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The Joy of Cheesemaking

Here is an easy-to-understand, beautifully illustrated guide to making cheese. It includes a basic overview of cheese manufacturing and aging, from the raw ingredients to the final product, and much more. With clear instructions, gorgeous photographs, and a glossary, this comprehensive guide will allow the reader to learn all about cheese, from making it, to choosing it, to pairing it with the right wines.

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 6, 2011

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Jody Farnham

3 books

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5 stars
17 (28%)
4 stars
14 (23%)
3 stars
17 (28%)
2 stars
12 (20%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Tessa.
2,170 reviews94 followers
April 7, 2022
This has more recipes with cheese than for cheese :( Definitely a detailed, well-described account of cheesemaking but it focuses on commercial cheesemaking more than home cheesemaking, which is what I was looking for. Still interesting to skim through though!
Profile Image for Melanie.
430 reviews32 followers
August 30, 2011
The subtitle of the book is The ultimate guide to understanding, making and eating fine cheese. It is definitely the ultimate guide for gourmet, serious cheese artisans. This book has finest of the fine cheeses and procedures for making them.

Cheese is classified into 5 different groups; fresh, soft-ripened, semihard, hard and blue depending on how it is processed, its flavors, and characteristics. This book gives you the chemistry behind each one and the ins and outs of how to get the right chemistry. This is definitely a text for a cheese class participant.

They break down the milk composition in cow, goat and sheep milk next showing the amounts of water, lactose, proteins etc in each type and looks at the factors that can change the quality of the milk. Without good milk, you won’t have good cheese.

The book continues with more chemistry for the cheesemaker in which starter cultures to use for which kind of cheeses you want to make. This book breaks down each and describes them in depth. Proper coagulation and drainage are needed for your cheese as well and the authors use diagrams and photos to teach these. Very detailed in teaching I think this could easily be a book used at some of the cheese making schools in the country.

All the processes of cheesemaking are covered thoroughly in the book with pressing the cheese, adding the mold for aging, and even how to cut the cheese properly. We are talking serious cheese making here, not for the very beginner cheese tinkerer.

There is a fantastic amount of education on a chemistry level as well as the processes involved in making Fine cheeses. I appreciate the knowledge that went into making this book, the fine photos and diagrams to showcase that knowledge, and the love of cheese that the authors show throughout the book.
Profile Image for Katie.
1,188 reviews249 followers
January 26, 2012
As I discovered during my last library visit, number 637 in the Dewey Decimal System is devoted exclusively to cheesemaking! I was intrigued, so I picked up a very elegant-looking book called The Joy of Cheesemaking: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding, Making, and Eating Fine Cheese. The first aspect of the book I really enjoyed was the elegant, sophisticated feeling it imparted, with both the cover and its description of "classic" cheeses I'd never even heard of. The next thing I wanted to know, as I read impatiently through the introduction, was whether or not I could reasonably expect to make my own cheese. Given enough money to spend on it, with this book I'd say the answer is yes.

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1,458 reviews18 followers
August 9, 2016
This book is a very thorough look at cheese. The sub title says it all "The Ultimate Guide to Understanding, Making and Eating Fine Cheese.

This would make a great text book or serve the home cheese maker as well. It contains a section on pairings, a glossary, additional educational resources and Recipes!

Several people in my area make cheese so it put me in mind of them. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Recommended.
Profile Image for Jane.
102 reviews2 followers
October 16, 2013
This book has so much information about milk and cheese and how to turn it into cheese. Whether you want to actually make cheese or not, there is a lot of great information regarding the different kinds of milks (and there are all kinds depending on the type of cow that produced it). Very informational and full of pictures to show you everything.
Profile Image for Fredrick Danysh.
6,844 reviews199 followers
August 16, 2016
This is a guide for the home cheesemaker that covers a wide range of topics such as materials, types of cheese, cheesemaking procedures, and how to enjoy the finished product. The numerous illustrations and tables help to clarify the subject. This is a good instruction manual for anyone who wants to make their own cheese. There are even a few recipes using the finished product.
Profile Image for Martin Earl.
99 reviews4 followers
books-i-read-part-of
July 31, 2011
So far so good, except for the grammatical errors. Seriously, I get graded down for these things in grad school, why are they making it through to publication?
Profile Image for Serge Pierro.
Author 1 book49 followers
August 13, 2012
Good book, but the focus is on more "advanced" cheeses. Makes one wonder how cheese was made before mail order kits and supplies became the status quo.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews