249 Back to School

Cheesy and Fondue learn about learning about cheese. We talk about a 2000 hour certification. We discuss the cheese Olympics, a championship, a master of cheese can classes we can all take. And of course, we tell a very cheesy joke!

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Why is cheddar the most dangerous of all the cheeses? Because it is very sharp!

Show Notes

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/10/nx-s1-5563938/philadelphia-pro-is-world-champion-of-cheese

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/philly-cheesemonger-world-cheese-competition/

NPR / Philadelphia Pro Is World Champion of Cheese

CBS Philadelphia / Philly Cheesemonger Wins World Cheese Competition

Culture Cheese Magazine / 2025 Cheesemonger Invitational Competition Winner

Culture Cheese Magazine / Hero Hirsh Makes History as First Fellow of the Academy of Cheese

Academy of Cheese / Study Cheese

Academy of Cheese / Master of Cheese

Academy of Cheese / Associate Level

American Cheese Society / Certification

Cheese Origin / Cheese Certifications

Saputo USA Foodservice / Become an ACS Certified Cheese Professional

The Cheese Professor / 7 Cheese Schools

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Episode Transcript

(00:02):
Just Cheesy, the podcastpresented by Just Cheesy Productions.
Hi there. I'm your host, Fondue.
And I'm Cheesy.
In this week's episode, we'regoing to learn about learning about
cheese. We're talking about a2000 hour certification.
2000.
We discuss the CheeseOlympics, a championship, a master

(00:25):
of cheese, and classes we canall taste. And of course, we're going
to tell a very cheesy joke.Stay tuned for every episode. Back
to school on Just Cheesy, thepodcast. So, cheesy, how many hours
do you think it takes tobecome a certified cheese professional?
10.
Nope.
20.
Oh, you're not even in the ballpark.
50.
2,000.

(00:45):
2,000.
That's right. 2,000 hoursbefore you're even allowed to take
the test.
Why?
So if you want to become acheese professional, there is an
entire education system behindthe cheese counter.
There is.
And most of us don't have any clue.
Yeah.
We've talked about thisbefore, but a cheese monger is someone
who sells cheese.
Cheese. That's right.
And that seems pretty simple.

(01:06):
Yeah.
But there's a lot more to itthan that. There is that person called
a monger who sells you cheese.
Yeah.
They have to know things likewhere it came from. They have to
know things like who made it,how long it was aged, what it pairs
with, how to cut it, really.And how to do that without wasting
any of it. And then there'sthe salesy part of it. They actually

(01:26):
have to be able to talk to thecustomer and understand them well
enough to give them somethingthat they're actually going to like
and obviously, hopefully buy.
Yeah.
According to npr, EmeliaDalbro described it as helping people
navigate the cheese case,which she said could be overwhelming.
Yeah.
And her words were that thegoal is to demystify it.

(01:46):
Nice.
Because obviously it's reallyoverwhelming. And there's so many
different cheeses.
So many.
And then there was somethingthat kind of surprised me. According
to CBS Philadelphia,Dalborough pointed out that in Europe,
a cheesemonger is a genuinelyrespected career. I'd say, personally,
I would compare it to asommelier. This is very skilled labor.

(02:08):
It just doesn't get called that.
Yeah.
And. And these people studylike crazy. Obviously, if it takes
2000 hours to get acertification, there's something
that's considered the Cheese Olympics.
The Cheese Olympics.
There's a competition.According to Culture Cheese magazine,
it's called the CheesemongerInvitational. It started back in
2010.
It did.
So you have to picture thisbecause in 2025, this one was held

(02:31):
At Brooklyn Steel, which is awarehouse concert venue. This is
a huge event. It's actuallyalso a ticketed public event. You
can buy a ticket, eatunlimited cheese, meet cheesemakers,
and watch the competitionhappen on stage.
Why haven't we gone?
That is a great question.Maybe we will. Anyway, the competition
is on stage. And then thecrowd chants. They do moo ba ma,

(02:57):
I guess for cow, sheep and goat.
Moo.
Right. It sounds like so much fun.
It does.
But the invitational is anational competition.
Okay.
There's also a worldchampionship, of course, in France.
It's called the Mondial duFromage. And this bad boy does not
disappoint. It has it all.There are nine challenges. There

(03:18):
is a written exam. Writtenexam, a blind tasting, a perfect
cut, a cheese sculpture, and aplateau, which is a 100 centimeter
square display built around atheme out of cheese. The winner in
2025, according to NPR and CBSPhiladelphia, Amelia Dbro. And she
became the first American toever win.

(03:40):
Wow.
She said she did the entirecompetition with two knives and a
wire cutter.
Whoa.
That's it. She trained at thePhilly Cheese School in South Philadelphia.
Oh, my gosh. That sounds so cool.
Yeah, it does.
And you cannot just enter.According to CBS Philadelphia, you
have to win two separatecompetitions. You do before you're
even eligible to go to France.
Wow.

