A complete, hands-on beginner's guide to the magic and satisfaction of making your own cheese
Make artisanal cheese at home with simple techniques that produce professional-quality results. Step-by-step guide to creating fresh and aged cheeses using basic equipment and natural ingredients, with troubleshooting for perfect results every time.
Why Homemade Cheese Beats Store-Bought:
Artisanal cheeses cost $15-25 per pound retail but can be made at home for $3-5 per pound using the same traditional techniques, with fresher ingredients and no preservatives.
What You'll Master:
- Essential techniques for fresh cheeses like mozzarella, ricotta, and farmer's cheese
- Aging processes for hard cheeses including cheddar, gouda, and parmesan styles
- Troubleshooting guides for texture, flavor, and aging problems
- Equipment recommendations from basic starter setups to advanced aging caves
- Recipe scaling for family consumption or small-scale commercial production
Cost Savings and Quality:
Home cheesemakers report saving $500-1,500 annually on cheese purchases while enjoying fresher, more flavorful results than commercial alternatives.
Create gourmet cheese in your own kitchen. Perfect for cooking enthusiasts, homesteaders, and anyone wanting to master this ancient food preservation art.
Gianaclis has taken the craft of cheesemaking and has molded it into another beautiful tome for cheese lovers. Her straightforward recipes will guide you through the exciting processes of crafting different cheeses, starting with the easiest then progressing to the more advanced recipes. She also shares some extra tips here and there to make the endeavor all the more successful. Whether you plan to make cheese or not! Mastering Basic Cheesemaking will help you under- stand how the myriad of cheese styles can all begin with one simple ingredient — milk. Should you attempt to give it a whirl, this book will be like having her right there beside you as you create your first cheese.
— MAX MCCALMAN, ACS CCP™, author of numerous books on cheese including
Mastering Cheese: Lessons for Connoisseurship from a Maître Fromager.
If only I’d known…” words that kept repeating in my mind as I read Mastering Basic Cheesemaking. This is the book I longed for years ago when I embarked on my own cheesemaking journey. Not just another how-to, this beginner’s book is designed to teach. The reader is seamlessly led through a progression of recipes intended to bring about a true understanding of what is happening in the vat. This book is all about success! I love it.
— KIRSTEN K. SHOCKEY, author of Fermented Vegetables: Creative Recipes for Fermenting 64 Vegetables & Herbs in Krauts, Kimchis, Brined Pickles, Chutneys, Relishes & Pastes.
Over the last few years, Gianaclis Caldwell has written pretty much every book you need to start a small-scale artisan cheese business. With Mastering Basic Cheesemaking, she turns her attention to home cheesemaking and creates another must-have title. Writing in a way that demystifies the process and makes it accessible to everyone, Caldwell takes the reader logically through many dif- ferent styles of cheese. This is the kind of book where you don’t realize how much you are learning until you get to the end and eat your creations. If you can use a cookbook, this book will show you how to make some great cheese… and also teach you how you did it.
— GORDON EDGAR, author of Cheesemonger: A Life on the Wedge, Cheddar: A Journey to the Heart of America’s Most Iconic Cheese and cheese buyer for
Rainbow Grocery Cooperative in San Francisco since 1994.
