Author Topic: Books, Cheese Making - Best Ever?  (Read 8195 times)

kawatiri kaas

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Books, Cheese Making - Best Ever?
« on: December 28, 2009, 06:12:45 AM »
I have found one thread discussing the merits of a book or two... But what are peoples favourite or most recommended books on cheese making? How necessary are these books - can the internet substitute for them (eg the one and only CheeseForum.org)? Does one need to collect a small library of them to become a competent, renaissance cheese maker?
Cheers,
« Last Edit: December 29, 2009, 04:54:44 AM by kawatiri kaas »

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Books, Cheese Making - Best Ever?
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2009, 04:40:26 AM »
No there is a lot to be gleened on the net as well. There are many books but few really good ones. I guess it depends on what you are looking for as well. My favorite is Margaret Morris's book “The Cheesemaker’s Manual”,
http://glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca/kitvideo.htm

followed by "AMERICAN FARMSTEAD CHEESE" by Paul Kindstedt.  http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/americanfarmsteadcheese

folowed by "Italian Cheese: Two Hundred Traditional Types : A Guide to Their Discovery and Appreciation" by  Piero Sardo (Editor), Gigi Piumatti (Editor), R. Rubino. This is not a cheese making book but gives enough detail that you can figure out how to make them with a bit of research.


kawatiri kaas

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Re: Books, Cheese Making - Best Ever?
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2009, 04:53:15 AM »
This is something I've noticed, there are lots of books on cheese specifically but with little or no cheese making content. So they're great to read and be inspired by, and then really disappointing because I can't follow through with a crack making a said cheese. :)
Cheers,

Likesspace

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Re: Books, Cheese Making - Best Ever?
« Reply #3 on: January 09, 2010, 10:51:49 PM »
Kawatiri....
In my opinion you have found the best cheese making resource.
When reading a book you are reading the knowledge, (or in some cases the lack thereof), of one individual.
Here you have many members who are all involved in one quest which is to make better cheese.
By all of us, posting our experiences and asking questions, we find the answers of how to properly produce a good final product.
I know that my cheese making has been taken to the next level, thanks to everyone who contributes to this board.
I truly do believe that it is by far the best cheese making resource anyone will find.
(by the way, I do not own a single cheese making book)

Dave

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Books, Cheese Making - Best Ever?
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2010, 12:34:21 AM »
Dave you don't own any cheesemaking books? How did you get started?

Likesspace

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Re: Books, Cheese Making - Best Ever?
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2010, 01:25:38 AM »
Debi....
I actually got started out of boredom.
I have a very deep and very terrible hatred of winter and I've always looked for some type of hobby to fill the winter months.
I do play racquetball (year round) but even that is only good for a couple of hours a day during the cold months. After that I am stuck in the house, wondering what to do with myself.
Well a few years back I decided to take up the hobby of wine making. I figured that I love wine and love being creative so this seemed to be the perfect solution to my problem.
Well once I got started in this hobby I found out that less is more when it comes to making wine, meaning that you perform a certain task......sit back and wait a few weeks to a few months and then do something else.
Well one day while researching wine making I came across a site that also had cheese making supplies (leeners). This seemed interesting so I started doing some research.
Well eventually I found my way to Fankhauser's site and the rest is history.
I started out with a cottage cheese and just pretty much never looked back. My wife wasn't all that thrilled with yet another hobby but she understood my need to stay occupied.
I've basically spent every winter since that time reading everything that I can find (via the internet) about making cheese.
I"m sure that some books have their place and I'm certain that I probably would have been making better cheese a lot sooner had I read some of those books.
Regardless, I still feel that I have found the absolute best resource for cheese making that is available in any form.
I'm certain that you've heard the old saying that two heads are better than one.
Well the way I figure it we have several hundred heads, (if not thousands), working together on the same problem. That's pretty good stuff. :)
I have heard some pretty good stuff about a couple of the most popular cheese making books and I'll probably pick them up sometime in the future. I've read excerpts from one or two of them and always figured they were over my head.
Well thanks to members like yourself, Linuxboy, Wayne, Sailor and Francois I now understand some things that were totally beyond me even a few months ago. Now I feel that I could read these books and understand most of what they have to offer.
Okay, that went a little farther than I planned on. :)
Thanks for asking though.

Dave

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Books, Cheese Making - Best Ever?
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2010, 01:40:19 AM »
Dave -

Just curious. Internet research is fairly new to me even though I have had a PC of some sort since 1980. Seems the past 5 years it has really grown as a true infomation highway for the the common person. I love having this place to share infomation with about this wonderful hobby. 

Thanks again Giovanni!

Likesspace

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Re: Books, Cheese Making - Best Ever?
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2010, 02:33:00 AM »
I agree 100% Debi...
John has given us a wonderful platform to share ideas and information.
I also began with computers in the early 80's and in fact became "wired" shortly thereafter.
I was spending $50.00 per month for a Compuserve account in the early 80's and had to pay long distance charges on top of that.
The information superhighway has come a LONG way since that time and I appreciate everything that it has to offer.
But....
Shouldn't we be thanking Al Gore instead of John? (yes, tongue is firmly planted in cheek at this point). :)

Dave

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Books, Cheese Making - Best Ever?
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2010, 03:14:37 AM »
Dave I almost said that but I figured poor AL has been getting hammered enough lately about the global warming that seems to have quit working lately.

My first internet was Compuserve back in the 80's too. Then GEnie. Nothin much but BBS servers back then but it was still kewl.