CHEESEMAKING DAY WITH ALESMITH & CHEESESMITH OWNER, PETER ZIEN

This one-of-a-kind creative experience will transform you into a real cheese maker for a day! Learn the history and process of this age-old process and participate in a full day of creating 25 lbs. of a unique cheese for you to share with friends and family. Founded in 2018, CheeseSmith Artisan Creamery is a licensed facility with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, the only one of its kind in San Diego County, and is located within the AleSmith Brewing compound in Miramar. Peter has been crafting artisan cheese for over 20 years and has studied cheese making at Cal Poly SLO and UC Davis.

The adventure begins with a pre-consultation with Peter where you will choose the cheese style, build the recipe, and discuss the process. On the cheese making day, you will learn about and participate in all aspects of artisan cheese making including:

• Pasteurizing Raw Milk
• Pitching bacterial cultures
• Use of enzymes and vat gel set
• Utilizing and measuring pH levels
• Cutting curds
• Cooking curds
• Syneresis (draining whey from curds)
• Role of salt, salting curds
• Pressing curds into cheese wheels
• Creamery/Equipment Cleaning and sanitizing

**All required clothing, gloves, footwear, hairnets, and lunch will be provided**

This special day of cheesemaking will ONLY be offered once a year for the Anvil of Hope Giving Tree Gala. Once again, this is sure to be an unforgettable priceless experience!

From 2020 Cheese Making Day winning bidder, Liz Cunningham: "As a lover of cheese, I was more than ecstatic to have this personal, up-close experience with cheese making at AleSmith! Peter's passion and commitment to the art of cheesemaking is so exciting to watch and learn from. Cheese making combines a love of science, flavor and just a little bit of muscle, and this is a once in a lifetime experience to learn from a master. One of our wheels was used as part of my wedding cake and it was such a special experience to share mine and Peter's alpine style cheese - "Al-pine for you" - with all of my guests."

Bid now on this priceless experience!