What have you struggled with the most when making cheese? Have you every adapted cheese recipes to fit your lifestyle?
When I first started making cheese I thought I was failing at it. The recipes said to stir constantly for a full 45 minutes or so, and in my busy kitchen I just could not do that.
The more I perfected my own style of making cheese, the more I began to think back about how things were done in the past: was the busy peasant really stirring for that whole time? Or did she, like me, also have many responsibilities in the kitchen and on the homestead.
Early on I also began to question the use of all these tiny expensive packets of ingredients. Why did the mozzarella recipe tell me to dilute citric acid with
water? Couldn’t vinegar be used in the same way? I experimented, and it worked, and paved the way to more experimentation, and learning how things used to be done.
I think a lot of
books are written from a specialist perspective: someone that has focused on just one thing, written about it in isolation, without providing any guidance for those who do not have the same perfect conditions. I like to think of my book as being written by a generalist: Yes, I am making all my family’s cheese, it’s an important part of my homestead and I love it, but I am also fermenting, baking, canning, preserving,
gardening, butchering, caring for animals, building infrastructure, and all the other tasks that make for a diverse homestead.
I don’t ask you to stand there stirring for 45 minutes, because I know that it’s not possible for many people. I don’t ask for weird little packets of stuff grown in labs, because I know it’s possible to create great cheese without these. I’ve read between the lines of many cheese traditions and figured out a way to do this that’s perfect for the busy homesteader, and also suitable for the complete beginner. I’ve created a book that anyone can pick up and learn from, and once you’ve learned the basics, you’ll still be referring to it again and again as I’ve provided a lot of depth, and presented it in a way that isn’t overwhelming.
You can learn to make cheese even if you don’t have your own
dairy animals, and my small batch recipes are perfect for learning - there’s less time to wait before you get to taste them, and they’re naturally made from smaller amounts of
milk. Most cheese books are using between eight and twenty litres (two to five gallons) of milk and this can be a very expensive experiment for anyone that is learning. Most of my recipes can be made from four litres of milk or less. These recipes are perfect for anyone, whether you have a small herd of goats or a single house cow, or if you’re buying your milk.
To find out more about the upcoming Kickstarter (it begins on the 15th of August), visit the planning
thread here:
https://permies.com/wiki/219046/Cheese-book-kickstarter-planning-thread
To find out about how you can get some extra gifts by backing the Kickstarter in the first three days, visit the earlybird bundle page here:
https://permies.com/wiki/223565/Earlybird-bundle-cheese-book-kickstarter