Ricki Carroll - Home Cheese Making: From Fresh and Soft to Firm, Blue, Goats Milk, and More; Recipes for 100 Favorite Cheeses

[Ricki Carroll] has inspired artisans from the Loire to Las Vegas. Shes the Billy Graham of Cheese.

Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

A thorough and practical guide.

Bon Apptit

In the beginning, there was Ricki. In fact, Im not sure there would have been the revolution weve had in American cheese making if not for her. It certainly wouldnt have been as far ranging, deep, or fun.

Clark Wolf, food consultant and contributing authority to Food Arts magazine

This is a must-read for anyone interested in cheese making! Ricki offers able cheese makers knowledge to excel at their craft and novices a world of information.

Jodi Wische, Emmi USA specialty cheeses

For 20 years, I have recommended Ricki Carrolls book for home cheese making help. Now Ricki has written an improved and expanded version to serve for the next 20 years.

Laura Chenel, founder of Laura Chenels Chevre, Inc.

This book covers everything the novice cheesemaker needs to know about making delicious cheese on the first try.

San Francisco Examiner

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by publishing practical information that encourages personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Edited by Lisa Hiley, Evelyn Battaglia, and Alana Chernila Technical assistance by Mark Chrabascz

Art direction and book design by Alethea Morrison

Text production by Jennifer Jepson Smith

Indexed by Christine R. Lindemer, Boston Road Communications

Cover and interior photography by Evi Abeler Photography

Additional photography by Courtesy of Bellwether Farms, left

Food styling by Alana Chernila and Joy Howard

Prop styling by Christina Lane

Illustrations by John Burgoyne

Text 1982, 1996, 2002, 2018 by Ricki Carroll

Ebook production by Kristy L. MacWilliams

Ebook version 1.1

May 25, 2021

Home Cheese Making was first published in 1982 as Cheesemaking Made Easy and was revised in 1996. For this edition, all of the information in the previous editions was reviewed and updated, and new recipes were added.

Some of the recipes in this book have been adapted from recipes developed for www.cheesemaking.com by our technical advisor and cheese guru, Jim Wallace.

Be sure to read all instructions thoroughly before using any of the techniques or recipes in this book and follow all safety guidelines.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other without written permission from the publisher.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information.

Storey books are available for special premium and promotional uses and for customized editions. For further information, please call 800-793-9396.

Storey Publishing
210 MASS MoCA Way
North Adams, MA 01247
www.storey.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Carroll, Ricki, author.

Title: Home cheese making : from fresh and soft to firm, blue, goats milk, and more : recipes for 100 favorite cheeses / by Ricki Carroll.

Description: 4th edition. | North Adams, MA : Storey Publishing, 2018. | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018030470 (print) | LCCN 2018033260 (ebook) | ISBN 9781612128689 (ebook) | ISBN 9781635860788 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781612128672 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Cheesemaking. | Cooking (Cheese) | LCGFT: Cookbooks.

Classification: LCC SF271 (ebook) | LCC SF271 .C37 2018 (print) | DDC 637/.3dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018030470

Part 1

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Part 3

Two hundred years ago, all American cheese was made in the home. In 1800, nearly 90 percent of the countrys population lived on farms, and making cheese was considered the work of the farm wife, just part of the routine of baking and cooking and other chores. No need for a how-to book like this cheese making was something every eight-year-old was probably familiar with.

The first cheese factory was begun by Jesse Williams in 1851, in Rome, New York. Food-producing factories were hailed as a liberating force for farm women, releasing them from the demand of daily chores. Eventually people mostly forgot how to make cheese. This book came into being in the 1980s in response to an increasing interest in those old homesteading skills.

Rickis wonderful work allows modern-day home cheese makers access to the dairy wisdom of centuries past. It also gives us something our ancestors didnt have the ability to make dozens of different cheeses in our own kitchen. Two hundred years ago, when you made cheese at home, the odds were high that it would have been the same cheese your mother made. The same one her mother made, and the same one your neighbor made. Knowledge of other cheeses would have been extremely limited. With recipes representing nearly every cheesemaking region, Home Cheese Making puts a world of homemade cheese at your fingertips.

To be clear, as the owner of a business that makes and sells cheese to food lovers all across the country, its not like I want you to make all your own cheese. But I strongly encourage you to turn back the culinary clock and start making at least some of your own cheese, the way so many American families did two hundred years ago. I think youll find that making homemade cottage cheese or 30-Minute Mozzarella creates a family bond. The sense of achievement, the fun of eating something you made yourselves, and the pleasure of fresh cheese coming to life on your stovetop are pretty magical.

Thanks to Rickis diligent recipe testing and nearly 40 years of teaching cheese-making classes, the recipes here really work! With Home Cheese Making in hand, the odds of you making great cheese are very high. Ricki walks you through each step in easy-to-understand, laypersons language.