When the late Reg Scott wrote the first edition of this book in 1981, his intention was 'to produce a script generally interesting to those readers requiring more information on cheese'. It was not conceived as a book that covered the most recent developments with respect to lipid or protein chemistry, for example, but rather it was hoped that the text would reveal cheesemaking as a fascinating, and yet technically demanding, branch of dairy science. The fact that the author had some 50 years' experience of cheesemaking gave the book a very special character, in that the 'art' of the traditional cheesemaker emerged as a system that, in reality, had a strong scientific basis. Today, cheesemaking remains a blend of'art and science' for, while much cheese is made in computer-controlled factories relying on strict standard ization to handle the large volumes of milk involved, the production oftop quality cheese still relies on the innate skill of the cheesemaker. It was considered appropriate, therefore, that this revised edition ofCheesemaking Practice should include, at one end of the spectrum, details of the latest technology for curd handling and, at the other, simple recipes for the production of farmhouse cheeses. Obviously a student of dairy science will need to consult other texts in order to complete his/her knowledge of the cheesemaking process, but if this revised edition stimulates its readers to delve more deeply, then the task of updating the original manuscript will have been worthwhile.

Van Slyke and Publow's 1913 work is a comprehensive source of information on American cheese-making. A vital reference for anyone interested in making cheese.

Including more than 35 step-by-step recipes from the Black Sheep School of Cheesemaking Most DIY cheesemaking books are hard to follow, complicated, and confusing, and call for the use of packaged freeze-dried cultures, chemical additives, and expensive cheesemaking equipment. For though bread baking has its sourdough, brewing its lambic ales, and pickling its wild fermentation, standard Western cheesemaking practice today is decidedly unnatural. In The Art of Natural Cheesemaking, David Asher practices and preaches a traditional, but increasingly countercultural, way of making cheese—one that is natural and intuitive, grounded in ecological principles and biological science. This book encourages home and small-scale commercial cheesemakers to take a different approach by showing them: • How to source good milk, including raw milk; • How to keep their own bacterial starter cultures and fungal ripening cultures; • How make their own rennet—and how to make good cheese without it; • How to avoid the use of plastic equipment and chemical additives; and • How to use appropriate technologies. Introductory chapters explore and explain the basic elements of cheese: milk, cultures, rennet, salt, tools, and the cheese cave. The fourteen chapters that follow each examine a particular class of cheese, from kefir and paneer to washed-rind and alpine styles, offering specific recipes and handling advice. The techniques presented are direct and thorough, fully illustrated with hand-drawn diagrams and triptych photos that show the transformation of cheeses in a comparative and dynamic fashion. The Art of Natural Cheesemaking is the first cheesemaking book to take a political stance against Big Dairy and to criticize both standard industrial and artisanal cheesemaking practices. It promotes the use of ethical animal rennet and protests the use of laboratory-grown freeze-dried cultures. It also explores how GMO technology is creeping into our cheese and the steps we can take to stop it. This book sounds a clarion call to cheesemakers to adopt more natural, sustainable practices. It may well change the way we look at cheese, and how we make it ourselves.

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