Cheese Primer

Discusses the principles of cheesemaking and describes the cheeses of Europe and North America

A descriptive survey of top-selected American cheeses celebrates the craft of artisanal cheese-making while sharing stories about how the nation's exceptional cheeses are manufactured, stored, and enjoyed.

An accessible guide to selecting, cooking with, and making cheese From a pungent Gorgonzola to the creamiest Brie, the world of cheese involves a vocabulary of taste second only to wine. With the rise of artisanal cheeses, this once humble food made from curdled milk is now haute cuisine. And to make the new world of cheese less intimidating, Laurel Miller and Thalassa Skinner have created a handy primer to selecting cheese, pairing cheese with wine, cooking with cheese, and making cheese. In Cheese For Dummies, everyday cheese lovers will learn how to become true cheese connoisseurs. Not only will readers get a look at how different cheeses are made around the world, in Cheese For Dummies, they'll develop enough of a palate to discern which cheese is right for them. Explains how to assemble the perfect cheese plate Includes recipes for cooking with cheese Details how to make five cheeses, including Mozzarella, Chevre, and Ricotta Supplemented with a 16-page photo insert With artisanal and imported cheeses now common to mainstream grocery stores, the everyday cheese lover needs more than simply his nose to make the best choice. Offering wise (and delicious!) advice on every page, Cheese For Dummies is a guide for anyone interested in making every mealtime with cheese a special occasion.

EXPLORE THE WORLD OF CHEESE BY ASKING YOURSELF ONE SIMPLE QUESTION: WHAT CHEESES DO I ALREADY LOVE? This is the first book of its kind to be organized not by country, milk type, or any other technical classification. The Book of Cheese maps the world of cheese using nine familiar favorites, what author Liz Thorpe calls the Gateway Cheeses. From basics like Swiss, blue, and cheddar, Liz leads the way to more adventurous types. Love Brie? Liz shows you how to find other Brie-like cheeses, from the mild Moses Sleeper to the pungent Fromage de Meaux. Her revolutionary approach allows food lovers to focus on what they really care about: finding more cheeses to enjoy. Complete with flavor and aroma wheels, charts guiding you through different intensities and availabilities, and gorgeous photography, this is the only book on cheese you will ever need.

This book teaches the basics of creating queso blanco, fromage blanc, ricotta, feta, cheddar, gouda, Monterey jack, mozzarella, parmesan, and many other cheeses in addition to sour cream, yogurt, and butter. For anyone with a desire to start experimenting with dairy products at home, this book is the ideal starting point.

Cheese is a significant part of European culture and its production, both industrial and artisanal, is a significant economic activity. Smear cheeses are one element of that diverse cultural and economic activity. And they are an ecological niche which illustrates the diversity of, especially, though not exclusively, actinomycetes. Mainstream ecology looks at the oceans, soil, rhizosphere, human microbiomes and plant, insect and marine animal symbionts which influence the climate, agriculture, human health and the ecology of higher organisms. But food microbiology can influence human well-being and nutrition and, as an ecological niche, illustrates the same broad principles in action as other ecological studies, but, in many ways offers a more controlled and controllable environment to study. The bacterial diversity present on smear cheese surfaces is like a model system which will provide the vehicle for developing a research strategy for food-environment microbiology. In this book we take a look at food-based ecological niche by focusing on the actinomycetes. This book presents many of the aspects, from the taxonomy of the cheese flora and its interaction with the ‘house flora’ to the functional manipulation of the organoleptic properties of the dairy product to the pathogenic risk. Modern methods of taxonomic characterization provide significant data in understanding the functional roles of members of the microbial flora including their enzymatic potential, the presence of virulence genes or probiotic factors. Taxonomy guided high throughput metagenome analysis is a generic approach to systems level analysis of microbial ecosystems, such as those found in the food chain. The data generated by metagenomic analysis will require extensive bioinformatic support which will provide the data not only for taxonomic characterization, community analysis and ecosystem dynamics but the data will also provide a foothold into the evolution and ecosystem function of the community. The ultimate understanding of the metabolome and the regulation of such a complex ecosystem will provide the framework for further technological advances in solid state fermentation.

Complemented by travel advice, maps, accommodation listings, and site descriptions, a collection of essays and articles on the region of southwestern France, by noted authors, travel writers, and journalists, is organized thematically under such headings as Current Events, Food and Drink, and Museums and Monuments. Original. 15,000 first printing.

Take a slice of bread. It’s perfectly okay in and of itself. Maybe it has a nice, crisp crust or the scent of sourdough. But really, it’s kind of boring. Now melt some cheese on it—a sharp Vermont cheddar or a flavorful Swiss Gruyere. Mmm, delicious. Cheese—it’s the staple food, the accessory that makes everything better, from the hamburger to the ordinary sandwich to a bowl of macaroni. Despite its many uses and variations, there has never before been a global history of cheese, but here at last is a succinct, authoritative account, revealing how cheese was invented and where, when, and even why. In bite-sized chapters well-known food historian Andrew Dalby tells the true and savory story of cheese, from its prehistoric invention to the moment of its modern rebirth. Here you will find the most ancient cheese appellations, the first written description of the cheese-making process, a list of the luxury cheeses of classical Rome, the medieval rule-of-thumb for identifying good cheese, and even the story of how loyal cheese lover Samuel Pepys saved his parmesan from the great Fire of London. Dalby reveals that cheese is one of the most ancient of civilized foods, and he suggests that our passion for cheese may even lay behind the early establishment of global trade. Packed with entertaining cheese facts, anecdotes, and images, Cheese also features a selection of historic recipes. For those who crave a pungent stilton, a creamy brie, or a salty pecorino, Cheese is the perfect snack of a book.