Meet Cooking Class Instructor, Gianaclis Caldwell
Get to know Gianaclis Caldwell ahead of her class, "Easy Mozzarella and Burratta - From Scratch!" on March 7. Gianaclis is the author of the award-winning book Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking and owner of Pholia Farm.
Tell us how your love of cooking (or cheese) and food began.
I actually fell in love with making cheese before I came to fully love eating it. Up until my interest in making it started, I hadn't tried that many really grand cheeses. I enjoyed the usual suspects, but along with a hunger for knowledge grew the hunger for truly epic cheeses.
Did you go to school for cooking or cheese making? If so, where?
Even now, there are no definitive ways to learn to make cheese, which might be a good thing! When you work with milk as the major ingredient there is more variation than with arguably any other food ingredient. This means that only with time and practice can you perfect the craft. I learned from books, time, and classes - and I'm still learning!
What is your specialty or what are you best at?
In teaching, I'm known for being able to break the complex science into fun, digestible bites in a way that invigorates your cheesemaking quest.
If you had to eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
I'm going to make this if I had one cheese to eat for the rest of my life. This might come as a surprise, but I wouldn't choose some of the more complex, mind-blowing cheeses that I just drool for (such as Rogue Creamery's Echo Mountain Blue and Jasper Hill Farms Harbison). Instead it would be Oregon's Ochoa Creamery (Don Froylan) Queso Oaxaca. It's truly one of the most satisfying and well crafted simple cheese in the US. (Even when I'm at big cheese competitions judging, it is always up there at the top!)
When you are not with the goats, how do you enjoy spending your time?
Not really a surprise, but writing. If we get to get off the farm for anything other than working (my teaching and book travels) then hiking is a big love. I also teach ballet to older ladies (my age and up) and take ballet. In another life (one that made me not so tall) I would have loved to have danced.
More Co-op News
October Change for Good Partner: AFC Gives Community Fund
October's Change for Good Partner is
September Change for Good Partner: Center for NonProfit Legal Services
September's Change for Good Partner is
Center for NonProfit Legal Services
The Center for NonProfit Legal Services has provided free/low-cost civil legal assistance to low-income persons and seniors residing in Jackson County since 1972.
August Change for Good Partner: Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center
August's Change for Good Partner is
Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center
(KS Wild)
KS Wild's mission is to protect and restore wild nature in the Klamath-Siskiyou region of southwest Oregon and northwest California.
July Change for Good Partner: Southern Oregon Land Conservancy
July's Change for Good Partner is
Southern Oregon Land Conservancy
Protecting and enhancing precious land in the Rogue River region
to benefit our human and natural communities since 1978
Meet the 1st Street Beet
Welcome to the newly redesigned and reimagined newsletter from the Ashland Food Co-op: 1st Street Beet.
Think of this publication as a resource to know what’s going on in every level of the community: at the co-op, around town, in the region, and on Earth!
June Change for Good Recipient: Our Family Farms
June's Change for Good Recipient is
Our Family Farms, an Oregon 501(c)3 non profit organization, is hard at work educating and inspiring farmers, policy makers and the community at large to support regenerative agricultural practices.
Capiche Conversations: Interview with Tracy Kaiser, Marketing & Education Manager of Ashland Food Co-op
Our own marketing manager, Tracy Kaiser, was interviewed by Melissa L. Michaels for Capiche Conversations.
May Day Community Block Party
Photography by Chelsea Whitney Art
On May 1st, several Southern Oregon businesses came together for a block party to provide a space to gather as a community after a rough spell due to the pandemic and fires. The May Day Block Party was hosted on Main St in Phoenix, where the scent of food trucks mingled with artisan goods such as local cheeses, locally farmed flowers, and even fresh-baked pastries.
May Change for Good Recipient: Rogue Valley Farm to School
May's Change for Good Recipient is
Rogue Valley Farm to School educates children about our food system through hands-on farm and garden programs, and by increasing local foods in school meals.
"We inspire an appreciation of local agriculture that improves the economy and environment of our community and the health of its members."
April Change for Good Recipient: Pollinator Project Rogue Valley
April's Change for Good Recipient is
A Visit with Rolling Hills
Visit Rolling Hills Farm and learn more about owner Dave Belzberg, who the Ashland Food Co-op is so honored to partner with for more than thirty five years.
A Visit with Magnolia Farms
Visit Magnolia Farms and learn more about owner Elissa Thau, who the Ashland Food Co-op is so honored to partner with for more than twenty years.
A Visit with Emerald Hills
Visit the Emerald Hills Ranch and learn more about this fourth generation ranching family that the Ashland Food Co-op is so proud to partner with for more than twenty years.