It’s like TED Talks for cheese nerds! Kate over at Culture Magazine shares this rather awesome resource from the Science of Artisan Cheese conference that took place in the UK in September of 2012. Neal’s Yard Dairy has just posted a whole bunch of videos on YouTube, featuring presentations from luminaries of the cheese, science and culinary worlds. Some great stuff here. Check out the videos below or on the Neal’ Yard site: 

SCIENCE & MODERN ARTISAN FOODS
Presented by Harold McGee

RAW MILK MICROBIAL BIODIVERSITY & ITS INFLUENCES
Presented by Dr Marie-Christine Montel, Director of the Cheese Research Laboratory
at the INRA Research Centre in Clermont-Ferrand, France

MICROBIAL DIVERSITY & INTERACTIONS
Presented by Dr Rachell Dutton & Dr Ben Wolfe of Harvard University, USA

ACHIEVING CONTROL OF LISTERIA DURING ARTISAN CHEESE PRODUCTION
Presented by Dr Cathy Donnelly, Co-Director of the Vermont Institute of Artisan Cheese

RAPID DETECTION OF VIABLE MYCROBACTERIA IN RAW MILK
Presented by Dr Cath Rees, Associate Professor in Microbiology in the Food Microbiology Group
at University of Nottingham, UK

RISK PERCEPTION & CATEGORISATION :: ARTISANSHIP IN THE 21st CENTURY
Presented by Prof Heather Paxson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA

QUALITY & CONTROL
Presented by Ivan Larcher (Larcher Consulting, France), Randolph Hodgson (Neal’s Yard Dairy, UK) & Mateo Kehler (Jasper Hill Farm, USA)

NEW TOOLS FOR CHEESEMAKERS
Presented by Dr Mansel Griffiths of the University of Guelph, Canada

Via the UK site TheGrocer.co.uk:

First American craft brewers set out to win over UK consumers. Now artisanal US cheesemakers are launching a charm offensive.

Only a small amount of US artisanal cheese is currently exported to the UK, but this week the Artisan Cheese Exchange - a US marketing company - brought four cheesemakers to the UK to showcase 16 cheeses to leading UK cheese retailers including Neal’s Yard dairy, Paxton & Whitfield and La Fromagerie. The ACE is also main sponsor of this week’s 2012 World Cheese Awards.

Paxton & Whitfield met with the ACE this week with a view to permanently listing some of its cheeses next year. Interest in artisanal cheesemaking had exploded in the US in the same way it had in the UK 20 years ago, said MD Ros Windsor.

“I’m keen to get some over and start showing them to our customers,” she said, adding that it was important to challenge perceptions that it was “just plastic cheeses that they do over there”.

Neal’s Yard Dairy currently stocks Uplands Cheese’s Pleasant Ridge Reserve as well as Rogue Creamery’s Rogue River Blue. The company was also considering selling cheese from Vermont producer The Cellars at Jasper Hill, said manager for buying and quality, Bronwen Percival. “More and more US cheeses are world class,” she said. “They really hold their own against European cheeses.”

Read the full story. 

(Photo ©2012 TheGrocer.co.uk)

Via Culture Magazine. Wish I was in the UK! 

The Specialist Cheesemakers’ Association (UK) and Neal’s Yard Dairy are sponsoring a conference on the Science of Artisan Cheese on the 28th-29th of August. Its purpose is to bring together scientists working on research relevant to raw milk cheesemaking with cheesemakers, public health policy makers, and members of the industry for presentation of current research and exchange of ideas. This is a scientific conference, with a focus on bringing in-depth information about current research to the cheesemaking community. That said, the goal is to present the information in a straightforward and clear way so that even those without formal scientific training can understand and benefit from it.

Speakers include:
Keynote Speaker Harold McGee
Dr Marie-Christine Montel, INRA Clermont-Ferrand.
Dr Rachel Dutton and Dr Ben Wolfe, Harvard University.
Dr Cath Rees, University of Nottingham.
Dr Christine Dodd, University of Nottingham.
Dr Cathy Donnelly, Vermont Institute of Artisan Cheese.
Dr Mansel Griffiths, University of Guelph.
Matthew Ranieri, Cornell University.
Dr Art Hill, University of Guelph.
Dr Heather Paxson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr Maria Pais, Fytozimus.

This is a rare opportunity to hear about current research and its practical applications, as well as to meet and forge relationships that will serve members of the industry well in the future. It should also be a lot of fun!

All are welcome, but places are filling up quickly. To guarantee your place, please register here by Friday 27 July.

(Note: the image above is a microscopic view of the culture found in Bayley Hazen Blue cheese, from Culture Magazine’s amazing photo-feature, Small World. ©2011-2012 culturecheesemag.com)