200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes: From Cheddar and Brie to Butter and Yogurt

by Debra Amrein-Boyes

Overview

Discover the satisfying art of cheese making in this updated edition.

This bestselling book has been designed to help you create wonderful cheeses that approximate the flavors and textures of many cheeses from around the world — at home in the comfort of your own kitchen.

Discover and indulge in the taste of fresh handmade cheeses and experience the joy of creating outstanding food from a simple ingredient: fresh milk. These excellent recipes feature easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions that take the stress and guesswork out of creating artisanal-quality cheeses at home. You will find recipes for everything from fresh unripened cheeses to aged ones with complex rinds.

An enticing new cover, an all-new 32 page troubleshooting section, new step-by-step photos as well as the new inclusion of preparation times with each recipe will be welcomed by both novice and experienced cheese makers.

Here's a sampling of some of the cheeses you can make:

• Fresh Cheeses: traditional Ricotta and fresh goat cheeses
• Stretched-Curd Cheeses: Bocconcini, Provolone and Mozzarella
• Mold-Ripened Cheeses: Brie, Camembert with Calvados
• Blue-Veined Cheeses: Gorgonzola, Roquefort, White Stilton
• Washed-Rind Cheeses: Muenster, Brick, Limburger
• Washed-Curd and Semisoft Cheeses: Colby, Edam, Fontina
• Semifirm and Hard Cheeses: Emmental, Jarlsberg, Cheddar
• Ethnic & Regional Cheeses: Feta, Paneer, Domiati
• Yogurt & Kefir: Bulgarian-Style Yogurt, Kefir Cheese
• Butter, Buttermilk and Crème Fraîche: Orange Honey Butter, Clotted Cream

Rounding out this fantastic book are comprehensive descriptions of basic cheese-making steps and techniques along with information on and illustrations of all the necessary techniques, equipment and tools. It also chronicles the fascinating history of cheese along with serving and presentation instructions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780778804659
Publisher:	Rose, Robert Incorporated
Publication date:	08/29/2013
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	408
Sales rank:	1,026,546
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Debra Amrein-Boyes is one of the top artisanal cheese makers in Canada. She spent several years learning about cheese making in Switzerland, then returned to Canada, where she is now the head cheese maker of The Farm House Natural Cheeses.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Introduction

The History of Cheese
How to Use This Book
What is Cheese?
Basic Cheese-Making Steps and Techniques
All About Milk
Ingredients
Mother Culture
Equipment and Tools
Wrapping and Storing Cheeses
Sanitation

Fresh Cheeses
Stretched-Curd (Pasta Filata) Cheeses
Mold-Ripened Cheeses
Blue-Veined Cheeses
Washed-Rind Cheeses
Washed-Curd and Semisoft Cheeses
Semifirm and Hard Cheeses
Ethnic and Regional Cheeses
Yogurt Kefir
Butter, Buttermilk and Crème Fraîche

Glossary
Sources
Index

Preface

Introduction

"A BOOK OF VERSES underneath the Bough, a Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou.... " This well known quote comes from one of the most famous romantics of all time, but what is missing from this picnic in paradise? The cheese, of course! While not mentioned in the poem, it is quite possible that cheese was on the menu that day. When Omar Khayyám penned these words more than 800 years ago, cheese was already a staple food.

Though the origin of cheese, like that of so many things in human history, is shrouded in mystery, it is safe to say that people of many cultures and traditions found ways early on to preserve the bounty and goodness of fresh milk, whether from cow, sheep, goat or camel, in this form. However it came to be, cheese is a valuable food: packed with important nutrients and a vital staple in the diets of most cultures.

In traditional agriculture, cheese making was a way of preserving the summer's milk surplus for consumption in the leaner winter season, when the animals were awaiting the arrival of their young in the spring. Domesticated milk-producing animals have a period during which they are "dry," or not lactating, while their bodies store energy for the birth of their young. Since this phase can last from a few weeks up to several months, depending on the breed of animal, it was important to be prepared for that interval of no milk production. In the summer months, the farmer's wife would often become a cheese maker, filling the cellar with enough cheese for the family's own needs and producing a bit extra to sell at the market to supplement the farm income in the winter.

The making of cheese on the farm was, and to some extent still is, an important part of many Old World cultures, but it was not continued to the same degree in the New World. However, things are changing. In the last 20 years or so, there has been a rediscovery of farmstead, or artisanal, cheese making, thanks to consumers who are actively seeking a more local, natural diet as an alternative to an increasingly industrialized and globalized food industry.

My personal story of cheese making began in 1978 with a trip to the Swiss Alps. I was attending a wedding, and the bride's parents invited me to spend several days with them at their holiday chalet in the mountains. While there, we visited a Senn, or Alpine herdsman, who was in charge of the farmers' cows on the summer pasture. I remember the copper cauldron hanging over the wood fire in a low-ceilinged hut and the fresh cheeses draining on the boards along the walls. Right on the other side of the stone wall were the cows, back in their stalls for the evening milking after a day of grazing the Alpine meadows. After I returned to Canada, I tried my hand at cheese making, but my information was sketchy and I failed dismally.
The long-suffering barn cats finished off what was left of my inedible cheese, and I shelved the idea. But destiny had other plans for me: several years later I returned to the Swiss Alps to live and raise a family, and there began again to learn the satisfying art of cheese making.

This book will help you discover a bit of this cheese-making heritage for yourself, at home in your own kitchen. Some of the recipes are time-tested ones that your great-grandmother could very likely have made in her farm kitchen, while others have been collected from around the world. There are also some new ideas to try, with unusual ingredients. We will cover everything from simple fresh cheeses and related dairy products (such as butter, crème fraîche and ricotta) to traditional hard cheeses (such as Cheddar, Gruyere and Parmesan) to special ethnic cheeses.

I hope you enjoy the process, but most of all the result. There's nothing like a fresh pizza on which even the mozzarella is made from scratch. Be sure to take some along on that perfect picnic!

A note on Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) and Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) cheeses: like fine wines, many cheeses are traditional to certain areas of the world and are made according to clearly outlined specifications to maintain their authenticity. In this book, we will be speaking of cheeses made in the style of many of these specialty cheeses.

Editorial Reviews

[Review of previous edition:] What sets this book apart is that Amrein-Boyes is a professional cheesemaker. She's the genius behind The Farm House Natural Cheeses, one of British Columbia's most outstanding artisan cheesemakers. This is important information to know, because it tells you that the author knows what she's talking about...the recipes are written from a cheesemaker's perspective rather than a chef's or home cook's perspective... Helpful troubleshooting tips something I've not seen before in a home cheesemaking book will aid in the diagnosis of problems as they come up...This is one of the best cheesemaking books I've come across. Amrein-Boyes conveys the complexity and rigor of the practice of cheesemaking, while at the same time making the craft accessible to the masses.

Pacific Northwest Cheese Project blog