Introduction

E
verything begins with milk. from one day’s cheese­making to the next, allowing milk
You are holding in your hands a gift, to best express its innate and intricate microbiologies.
offered to you like milk from mother to child. It is a cheese­making allied with other traditionally fer-
In the pages of this book you will find all you need mented foods such as sourdough bread, natural wine,
to learn to make the most exceptional cheese. Milk and naturally soured vegetables like pickles, kimchi,
Into Cheese defines the theory and practice of natural and sauerkraut.
cheese­making, providing ideas and tools for makers Natural cheese­making is curdling milk with nat-
to transform their milk into an expansive array of urally sourced rennet, derived from the stomachs of
delicious and nourishing dairy products in their most young animals of the herd, or certain plants or fungi
original and respectful way. that also cause milk to gel. It’s a realization of the bio-
This book explores in depth the four foundations of logical processes that are the foundation for all cheese’s
natural cheese­making, the philosophies that allow cheese many transformations. This rennet is synchronous
to take its truest, most delicious form: using methods with the dynamic of traditional dairying practices and
based on traditional cultural practices; using the freshest assures the most ethical and sustainable treatment of
possible, least processed milk; coagulating with natural young animals born into the dairy.
rennet from the stomachs of young animals; and induc- And natural cheese­making is employing techniques
ing a natural fermentation with milk’s own community that are time-honored and respectful of traditional
of microbes. In other words, the cultural (the hand) and practices from cultures around the world. It is using
the agricultural (the milk); the biological (the rennet) natural tools that enable every cheese’s best evolution.
and the microbiological (the ferment). It is cultivating the right ripening organisms through a
Natural cheese is transformed from milk most fresh, naturally minded affinage, and aging cheeses in a more
preferably still animal-warm, and with minimal treat- natural cave. And it is trusting your milk, your culture,
ment. It is ideally made from the milk of ancient breeds your rennet, and your skill as a cheesemaker.
(though any ruminant’s milk will work just fine) nour- Natural cheese­ making should inspire awe and
ished on fresh pasture or seasonal browse. And that wonder like other extraordinary natural phenomena:
milk should evolve from an agriculture that involves powerful thunderstorms, meandering rivers, old-
regenerative, organic, or biodynamic practices, and growth trees, and distant galaxies. It’s like working with
that assures the most ethical and sustainable treatment the forces of both life and death simultaneously—for
of its animals, as well as the sanctity of the soil and life. natural cheese­making encompasses remarkable forms
Natural cheese invokes the use of traditional starters of biological magic.
like whey, clabber, kefir, and wood. These cultures cause This book’s aim is to prove the worth of natural
milk’s lactose sugars to ferment to lactic acid, souring it, methods in an uplifting and spirited exploration of our
developing its complex flavors, and protecting it from beautiful world’s diverse cheeses and dairy ferments.
unwanted microbes. The starters are carried forward Milk Into Cheese is a celebration of milk, in all its forms.
The infinite possibilities of natural cheese: a fermented whey ricotta coalesces into curds much like distant nebulae birth
stars. PHOTO BY CHLOE GIRE

mozzarella, and ricotta, as well as the rare amasi, tomme

A Second Book crayeuse, and cuajada. From the softest and pudgiest to
This book is a deeper dive into milk—a more expan- the hardest and most crystalline, the freshest and most
sive and explorative look into the subject of natural heaven-sent to the most decayed and putrescent, this
cheese­making than my first book, The Art of Natural book will help you make them all.
Cheese­making—showing how all styles of cheese are There is a great diversity of techniques within each
interrelated, and how they can all evolve from the same class of cheese, taking a detailed look at the craft and
milk, with the help of its exceptional community of representing a greater picture of milk’s many possibil-
microbes and its most appropriate enzymes. It better rep- ities. For example, I include eight or more different
resents the scope of what I practice and what I teach today. alpine cheese­making techniques (tomme de Savoie,
This time I wanted to take the opportunity to write tomme crayeuse, tomme de montagne, tomme de
a definitive guide on the subject of cheese­making and chèvre, raclette, Comté, Emmentaler, and grana).
dairy fermentation, taking the natural philosophy of The techniques are also more streamlined. The
cheese to an all-encompassing completeness, with the philosophies of natural cheese have continued to
goal of proving the rightness of these techniques for all inspire and improve my approach, and I’ve realized
styles of cheese in all circumstances. It offers a global, many ways in which the cheese­making process can be
universalist perspective on the ways to make this made even simpler and more elegant with these ideas.
ancient and important food. Go ahead and add your natural starter and rennet to
Almost no cheese is left unturned in the pages of milk at the same time, for example, and save yourself an
this book, from the simplest cultured butter, cottage hour in each and every make.
cheese, and kefir, to the most challenging Brie, Comté, On the natural side, I’ve now worked extensively
and caciocavallo. It includes the most popular cheddar, with wooden cheese­ making vats, copper kettles,

