CANTON: St. Lawrence Cornell Cooperative Extension offers a four part series virtual classes on Ricotta, Paneer & Cheesemaking Basics, starting March 4.

The first class in the series “Making Soft Cheese and other Dairy Products at Home,” will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. and cover making ricotta, paneer along with the basic of cheese making chemistry.

The series continues on March 18 “Making Mozarrella,” followed by April 1 “All About Feta, and ending on April 15 with “Yogurt, Butter, Kefir and More.”

The class will be filmed live from the Harvest Kitchen and include ample time for Q and A. All pre-registered participants will receive the link to the class recording along with the recipes. This class is made available on a sliding scale from $0-30. If you are able to contribute towards continued programming, your support is appreciated.

These workshops are part of Celebrating Local Food: A Culinary Series, designed to inspire residents of the North Country to enjoy the agricultural bounty of the region. The initiative is funded by the Alcoa Foundation.

The classes will be conducted by Gail Huston.

Huston has been a home cheesemaker for over 10 years and professionally at Asgaard Farm and Dairy from 2013-2019. Huston has a Cheese Making certificate from Vermont Institute of Artisan Cheese Making.

She has taken several cheese classes through Cornell University and Peter Dixon at Dairy Food Consulting, as well as having consulted with many professional cheesemakers over the years. She is passionate for making cheese along with a love of sharing this knowledge with others.

The class is a pay what you can afford with fee ranging from $0-30. To register visit the Cornell Cooperative Extension website at stlawernce.cce.cornell.edu, and click on Events.