic hit.
I was already making yogurt because I felt bad about throwing all that plastic from the single cups in the landfill.
I started making cheese because I was trying to find a decent paneer to make some Indian Paneer Masala. The only stuff I could find was ridiculously expensive and tasted like rubber.
I am a fan of Pinterest, so I looked online and found a recipe for paneer. Thirty minutes later – Voila! I had delicious paneer. I couldn’t believe how easy it was!
I love tasting all different kinds of cheese, so again I went to Pinterest and found a New England Cheesemaking recipe for farmer’s cheese. Three hours later – Voila! Delicious, fresh farmer’s cheese.
It’s like magic, turning milk into cheese. I felt like Rumpelstiltskin! Not only that, but the cheese keeps for months.
From then on, I was hooked. I think I read just about every recipe on the NE Cheesemaking website (cheesemaking.com) and decided to try some aged cheeses.
This required a cheese cave and molds. I bought a used, small wine cooler and hooked up an Inkbird controller to get the right temperature.
Now, I have a freezer full of cultures and molds and 3 “cheese caves” with about 20 pounds of cheese aging. (I had a max of about 35 pounds just before Christmas.)
I went a little crazy buying molds of the plastic kind and of the microbial kind as well. Thus far, I have made about 40 different types of cheeses!
I have made Sao Jorge, Montasio, St. Nectaire, Pyrennes, Mountain Tomme, Romano, Asiago, Piora, Reblochon, Bel Paese, Brick, Brie, Butterkase, Caciotta, Caerphilly, Camembert, Cheshire, Canastrato, Cream Cheese, Danbo, Colby, Cotswold, Dry Jack, Dunlop, Edam, Esrom, Formaggio Val Campella, Fontina, Gouda, Gruyere, Halloumi, Ibores, Italian Basket Cheese, Jarlsberg, Lancashire, Leerdammer, Manchego, Mont d’Or, Port Salute, Piora, Raclette, Robiola, Queso Fresco, Mozzarella, Red Leicester, Tallegio, Tilsit, Triple Cream. . . .and a partridge in a pear tree. And of course ricotta from all that whey.
Phew! I make a cheese almost every week.
My favorite cheese to make is probably Esrom. There is something about coaxing that lovely orange rind into being that I find satisfying. And it’s absolutely delicious, too!
I tend my “cheese babies” every night. I have a variety of washed rind, natural rind and waxed cheeses.
My one attempt at a cloth-bound Red Leicester was a disaster. Chickens would have been handy for that 4 pounder.
The most popular one I make is Butterkase. Everyone loves the creamy, buttery flavor and soft texture.
I find everyone wants cheese as gifts and my friends like requesting which cheese they want. It’s only my husband and I at home, so my friends and my co-workers eat the bulk of the cheese.
People can’t believe anyone actually MAKES cheese (apparently, it’s something that only magically appears in the grocery store).
I was a chef in my younger years, so making cheese is a natural extension of that. I have even taught a few friends how to make simple cheeses. It’s gratifying to pass along the knowledge and I love to teach.
Last fall, I took a vacation to Shelburne Falls, MA to visit family and to take a cheese making class with Jim Wallace. It was really great to meet “The Guru,” and it was fun meeting other amateur cheesers.
I brought some of my less successful attempts at cheese making and learned a lot about what went wrong. I think this is as important as what goes right.
I am also a woodworker, so I made 2 cheese presses – one for anything under 50 pounds using a spring and one for over 50 pounds using dumbbells.
One of my other hobbies is making furniture. I love all things Shaker style. I have been to several of the Shaker Village Museums in New England and have plans to stay at the Shaker Village in Kentucky when the Covid situation is better.
I designed and built my desk. This desk is 30 years old. I’d say it has held up pretty well.
I recently finished a pair of nightstands.
And I made a display case for my husband’s watches as a birthday gift (it only took me about 5 years to get it together).
It is gratifying to build something useful out of planks of wood. When I am working at the saw, I get “into the zone.” I lose all track of time. It’s a kind of meditation, just like when I am making cheese.
Of course, it requires rapt attention, lest I lose a finger or two. Luckily, I only broke a finger once when I had a board kick back at me. That hurt…..alot. The good news is from that little error, I got a new table saw with more safety features for Christmas.
I also enjoy gardening. We live in Florida, so our planting season starts in September and runs until May. I’ve still got some beans, carrots and summer squash left, but the growing season is getting too hot.
