To improve a product, one must define what success looks like and then measure progress as a team. Part 1 is a workshop-style session that will create an opportunity to gain* or provide peer-to-peer preference insight using Just About Right (JAR) scales. Preference testing with tools like JAR are key for defining success for a given product. Later today, we will review how to generate and analyze data in order to build an internal program that measures progress towards a goal. (*We’ll reach out to registered attendees who identify as a cheesemaker to coordinate an optional sample contribution.)

In this session, we will take a case study approach that explores advantages and risks of three different cheeses with vastly different culture preparations. From a highly controlled model that exclusively relies on commercial inputs, to a raw & wild traditional process, with a final hybrid approach that lands somewhere in-between–we’ll look at key decisions that will guide culture selection for a new or developing cheese. Consideration will be given to risk assessment, especially in terms of how employee-trainability can affect process viability.

Upstart cheesemakers often begin by catering to local preferences for cheese styles, or by hand-selling a unique profile to their community. In order to scale, it’s important to understand preferences and opportunities within a broader market. This round-table taps expertise from mid-supply-chain professionals, who can help inform a communication strategy around new products. By internalizing feedback and catering to emerging trends you can help to ‘grease the wheels’ that take your cheese from farm to plate.

Cheese is composed of large fractions of protein, fat, carbohydrates, and water, as well as a smaller fraction known as mineral or ash. This latter fraction includes added salt, calcium phosphate, and other trace inorganic substances. This session synthesizes the most current understanding of milk and cheese mineral chemistry to guide an understanding of the impact of minerals on the cheesemaking process and the role that minerals play in developing important cheese characteristics such as pliability, melt, and stretch. Setting targets around mineral-driven attributes can help your team achieve consistency in making the best cheese possible.

This morning, we completed the sensory evaluation of your cheese using JAR scales. Saltiness, bitterness, aromas, oh my! It’s likely that there was some consensus around a certain aspect of your product that could be targeted for improvement. Want to tame bitterness? Boost Salt? Balance aromas? Time to build a sensory program with selected attributes that are most important to achieving your goals. By training your team to find agreement in language and intensity of key attributes, you can create quantifiable data with each tasting. This data can be used to take action when correlated with process controls. Learn from experts who are applying Principles of Sensory Evaluation to manage their teams and product development at different scales of production.

Zoe Brickley began exploring the world of cheese while attending The French Culinary Institute in New York City. From there, she joined Murray’s Cheese; after some time spent behind the counter, Zoe became Cave Manager and American Buyer for Murray’s. In 2009, Zoe joined Jasper Hill Farm where she established their foundational development, sales, and marketing efforts; today, she is Jasper Hill’s Director of Communications & E-Commerce. Zoe loves to learn more about cheese through teaching, having presented hundreds of hours of content for many organizations. She is an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional and Sensory Evaluator and a member of the Guilde Internationale des Fromagers.

Andy Johnson is a technical specialist with Dairy Connection, helping clients with technical application support issues such as culture and enzyme selection, application procedures, and troubleshooting. His career began nearly two decades ago as a cheesemaker for award-winning creameries in Vermont, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Before joining Dairy Connection, Andy served as an assistant coordinator for the Cheese Industry & Applications Group at the Wisconsin Center for Dairy Research.

Olivier Laurin is the Senior Cheese Science Technologist at Rheolution Inc and oversees Dairy and Agri-food technical sales in Canada and USA for the CoaguSens™ technology. He provides assistance to clients in mastering their milk coagulation and helps them bring out the most out of their milk and brings value from their production data. Olivier brings over 18 years of experience in the cheesemaking and agri-food industry. His professional journey has taken him from hands-on cheesemaking around the globe, to becoming the second cheese technology advisor of Cheese Expertise Center of Quebec, to production management, to dairy cultures sales for Lallemand Specialty Culture to cheese R&D and corporate technical services at Saputo’s. His focus has been on cheese manufacturing processes, ingredient selections, R&D, root-cause analysis, process efficiency, yield and product quality improvement for various companies. Olivier has a holistic view of the cheese industry’s challenges and opportunities. His belief in the synergy between innovative technology and practical expertise is set to drive success and maximize yield for all stakeholders. Olivier holds a University degree in Cheese Science, Technology, Innovation, and Quality from the University of Lorraine in France, in partnership with École Nationale de l’Industries Laitière of Poligny and Mamirolle.

Dr. Gil Tansman is the Regional Sales Director for Fresh Dairy with DSM-Firmenich. Gil began his career in manufacturing with Cabot Creamery before transitioning to technical sales with the culture house CSK, which was acquired by DSM. Gil holds agricultural and food science degrees from McGill University and UVM, attaining a doctorate under Dr. Paul Kindstedt at UVM and publishing extensively on cheese chemistry. Gil has also studied business at Purdue University and Indiana University, holding a Masters in Agricultural Economics and an MBA from those institutions, respectively. Gil resides with his wife and four daughters in El Paso, Texas.

After an MS in crystal chemistry and X-ray diffraction at UVM, Gina ended up making her way to Cabot for the love of science and cheese. She has been with the Coop for almost 10 years, and works hands-on grading hundreds of samples of cheese every day. When she is not in the warehouse doing sensory deep dives, or selecting contest cheese, she is collaborating with others to make quality improvements. Additional credentials include short courses with the Center for Dairy Research and Cornell. Gina is passionate about sharing delicious cheese with her family and community.

Olivia Haver, in-house affineur for von Trapp Farmstead, is an ACS-Certified Cheese Sensory Evaluator, one of fewer than a hundred in the world. Prior to joining von Trapp, she spent three years as Head Affineur at The Farm at Doe Run, and six years at Jasper Hill Farm in a series of quality, sensory, and R&D roles. Olivia is the 2025 recipient of the Daphne Zepos Research Award, with which she plans to document the ingenuity of American artisan cheese caves by researching their design, their functionality, and the unique challenges faced by cheesemakers and affineurs.