2 • Introduction
calf and kid stomachs, and many of the trappings of and cider making, borrowing from the philosophy
traditional cheese­making that I only briefly explored from natural cheese­making, which of course borrowed
previously or had not even considered. I’ve discussed many concepts from these same realms. I’ve come to
the nuances of wood and other natural materials with believe that on the exceptionally wide spectrum of nat-
respect to fermentation with coopers, vintners, and ural cheese­making, wine, bread, and fermented meats
cider makers. And I’ve worked with potters and weav- should all be included!
ers to better understand the nature of clay and reed and For commercial producers, there’s also much more
their relation to natural techniques. information (in the appendices) on how to have suc-
I’ve spent many of these intervening years, since my cess with these natural methods in your dairies, based
last book, milk-jamming with many other practitioners on my and others’ experiences, including how you can
around the world (see the acknowledgments) who have prove the safety of keeping natural starters, and even
helped me understand the nature and nuance of the how to use traditional rennet stomachs.
cheeses they make. I’ve experimented endlessly with
new techniques to understand more diverse cheeses
and redefine their makes in a natural way. And I’ve What This Book Is and Is Not
learned about (and tasted) many more, often obscure This book aims to establish a new narrative in cheese­
styles of cheese, and come to understand what each one making and show unequivocally that natural methods
teaches us about the nature of milk. are the best (indeed the only!) approach for making all
In this book, I cast light on an entity I call clabber styles of cheese. I have not written a scientific treatise,
culture, which is derived from raw milk’s incredible for many of these new/old methods have not been
microbiology and can be kept, like sourdough, by reg- approved by government or certified by peer-reviewed
ularly feeding it fresh milk. In partnership with kefir, science. Rather, this book is an experiential work,
clabber makes this art most accessible to all (kefir can formed by my farm-based research, and confirmed by
be, for many, harder to obtain than raw milk, while for other practitioners of natural techniques.
many others the opposite is true). It is my goal to be However, this book isn’t necessarily unscientific; it
as inclusive as possible with these philosophies, and to elaborates on much of the most recent research into milk
offer opportunities for every cheesemaker, anywhere, and cheese and is likely in line with the current microbi-
who wishes to make good cheese. ological understanding of these foods (cheese­making as
In Milk Into Cheese I focus less on kefir as a “wun- generally practiced today is defined by a microbiological
derkultur” (there’s a certain magic-bean-like tone to my understanding from the 1960s!). But this book does not
praise of it in The Art) and instead talk more broadly use these scientific ideas as a foundation for its philos-
about the nature of milk’s microbes. For all of these ophy, for the techniques of cheese­making expounded
different fermented milks are elaborations on the same upon in here are based fully on traditional technologies,
community of milk-based microorganisms. And though and not upon the latest findings from the DNA profil-
each one is cared for differently, each one functions ing of milk’s microbes. Such research can be important
more or less the same when it ferments milk, and each to helping us prove the veracity and effectiveness of
one can be used more or less interchangeably in a cheese. traditional techniques, and to understanding how they
For that matter I also include information for success- work from our present perspective, but it should not
ful dairy fermentation in wood, clay, and even gourds. necessarily inform our daily practice. The specific micro-
I’ve even elaborated techniques of creating your own biology of your milk, for example, does not matter as
rennet microbiologically with the help of friendly fungi much as you might think (it may not even matter at all),
akin to koji, for those who are into the DIY approach but and the exercise of analyzing it may actually shake your
remain averse to using the stomachs of young animals. confidence in your materia prima.
There are even techniques that push the boundaries This book aims to create a new way of understand-
of what’s possible in meat curing, natural winemaking, ing the relationship between milk and cheese. The

