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www.groovekorea.com / July 2014 52 GROW LOCAL Edited by Shelley DeWees (shelley@groovekorea.com) I t’s common knowledge to those with foreign palates that good cheese is hard to come by in Korea. While many expats pine for the supermarkets and special- ty stores back home where cheese was plentiful and crackers always had the luxury of being adorned with a tasty accoutrement, we have sadly grown accustomed to our current cheese-less lifestyle. Gone are the days where we could frolic amongst the Brie, Parmesan or Gouda as freely as we pleased. In these dark times, many of us have given up hope. But one expat, particularly outraged and utterly disheart- ened by this nonsense, has decided to take matters into his own hands. Doug Huffer is an American living in the coun- tryside in Gyeongju, and he has his very own goat cheese farm. It all started about five years ago. Huffer lived near cow dairies and would buy milk from one of the farmers, but he missed the variety of cheese from back home. After doing some research he started to make his own cheese from the cow milk. Then, three years ago, he parlayed his newfound knowledge into some land and a few goats and, just like that, Waeg Farm was born. “I chose to raise goats over cows because they’re easier to handle and, to put it simply, just plain cuter!” The process, he says, is easy. He heats the milk to 63 degrees Celsius, lets it pasteurize for 30 minutes, cools it to 32 degrees Celsius and adds culture. After an hour, in goes the rennet — which coagulates the milk and creates curds — and then anywhere from 12 to 24 hours later he places the curds into molds and lets them drain for a full day. Story by Shireen Tofg photos by Kwan Ho Keun, Ralph Daily, Gemma Wardle and Luca Nebuloni EASY CHEES Y An expat takes cheese needs into his own hands with goats galore