While she’s always loved cheese, Lisa Caprera can't pinpoint the exact
moment that she first dreamed of working with cheese professionally, but it
probably came sometime between sneaking cheese scraps as a line cook and
going back to school to study food science at Penn State. There, under Dr.
Kerry Kaylegian, she worked on research projects tracking quality and
consistency in cheesemaking and on improving food safety in small-scale
cheese processing facilities. As the Creamery Manager for Goat Rodeo Farm
& Dairy, she put her background to the test alongside a very small team to
make award-winning cheeses just outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Along with
business partner Els Baum, Lisa is in the process of opening her newest
venture: Steel Cauldron Cheeseworks, an urban microcreamery which will be
dedicated to producing small-batch, artisanal cheeses in the heart of
Pittsburgh. She is proud to watch the growth of the Pennsylvania cheese
industry and is awed by all of the talented farmers, cheesemakers, and
educators who make great cheese possible.
Lisa first became interested in judging cheese through the collegiate Dairy
Products Evaluation Contest. She has volunteered behind the scenes at the
World Championship Cheese Contest, American Cheese Society Judging &
Competition, and Pennsylvania Farm Show cheese contest, and later judged
cheese for the Eastern States Exposition and the American Cheese Society.
She is a firm believer in the power of sensory evaluation as a tool for
troubleshooting and tracking cheese quality.