I was blown away when I learned Rule 36, which is “You can make four thousand cheeses with just four ingredients.” I definitely thought that different flavors and additives might be added to the milk while making it (and that is probably the case with some industrial cheeses). But on Day 1 at Stony Pond Farm, we started with one vat of milk and within 24 hours had two completely different cheeses, a camembert and a spreadable cheese. About four hours into the make, the now pasteurized milk was divided and treated differently (different cultures were added and they were treated differently), but otherwise the ingredients were the same (the same milk, salt and animal rennet). I was so surprised that it was that simple. Not easy, but simple. 

Rule 38, “Microbes are our friends!,” was also a revelation. It has been so interesting to see what Melanie and Tyler do to keep their cows and facilities–and by extension, their milk–healthy and clean. When I helped Melanie milk the cows, there were several steps she took to keep the process as sterile as possible. Once she let the cows into the milking gallery, she started off by spraying a mixture of different essential oils on the cows stomach to keep the flies at bay during milking. Then she dipped each cow’s teats in iodine to clean them. She wiped the iodine off and then started the milking process. After milking, the teats were redipped in iodine so that the cows don’t get an infection called mastitis. Each cow’s milk is checked regularly for illness and if sick, their milk is pumped into a separate container and is used to feed the hogs until they are no longer sick. In addition, all the equipment is cleaned and sterilized after each milking. The milk that makes it into the cheesemaking vat is as healthy as possible so that the added microbes in the freeze-dried cultures can work properly to turn the milk into cheese. In the creamery, Melanie and I also clean and sanitize all the equipment after every use and re-sanitize it before they are used again. This includes everything that touches the milk or is touched by the milk: the tables, buckets, tools, hoops, floors, walls, presses, etc. This not only ensures that the cheese develops as planned but also keeps the end consumers from getting sick. All this allows the good microbes to do their job and keeps the bad microbes that make humans sick at bay. 

Rule 40 is “Understand the coagulation process.” I am starting to understand coagulation, which is a process in which an enzyme called rennet is added to milk so that the milk will transform from a liquid into a solid. As Anne says in the book, it takes a very small amount of rennet to coagulate a large amount of cheese. The first day I was working on Stony Pond Farm, I believe Melanie used only four drops of animal rennet to coagulate 5 liters of milk to make her Dream Cheese. That is so little! The amount she uses for 500 liters of milk when making the Tomme is proportional to that. Melanie has chosen to use animal (cow) rennet. 

Rule 41 is “Cheese is a food worth its salt.” In her book, Anne talks about how salt acts as a preservative and a flavor enhancer in cheese. I knew cheese had salt in it–think about a salty Pecorino Romano or a Gouda–but I was very surprised to see just how much salt is used in making cheese. When Melanie and I made the camembert on our first day on the farm, I believe we used 14 pounds of salt for about 400 liters of milk! When I heard that, I thought that it must be a mistake. But that was the correct amount. Also, when making the Tomme, which is salted by brining, there are always some left over fresh curds. These unsalted curds are tasty–sweet, squeaky, creamy–but they are definitely lacking in salt. I think it would be fun to taste the fresh curds and then the finished product next to each other in order to see what the brining and aging processes do to add flavor.