Cheese Making Workshops

Leon Graafland

• Artisan Cheesemaker, Global citizen, Storyteller

• ​Growing up among the many Cheese Factories in Gouda in the Netherlands,
• There was not a day without cheese; never a day without dairy, and today this is no different.
• A graduate of the Professional Cheesemaker program at Conestoga College School of 
• Hospitality & Culinary Arts in Waterloo.
• I completed the Professional “Artisan Cheese and Sensory Fundamentals” program at the University of Vermont. 
• I feel lucky and privileged to be trained and guided by Ruth Klahsen, a creative Ontario Artisan Cheesemaker and founder of Monforte Dairy in Stratford.
• I gained new knowledge and experience while working at Ontario's most awarded homestead Gouda Cheesemaker; Mountain Oak Cheese in New Hamburg,
• And- in all honesty- I learned and stumbled a lot while enduring many defeats and a few little victories in my kitchen trying to perfect my variation to the World's most delicate cheeses.   
• Cheese is a living product; some poetic people called it a symphony of ingredients, that require a delicate balance.
• Four basic ingredients are the foundation of more than 1400 different Cheeses, all with their flavors, textures, shapes, and character.
• I am looking forward to meeting you and enjoying the Art of Making Cheese together.