We have definitely noticed the climate change here. We are getting hotter and drier summers and all kinds of crazy hurricanes.
We made it through Hurricane Irma a few years back. We were lucky to have only 2 trees down (which, thankfully missed the house), but we still had power! Thank God for air conditioning!
We have planted butterfly habitat in our back yard and that is another of my interests. Can’t really call it a hobby, since I don’t make the butterflies. I just provide the habitat for them to do their thing. I encourage everyone to plant vegetation to attract butterflies and other pollinators.
It is incredibly cool to watch the caterpillars make a chrysalis and then watch them turn into a beautiful butterfly. Occasionally, I have even gotten to watch them emerge.
My hobbies sort of converge – woodworking to make presses, and growing/making some of our food. Hopefully, in the next few years, we will retire to the North Carolina mountains and leave the tourists and hurricanes behind.
I would love to have a little woodworking shop out back and a dedicated cheese making area and a cave in the basement (there are no basements in FL) at our retirement home.
I am eternally grateful to NE Cheesemaking for the recipes and supplies and to Jim for all the knowledge he so freely shares. Also, many thanks to the Cheese Queen, Ricki Carroll who started NE Cheesemaking and helped so many discover this wonderful hobby.
My advice to beginners: Be curious. Don’t be afraid of failure. There is always a lesson to be had.
Share whatever knowledge you have. Here’s some:
I encourage anyone who is a bit timid about making cheese, to just jump right in.
Happy Cheesing!
Lon Badgett says
I love hearing stories of exploration and adventure like this. Been doing this myself for years now and still get excited when I find a new or better way to make a cheese. I often tell people that ask that I have made over a hundred different cheeses – each a failed attempt to make my first good Colby… Enjoy the creative life.
Maureen A Blais-Gestrich says
Thanks Lon. I’ve got about 50 more kind to catch up with you. Happy cheesing!
Maureen, thank you for sharing your story! You skills are so impressive—congratulations on having such a wide range of talents. I’m sure you are a joy to be around!
Thank you for you kind thoughts.
I think we were separated at birth!
Maureen, perhaps our search for a home cheese making poster girl can stop now…actually with every post I read I have similar thoughts, how do you do it all! So much energy, love of life and joy in your creations. Cheese makers are extraordinary people! Thank you for sharing part of your fabulous story. I am humbled to know I brought this gift to so many people around the world, with generations of family members continuing to learn this ancient art.
I am honored by your acknowledgement, sharing talents and expertise has brought me a lot of joy. Each of us has talents to share with others, and ways to gift each other new experiences, all we have to do is reach out and in return we are richly rewarded with love and connection.
May your travels be safe and your adventures continue to proliferate.
In Peace, Love and Cheese, Ricki
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Thank you, Ricki. I hope you know how many lives you have touched. Something that started so humbly, blossomed into such wonderful thing for so many. And you get to support your family, to boot!
I got it as a gift. It’s a Dash yogurt maker. It also has a strainer so you can make Greek yogurt. I found a website on the bottom of the machine called StoreBound.com. It makes great yogurt at about 2 quarts at a time. The other maker is from Gourmia. It has glass jars which I like much better than the plastic. Good Luck!
What kinds of milk did you use and where did you get the milk?
I use regular Publix pasuterized and homogenized whole milk and also have a farm market near me where I get raw milk. I use the raw for anything I age over 60 days.
You live in my hometown. I now live in Brevard NC. Are there any cheesemakers near me? I am interested in communicating. Years ago I made fetta with fresh goat milk, My only endeavor thus far
I may be joining you soon in that area! I don’t know of anyone in your area that is making cheese, but I’ll bet there someone doing so. Or maybe you could be the first!
It’s so nice to read about another cheese maker in Florida. The challenges are real. Great story, great pics, fingers crossed for a hurricane free season.
Where are you hailing from? For sure not wanting another bad hurricane season, but have my solar backup batteries for the cheese caves, just in case.
You betcha Julie. Where abouts in FL to you live?
You are an extremely talented and an extraordinary lady!!
Thank you for your kind comment.
the desk you made is really nice the nightstands beautiful I’m a woodworker also had to stop do to a resl messed eye operation a little over a year ago I would like to try making cheese making if my eye get back to normal
Cheesemaking is definitely less danagerous. Hope you eye gets better soon.
Wonderful profile! You’re so talented! I’m curious about the yogurt maker you’re using? I’ve never seen one that large. Who is the manufacturer? Where did you get? Thank you!