milklab online

An Online Education in Natural Cheesemaking with David Asher

Learn a new philosophy of cheesemaking that’s aligned with ancestral dairying practices. Adoptable by anyone, anywhere, so long as you have access to fresh, unprocessed milk.

This Self Paced Course Covers

the fundamentals of natural cheesemaking in an easy to follow five day format that you can watch over and over in your own time.

  • Propagation of natural starters

  • Coagulation with natural rennet

  • Making of soft and hard cheeses both fresh and aged

This course is not simply a collection of cheesemaking recipes... it explores the greater meaning of milk

See how all cheeses are inter-related and evolve from the same milk, with the same traditional ferments. Witness the natural evolution of these cheeses made in real time.

Cheeses and dairy ferments covered in this class include: Clabber, kefir, yogurt, sour cream & Amasi (an African milkbeer); cream cheese, chevre, aged lactic cheeses like Crottin & Valençay; rennet cheeses including Camembert and Mozzarella (also Burrata & Oaxaca); blue cheeses like Bleu d’Auvergne; alpine cheeses like Tomme and Raclette, as well as Ricotta and Caciocavallo.


Meet the Course Instructor

Internationally Renowned Cheesemaker and Educator

David Asher

David Asher is a Natural Cheesemaker, bringing the traditions of dairying, fermentation and coagulation back into this age-old craft. A former farmer and goatherd from the west coast of Canada, David now travels widely, sharing a very old but also very new approach to the transformation of milk into cheese. Through teaching about the use of in-house starter cultures and natural rennet from calves and kids, David helps cheesemakers around the world reclaim their traditional cheeses. He also explores the relations of all food fermentations, and the important role of small scale and traditional food production in our modern world. David is the author of 'The Art of Natural Cheesemaking' and the upcoming 'Milk into Cheese’.

Access Asher's Signature 5-day Course at Home

Join David as he guides you day by day with video lessons on a variety of subjects. With approximately 5 videos per day/ 40 mins each - enjoy lifetime access to rewatch these lessons anytime.

  • Day 1

    On the first day learn to create and care for the cultures of your cheese. Beginning with a session on dairy fermentation, covering Clabber, Kefir, Amasi (an African milk beer) and a traditional cream-top yogurt.

  • Day 2

    On the second day we use cultures and rennet to make fresh lactic cheeses such as Cream Cheese, Chevre, Faisselle, as well as Geotrichum-candidum ripened, French lactic goat cheeses such as Crottin, Valençay and Saint Marcellin.

  • Day 3

    On the third day we look at rennet cheeses, preparing the basic curd that can become many different styles of cheese. We stretch this cheese into Mozzarella, Queso Oaxaca and Burrata. We also explore the rind ecologies that can transform the fresh cheese into a ripe Camembert. 

  • Day 4

    On the fourth day we make a French Blue Cheese, Blue d'Auvergne, and explore the cultivation of blue fungus that gives this cheese its beautiful blue eyes. On this day, we will also prepare rennet the traditional way. 

  • Day 5

    On the fifth and final day we make an Alpine cheese, and see how this one method can evolve in many different directions including Tomme and Raclette. We explore the concepts of rind washing and how it influences the hard cheese's evolution. And with its leftover whey we prepare a batch of traditional Ricotta. 

What is included in this milklab membership?

milklab is the new name for David Asher's educational endeavour

By signing up to milklab online you will have lifetime access to the 5-day Introductory Natural Cheesemaking Course (which translates into 16 hours of video lessons) as well as access to an online community where you can share with other members. You will have access to course notes and recipes. David will also offer occasional live events and Q&A sessions. 

Expect these online offerings to evolve and expand in the most delicious ways. More courses will be added to this program over time including: an advanced class and a goat/sheep milk class. Signing up to this session now provides future access to all programs.

In this course you will learn:

  • How to cultivate the different rind ecologies entirely naturally, including: Geotrichum candidum, Penicillium roqueforti, Penicillium candidum and the washed rind ecology.
  • How calf and kid stomachs can provide a most sustainable and ethical supply of natural rennet (commercial rennet is also addressed).
  • How and why milk works in these most magnificent ways.