Books - Cheese Encyclopedia Recommendations

[ddcurtis]

Hi folks, since you all know lots of the books out there, can you recommend a thorough guide or even 'cheese encyclopedia' with pictures? The more cheese making I do, the more I realize I DON'T know about the diversity of cheese!
I'm hoping to find a big book with lots of information about obscure cheeses. The pictures help so I can visually reference cheeses I've seen in all the countries I've visited, but had no way of asking local peoples what the hell I was even trying. I've had cheeses in North Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central America that I've never heard of, and didn't even know existed until I saw them when I was there.
Anyway, your guidance is appreciated if you know of a great book.
Dave

[Cheese Head]

Dave

I think there are more cheeses out there than in any one book. For an encyclopedia I think Juliet Harbutt's books are probably the best overall encyclopedia, she has a new one out in 2009 on Amazon.com. But it probably has only obscure European cheeses, after which you are probably better off in country specific cheese type books, there's ones reviewed here on French, Italian, & Turkish.

Also, if you remember the name you could search this forum, you never know . . .

If you are looking for a cheese making recipe book then there is no encyclopedia type book with pictures that I know of.

[ddcurtis]

Hi John, yeah the idea is to broaden my knowledge, so the encyclopedia doesn't need to be a recipe book, just good descriptions and such. If it sounds and looks interesting, I would try and source recipes from that point.

[DeejayDebi]

If you like Italian cheeses there's a pretty good one I have actually used to try to replicate many of my cheeses. It's called "Italian Cheese: Two Hundred Traditional Types : A Guide to Their Discovery and Appreciation"

Amazon actually has a few used ones right now for only $8 Here

[ddcurtis]

Thanx! I just ordered it, can't go wrong with a book that costs less than lunch...

[DeejayDebi]

Yeah great price I bought mine for full price and it the first editiion! I love the used book sellers online. I bought a used $200 Culinary textbook for the CIA for only $25 last year.

[Cheese Head]

Also, if you are in to French cheeses then this book is #1. Here's a book on Turkish cheeses.