Introduction • 3
reductionist breaking down of milk into its compo- Transforming milk into cheese isn’t often a part of our
nent parts can confuse the cheese­making practitioner. culture; if it is, it’s most often done on the factory floor.
Milk, just like anything else of any complexity, does And if it is performed on a farm, it’s typically executed
not function the same when its specific parts are iso- with the same industrial approach. Dairy farmers are
lated and analyzed. Our scientific understanding of selling themselves short by selling fluid milk, and we
the processes and players at hand will always fall short, may be doing ourselves a disservice by drinking glasses
and the more we dig, the more we’ll discover what we of the stuff. This book will show you the many different
do not know. But traditional techniques will always ways that milk can be manipulated and help you realize
work and have been proven by millennia of practice. a more exalted purpose for milk.
Milk functions as a complex whole, and we must have As you might have realized, this is not a book about
faith in something beyond the established science or milk drinking. I don’t believe that milk (either pasteur-
a trained microbiologist to fully grasp its inherent ized or raw) should be drunk by adults, or even children
capacity for cheese­making. for that matter, aside from those that are breastfeeding.
This book is a practical guide to working with milk, Milk is made for cheese­making. And even the simple
to building faith in its natural ability to make cheese act of fermenting it into kefir or yogurt brings about
and recognizing that you as a cheesemaker can be in a miraculous transformation in its flavor, texture, and
complete control of your milk’s transformation. Natural nutrition that makes that glass of milk seem mundane
cheese­making’s complexity can be overwhelming as a and unappetizing. Indeed, milk’s fermentation and its
novice practitioner (or one transitioning from industrial coagulation combine in a sort of pre-digestion that
practice). But as a keen observer you can come to grasp
the subtlety of the craft—the little things you do that
make the big differences—and this book will help you
observe these changes for yourself and help your cheeses
evolve in their most extraordinary, most natural way.
For those in old cheese­making regions, where cheese­
making culture is established and remains part of the
recognized pathway for milk, this book is meant to
be a reminder of original ways that have by and large
been forgotten or suppressed. In many European and
Latin American countries, traditional cheese culture
has been forcibly oppressed and only remains intact
on the remotest islands or tallest mountains. Cheese­
making practice in what we often consider original
cheese­making regions of the world has been devastated
by industry and governmental decree. Even with a
Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), cheeses made
in these regions today may resemble their progenitors in
name only. Old-world cheeses were once all made in this
truer way, and this book will help your cheeses achieve
their original character.
For those in new cheese­ making regions, in
English-speaking realms, or in those places without Any milk, anywhere, is capable of developing a universal
an established cheese­making culture, this book can fermentation that promotes the growth of beneficial
be a guide to establishing a new aspect of your agri- microbes like Geotrichum candidum, shown here manifest-
culture that helps milk realize its fullest potential. ing atop a naturally made Saint-Marcellin.