(04:50):
The Philly Cheese School inSouth Philadelphia is not a sponsor.
Oh, gosh, could you imagine?But if they were, their ad would
go right here. Before you cango to France and compete in international
cheese competitions, you haveto go to school. And on the formal
education side, the mostcomprehensive program in the world
is in London. It's called theAcademy of Cheese. It was founded

(05:13):
in 2016 and it's a non profit.It has four levels. Associate, Member,
Fellow, and the top one. Thetop one, Master of Cheese. Of course,
level one are the basics.Sight, smell and taste. Of course,
the history of cheese, howit's made and matured, and how to
taste it. Like an affaneur.
An affawat.
An affinure. Oh, you wannaknow what it is, right? Okay. The

(05:36):
academyofcheese.org says anaffinure is a term for someone who
practices the art of. Affinageis the process of caring for ripening
and aging cheese. In French,the word means to refine. Who knows
what it means when I say it?Level one basically gets you a certificate

(05:57):
and a lapel pin.
Okay.
The Master of Cheese is verydifferent. According to the Academy,
you complete every Level 3module. You have to submit a portfolio
of Professional experience.You have to write a research paper,
you have to sit for a 90minute exam, and you have to pass
a blind tasting. And you haveto get at least 70% at the minimum.

(06:20):
A research paper.
A research paper about cheeseto get an idea of how hard this is.
The first person ever to reachfellow, which is just below the master,
was in 2024 according toCulture Cheese magazine and was a
woman named Hero Hirsch. Shehad 15 years at Paxton and Whitfield,
one of the oldest cheese shopsin Britain. She told the mag that

(06:41):
every module pushed herknowledge further and highlighted
just how much more there is to know.
Wow.
Back in the U.S. the Americancheese Society runs the certification
that Everybody wants an ACScertified cheese professional. It
takes 2,3000 hours of cheeserelated work and education before
you can even sit for the exam.So let's talk about that for a second.

(07:03):
That's, that's roughly 50 fulltime work weeks just to qualify to
sit for the exam. This thingcovers raw ingredients, cheese making,
transportation, handling,storage, merchandising, pairing and
serving.
Transportation.
Yep, transportation. They haveto learn about temperature and timing
and what survives in a truckand what does not.

(07:24):
Oh my.
That's all part of the test.
It is.
They offer anothercertification certification called
the Certified Cheese SensoryEvaluator. That exam is three hours
long.
Three hours.
Here's some information aboutthis test. It says here each candidate
will be provided with 12cheeses. They must evaluate the appearance,
texture and aroma or flavor ofeach cheese using a refined list

(07:47):
of attributes corresponding toa category of cheese. I mean, it
sounds fun to be a taster, butthis test sounds terrible.
Yeah, it does.
Each candidate will beprovided with 10 different prepared
solutions, each providing aunique aroma found in the cheese.
Okay.
The candidates must identifythese attributes by smell or olfactory
assessment. Geez Louise. Thescoring system for this test is based

(08:09):
on a method used by theAmerican Dairy Science Association's
Collegiate Dairy ProductsEvaluation Contest, wherein each
cheese is first evaluated by ateam of expert judges using an authorized
list of descriptors to set abaseline evaluation against which
the test taker's evaluationswill be compared. Oh, my goodness.
Yeah.
And if these ones sound toughto you, well, is the Wisconsin Master

(08:33):
Cheesemaker program. This isthe only one of its kind in the Western
hemisphere. And before you canapply, you need 10 years of cheese
making experience.
10 years?
Yes, 10 years to apply. Butyou're thinking to yourself, hey,
I love cheese. I want to learnmore. Where can I go? Well, according
to the cheese professor, thereare at least seven that you can go
to. There's one in Wisconsin.The center for Dairy Research at

(08:56):
UW Madison runs short coursesin cheese making, processed cheese,
cheese technology, and cheesegrading. Penn State has a course
through their food sciencedepartment on microbiology and chemistry
of it.
Wow.
And you do not need to be anenrolled student.
Really?
Boston University does a sevenweek certificate every spring, taught
by the man who owns FormaggioKitchen. Vermont has too. Yeah, this

(09:19):
one might be the best one.It's a four week sensory program
where your final project is acomplete evaluation of a cheese you
choose yourself.
Yes, please.
The other Vermont program isrun by a cheesemaker named Peter
Dixon at Parrish HillCreamery, and one of his workshops
is entirely about oftenage.And then, of course, there is Murray's
Cheese Boot Camp. They run aweekend seminar covering chemistry,

(09:43):
geography, cutting, fun, andof course, pairing.
Oh, my.
That one sounds right up my alley.
I'm ready for a joke funding.
Okay. Why did fresh cheesedrop out of school?
I don't know. Why?
Because it was too immature.Get it? Because it was too immature.
I get it. It was silly.
Oh, it was silly and a littlebit cheesy. Thanks for listening

(10:07):
to Just Cheesy, the podcastepisode Back to School.
Thank you.
If you're a fan of the showand you love a good blooper, check
us out on TikTok and YouTubeshorts where we give you some of
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and stay cheesy, everybody.