2025 Course Dates: November 11-14 | Course Fee: $1300
Course Description
This comprehensive short course is designed to educate retailers, cheese mongers, culinary professionals, end users and distributors on the art and science of cheesemaking. This is also a practical course for support staff or sales teams who work in the dairy industry or for a company that manufactures or packages cheese. This course can also help you prepare for and pass your American Cheese Society (ACS) Certified Cheese Professional® (CCP) exam.
The curriculum combines informative lectures, demonstrations, tasting and hands-on labs with farm and dairy production plant tours. This four-day learning opportunity helps you understand and appreciate the world of cheese, from pasture to plate. Join us for this unique Wisconsin experience!
Learning Objectives
- Learn about the quality and safety factors of milk and how the science of milk sets the foundation for good quality cheese.
- Understand the science behind how milk is processed into a wide variety of cheeses and experience the cheesemaking process hands-on during lab in CDR’s pilot plant.
- Identify the basic sensory attributes and how they relate to cheese.
- Explore 12 different cheese varieties through tasting activities.
- Learn about the functionality, applications and common defects for a variety of cheeses.
- Understand the economics related to cheese.
- Discover safe handling practices of cheese.
- Gain insight into farm practices and the operation of cheesemaking in different dairy plants through tours arranged by the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.
Lindsey O'Brien - CDR technical course contact
Contact with questions on course content or if this course is right for you.
Heather Cooper - CDR events coordinator
Contact with questions on registration, certificates, or other questions.
Course Instructors: Lindsey O'Brien | Dean Sommer | Dr. Mark Johnson | Luis A. Jiménez-Maroto | Brandon Prochaska | Alex O’Brien | Andrea Miller
Certificate of Completion
Certificates will be printed and issued in-person on the final day of each course for all in-person courses.