Mastering Basic Cheesemaking: The Fun and Fundamentals of Making Cheese at Home

This illustrated beginner’s guide covers everything you need to know to start making cheese at home--from tools and techniques to basic milk chemistry.

While the craft of home cheesemaking gains in popularity, most books on the subject gloss over the fundamentals. Mastering Basic Cheesemaking is a complete hands-on guide to making cheese and other fermented dairy products from scratch, geared toward helping the novice cheesemaker get started in their home kitchens.

This fully illustrated practical guide covers topics such as:

• Understanding your ingredients, tools and techniques
• Whipping up ＂instant cheeses＂ such as ricotta and paneer while learning basic milk chemistry
• Progressing to fermented dairy products such as kefir, yogurt and sour cream
• Using bacteria and coagulant to create spreadable and tender cheeses like quark, chevre, cream cheese and American style cottage cheese

Graduating to curdled, aged and ripened cheese--mozzarella, feta, cheddar, gouda, and parmesan.

Gianaclis Caldwell is the head cheesemaker and owner of Pholia Farm, a licensed dairy well-known for its artisan, aged raw milk cheeses, and for its educational offerings including beginner to advanced cheesemaking courses. She also serves on the American Cheese Society regulatory and academic committee. Gianaclis is the author of several books including Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking , The Small-Scale Cheese Business , and The Small-Scale Dairy . She often writes and photographs for in culture: the word on cheese and other publications, and she blogs at gianacliscaldwell.wordpress.com.