Natural Small Batch Cheesemaking - by Kate Downham (Hardcover)

About the Book

Cheesemaker Kate Downham shares techniques and recipes for making cheese in your home kitchen, working with homemade cultures, natural rennets, and flexible batch sizes to produce outstanding cheeses.

Book Synopsis

Making home dairy products was an essential skill in the past, and a skill that continues to create resilience, reduce food costs, and provide healthy food in the face of supply disruptions and uncertainty.

Wherever you are, you can make delicious cheeses in your home kitchen, starting with just one litre (one quart) of milk, and less time than you may think, with recipes and techniques that can be scaled up or down. Natural Small Batch Cheesemaking is perfect for homesteaders, farmers, and anyone who appreciates good cheese.

Topics covered include:
• Milk: Working with different types of milk and seasonal conditions, best practises for storing and handling milk.
• Rennet: Homemade rennet recipes, plus how to source and work with high quality purchased rennet.

• Homemade cheese cultures.
• Budget-friendly cheesemaking equipment: Getting started with gear you already have, making your own equipment, pressing cheese without a cheese press, and how to achieve great results at home.
• Cheesemaking in detail: All the steps of cheesemaking explained, both the "why" and the "how", learn to change recipes around to suit your lifestyle and tastes and make your own unique cheeses.
• Aging cheeses - how to age cheeses at home, on or off the grid.
• How to use leftover whey.
• Easy-to-follow recipes for small batch cheeses, plus other dairy products including yoghurt, kefir, sour cream, butter, and ice cream.
• Troubleshooting: What to do when things don't go according to plan.
• Cheesemaking for survival and self-reliance: Techniques for making dairy self-sufficiency more flexible, adaptable, affordable, and achievable, from a successful off-grid cheesemaker.

"For those who have wanted to make cheese at home but didn't know where to start, this book is for you. From rennet to cultures to equipment, Kate Downham supplies you with everything you need to know to make outstanding natural cheese!"

"This is precisely the cheesemaking book I wish had existed when I started my cheesemaking journey years ago. Most books just give you a quick list of steps, with no real instruction, and it always leaves you wondering, why? Kate starts with the "whys" of cheesemaking, explaining each step and its purpose right from the start, giving you a solid cheesemaking foundation before diving into recipes."

Review Quotes

"For those who have wanted to make cheese at home but didn't know where to start, this book is for you. From rennet to cultures to equipment, Kate Downham supplies you with everything you need to know to make outstanding natural cheese!"

"This is precisely the cheesemaking book I wish had existed when I started my cheesemaking journey years ago. Most books just give you a quick list of steps, with no real instruction, and it always leaves you wondering, why? Kate starts with the "whys" of cheesemaking, explaining each step and its purpose right from the start, giving you a solid cheesemaking foundation before diving into recipes."

"This book was so satisfying to my inner permie-nerd; Kate's zeal for natural cheeses is infectious as she guides you through in-depth overview of natural cheesemaking. Kate's book will leave you dreaming of making your own cheesy homestead delicacies.

"One of the things I love about this book is that Kate manages to gear it toward both beginning and experienced cheesemakers. The first several chapters cover the concepts and fundamentals of making cheese. Don't miss these! Even if you've been making cheese for years and years, these chapters are loaded with many, many tidbits plus practical wisdom. I've been making cheese for the past decade, but I learned more useful information from Kate's book than I have anywhere else.

The recipes are very well written; easy to understand and easy to follow. Once you're comfortable with the recipe, there are "quick-glance method for experienced cheesemakers" in the chapter margins. Very handy! The appendices include an extensive troubleshooting section and how to adapt ingredients to larger quantities of milk.