What is the meaning of “remember doing something”?

Question

Here are some sentences; the third one and the fourth one really confuse me

I remember to make cheese. (I remember this thing, I will do it later)
I remember making cheese. (I have made some cheese, and I remember it)
I remember the making of cheese. (Does this one mean I have already made some cheese?)
I remember cheese making. (Cheese making is made by gerund, a compound noun, does this one have the same meaning with the second one?)

In, say, Living descendants of the German immigrants remember cheese making for home use as being fairly common in their families, it's quite likely they were only children when they saw other people making cheese at home. If they remembered making cheese this would much more strongly imply that they themselves made the cheese. — FumbleFingers, Aug 28 '16 at 12:30
Thanks a lot！ But it still means someone has made cheese， not to make cheese. Am I right？ Instead， here I'm not sure if it is cheese-making or making for home use（participle modifier）？ — moyeea, Aug 28 '16 at 12:58
The 1st and 2nd examples refer to the act, while the 3rd and 4th examples refer to the craft. — Lawrence, Sep 27 '16 at 13:44

Peter · Accepted Answer · 2016-08-28 13:06:03Z

1

I remember making cheese

specifically means you made cheese

I remember the making of cheese
I remember cheese making

is ambiguous since it could mean you made cheese or someone else made cheese but cheese was produced in either case.

Your initial sentence

I remember to make cheese

sounds awkward,

I will remember to make cheese
I must remember to make cheese
I should remember to make cheese

would be used to indicate the future and

I remembered to make cheese

can be used to indicate the past.

answered Aug 28 '16 at 13:06

Peter

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Thanks so much for your help！ Because those two forms come from gerunds. I suppose they should have same meanings with verbal gerunds. Like： You can say This table needs some cleaning（needs to be cleaned passive voice） But you can't say ：I need some cleaning on this table（it means you need to be cleaned） – moyeea Aug 28 '16 at 13:17

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