Caldwell - Mastering basic cheesemaking : the fun and fundamentals of making cheese at home

PRAISE FOR MASTERING BASIC CHEESEMAKING

Gianaclis has taken the craft of cheesemaking and has molded it into another beautiful tome for cheese lovers. Her straightforward recipes will guide you through the exciting processes of crafting different cheeses, starting with the easiest then progressing to the more advanced recipes. She also shares some extra tips here and there to make the endeavor all the more successful. Whether you plan to make cheese or not! Mastering Basic Cheesemaking will help you understand how the myriad of cheese styles can all begin with one simple ingredient milk. Should you attempt to give it a whirl, this book will be like having her right there beside you as you create your first cheese.

MAX MCCALMAN , ACS CCP, author of
numerous books on cheese including
Mastering Cheese: Lessons for Connoisseurship from a Matre Fromager.

If only Id known words that kept repeating in my mind as I read Mastering Basic Cheesemaking. This is the book I longed for years ago when I embarked on my own cheesemaking journey. Not just another how-to, this beginners book is designed to teach. The reader is seamlessly led through a progression of recipes intended to bring about a true understanding of what is happening in the vat. This book is all about success! I love it.

KIRSTEN K. SHOCKEY , author of
Fermented Vegetables: Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables & Herbs
in Krauts, Kimchis, Brined Pickles, Chutneys, Relishes & Pastes.

Over the last few years, Gianaclis Caldwell has written pretty much every book you need to start a small-scale artisan cheese business. With Mastering Basic Cheesemaking, she turns her attention to home cheesemaking and creates another must-have title. Writing in a way that demystifies the process and makes it accessible to everyone, Caldwell takes the reader logically through many different styles of cheese. This is the kind of book where you dont realize how much you are learning until you get to the end and eat your creations. If you can use a cookbook, this book will show you how to make some great cheese and also teach you how you did it.

GORDON EDGAR , author of
Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge, Cheddar: A Journey to the Heart of
Americas Most Iconic Cheese and cheese buyer for
Rainbow Grocery Cooperative in San Francisco since 1994.

Copyright 2016 by Gianaclis Caldwell.
All rights reserved.

Cover design by Gianaclis Caldwell

All photographs 2016 by Gianaclis Caldwell, unless otherwise noted.

Printed in Canada. First printing January 2016.

New Society Publishers acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities.

This book is intended to be educational and informative. The author and publisher disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss or risk that may be associated with the application of any of the contents of this book.

Paperback ISBN: 978-0-86571-818-0
eISBN: 978-1-55092-617-0

Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Mastering Basic Cheesemaking should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below. To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com

Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:
New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada
(250) 247-9737

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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Caldwell, Gianaclis, 1961-, author

Mastering basic cheesemaking : the fun and fundamentals of making cheese at home / Gianaclis Caldwell.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-9861907-0-4 (paperback).--ISBN 978-1-55092-617-0 (ebook)

1. Cheesemaking. 2. Cheese products. I. Title.

PART 1:
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF MAKING CHEESE

PART 2:
THE FUN OF MAKING CHEESE

W HEN I BEGAN LEARNING how to make cheese late in 2002, there were just two cheesemaking books on the market I bought both. I had been making yogurt, paneer, and butter since I was a young girl helping my mom in our farm kitchen, but cheese real sliceable, meltable, grillable cheese was a mystery to me. My desire to uncover the secrets of this tasty food came not simply from a passion for eating it (that was supplied in excess by my husband and youngest daughter), but from an ingrained mantra of make and grow your own food and do not waste. I knew that my family would have too much milk from our newly acquired, handful-size herd of goats, and I imagined that by turning the excess into a useful variety of products we could strike these items off the weekly grocery list and reduce the waste created by commercial packaging a win-win.

The first batches I made, using Ricki Carrolls venerable Home Cheese Making (my favorite of those two initial tomes), made me feel as if I had performed magic the alchemy of transforming humble milk into something entirely new and exciting. The sentiment was sustained and the pride of creation boosted by the passion with which my family and neighbors, who I had gathered for an impromptu cheese party, enjoyed the results. There is nothing quite as gratifying as pleasing others with food, especially a food steeped in tradition, mystery, and complexity.

Making cheese proved to be such a seductive and satisfying craft that in 2005 my husband and I began building our own farmstead cheese business, Pholia Farm Creamery (the name combines letters from the names of our daughters, Phoebe and Amelia). We relocated to a part of the old family farm where I was raised twenty-four acres of woodland, mountains, and meadow in my hometown of Rogue River, Oregon. Those were still the somewhat early days of farmstead cheesemaking, both as a skill and as a vocation. Friends and relatives were either reluctantly supportive or downright skeptical of our new venture. Even the local dairy inspector advised us that we would be better off to bury what little money we had in a tin can in the backyard. Fortunately for us, Americans palate for fine