10 CapitalPress.com
June 2, 2017
Cheesemaker teaches old-world techniques
By MARINA RIKER
For the Capital Press
BEAVERCREEK, Ore.
— Cheesemaking is in Gayle
Starbuck’s blood.
In the late 1800s, her
great-grandfather
trekked
thousands of miles from
France to Southern Califor-
nia, where he started a farm
and raised goats, cattle and
sheep.
For the next century, his
descendants were raised on
D17-2/#7
that farm, where they passed
down family recipes and tech-
niques for transforming fresh
milk into cheese, butter and
ice cream, Starbuck said.
“It was passed down to my
grandmother — his daugh-
ter — and then to my mother,
who then taught me how to do
it,” said Starbuck.
Decades later, Starbuck
has moved from the farmstead
to a lush two-acre parcel in
Beavercreek, Ore., where she
teaches some of same cheese-
making techniques her moth-
er taught her. A couple times
a month, she holds cheese-
making classes, which fill up
quickly. Six students at a time
learn everything from which
milk to use to how to clean
residue off cheesecloth — a
sticky byproduct of straining
whey from curds to make soft
and semi-firm cheese.
Starbuck’s home is sur-
rounded by rolling, green
farmland, where she grows
fruits and flowers including
blueberries, citrus and rhodo-
dendrons. Her home’s kitch-
en was approved by the state
agriculture department to be
used commercially.
During her beginner class-
es, Starbuck guides students
through a handful of recipes
ranging from queso fresco
to creamy French-style feta
that’s marinated with oils, ol-
ives and raisins.
Starbuck, who wears a
yellow, floral-print apron,
explained the cheesemaking
process starts long before stu-
dents enter her kitchen. Stu-
dents must first pick out what
kind of milk they want to use,
Starbuck said.
Buying milk that’s suitable
for cheesemaking is easier in
Oregon than in many other
states, Starbuck said. Ore-
gon’s state beverage is milk,
and the state is home to more
than 200 dairies. Milk that is
vat or regular pasteurized and
sold in grocery stores works
great for cheesemaking, Star-
buck said.
However, students must
Marina Riker/For the Capital Press
Gayle Starbucks shows students how to select milk and transform
it into a variety of soft and semi-firm cheeses.
Online
http://curdsontheway.
com,gaylestarbuck@bcton-
line.com
Marina Riker/For the Capital Press
Starbuck uses a ladle to
scoop curds into a bucket,
which catches the whey that’s
strained off to eventually pro-
duce cheese. During her begin-
ner cheesemaking class, she
teaches students to craft both
cow- and goat-milk cheeses
including chevre, French-style
feta and queso fresco.
avoid ultra-pasteurized milk,
which is heated above the
boiling point and won’t form
firm curds.
“A lot of people are un-
der the misconception that
you have to have raw milk to
make cheese, and that’s not
the case,” said Starbuck.
She said the secret to good
cheesemaking is controlling
the temperature of the milk,
which she stirred on the stove
top, often using a laser ther-
mometer to check the heat.
Once the milk is at the ideal
temperature, she takes it off
the stove and adds ingredients
such as cheese cultures, cal-
cium chloride and coagulat-
ing enzymes such as rennet.
If all goes according to plan,
the milk begins to harden into
curds.
“You never know what can
happen,” she said, adding that
she’s had to rescue some stu-
dents after heating the milk
too much.
Starbuck teaches her stu-
dents how to strain whey
from curds, which she uses to
fertilize her blueberries and
rhododendrons. Her students
practice slicing curds, which
are eventually strained into
cheeses such as lemon ricotta
and sampled by all. Starbuck
takes a spoonful of the ricotta
while reminiscing about when
she used to milk the family’s
cows twice daily, seven days
a week.
“I miss it,” said Starbuck.
“And everyone says, ‘Oh, you
were so lucky to be raised this
way.’”