4 • Introduction
makes milk most nourishing and delicious, mimicking on bringing liquid milk unchanged to the table, and
the stages of breakdown that take place in a milk-drink- this direction has led to the closure of countless small
ing infant’s digestive system. family farms across continents, and the growth of
There is very little history of drinking fresh milk. dairy farms of unimaginable scale. Milk has become
Most if not all traditional dairying societies trans- our most industrialized and most politicized food. It’s
formed their milk instead to cheese, a food of sig- also become our most divisive—no other food is more
nificantly greater purpose. Fresh milk or cream likely revered and more reviled. But with a different consid-
couldn’t even leave the dairy historically, for without eration—that milk is made for cheese­making—a whole
the modern industrial technologies of pasteurization, new way of dairying can be conceived that can restore
refrigeration, and sterile stainless steel, milk would the honor and respect of this most perfect food.
ferment by its handling, and curdle within hours of This book isn’t meant to shame established cheese­
leaving the udder. The idea of drinking a glass of milk makers that practice the standard model of production.
may be a wholly modern Anglo phenomenon, one The modern approach is what most cheese­makers have
without foundation, and one that may be leading us learned and experienced and what they have had their
into nutritional voids and ecological ruins. We should own success with. And it has been this way for genera-
instead take inspiration from the rest of the world, for tions, most cheese­makers having learned their modern
the rest of the world makes cheese. techniques from other cheese­makers who learned these
This book is meant to chart another course for milk. ways from their predecessors. For those who practice
Our scientific-industrial dairying complex is focused this other sort of cheese­making, consider this book not
as an affront, but as a source of ideas and inspiration to
help improve the various aspects of your cheese­making
and make it your own.
This book aims to democratize and decolonize
cheese­making; to make any cheese accessible to any-
one, anywhere. It is not meant to be an elitist or even
a Eurocentric tome, for cheese is peasant food, made
around the world, in Asia, South America, and Africa
in simple circumstances, often with animal-warm milk
poured straight into a bucket and handled in a most
straightforward way. Raw milk cheeses are often seen as
a luxury, one of the most expensive foods in our stores,
but they should be understood as a good food for all
that could be most affordable and accessible if simpler
production methods were the norm and the cheeses
were locally produced instead of imported.
This book places no region’s cheeses on a pedestal;
all dairying regions of the world are equally capable
of making great cheese. Judging the intoxicating
amasi of southern Africa against the richest-tasting
alpine cheeses of Europe is a pointless exercise—both
are expressions of cultural practices in particular
This book takes a defiant stance against the industrializa- parts of the world that create products that are the
tion of dairying and aims to reclaim the most ecological most delicious and appreciable of their milieux. And
form of agriculture: natural cheese­making. PHOTO COURTESY either could be created in any other region with equal
OF QUEIJARIA BELAFAZENDA results, given a respect for original cheese­ making

Introduction • 5
practices—for anyone anywhere can re-ferment milk for example, why can’t fermentation?) I hesitate to use
in a gourd to make amasi, and anyone anywhere can the term raw milk in my language, due to the negative
cook their Comté curds in a copper kettle. It should connotations, as I’ll discuss in chapter 2.
not be considered cultural appropriation to re-create That said, a natural cheese can be made with pas-
another culture’s cheese, but rather cultural respect teurization, if required by local authorities, for what is
and appreciation; a realization and celebration of the really unnatural about the cooking of milk? Many nat-
infinite potential of milk. ural cheese makes involve a cooking step, including the
Milk Into Cheese is intended to build the capacity boiling of milk for yogurt, the hot-water stretching of
of local food systems, to help cheese­makers and dairy pasta filata styles, and the high-temperature curd treat-
farmers everywhere produce the best cheese and put an ments of grana cheeses, which are nearly equivalent to
end to its costly and environmentally damaging interna- the temperature of thermization, a common preventive
tional import. The reigning European cheese hegemony microbiological treatment for the industrially pro-
is an expression of cultural imperialism and a relic of duced raw milk cheeses of Europe. What’s unnatural
colonization; it diminishes the cheeses produced in about pasteurization is the practices it engenders—in
other parts of the world, which has led to a vast indus- essence the industrialization and consolidation of our
trialization and export-driven development of agricul- dairying, which would never have happened without it.
ture in those most famous cheese­making regions—and This book’s intent is to show that the practices of
has by and large degraded the quality of their once natural cheese­making make any milk safe to consume.
esteemed production. To state that cheese is better Pasteurization should not be seen as the only pathway
when produced in Europe is misguided and damaging toward safely produced dairy. There is another way, and
to local and small-scale cheese producers everywhere, that is small-scale, well-informed, and well-practiced
who are capable of making better cheese than is most natural cheese­making!
often made today in a cheese’s place of origin! This book aims to rebuild our capacity for making
This book is not meant to make cheese­making inac- cheese in a safer way, according to the enlightened culi-
cessible to those who do not have access to raw milk; it nary practices of our ancestors. When the food system is
is the domination of the milk processing industry and industrialized, there is an increased food safety risk. In
the industrialization of agriculture (and its consequent our modern times that risk has been mitigated through
unchecked urbanization) that have made good milk the use of pasteurization. But our cheese­making pre-
inaccessible in the first place. Like apples plucked from decessors knew how to properly produce this most
a tree, raw milk fresh from the udder should be available important food, and fermented dairy products would
to all. This sort of cheese­making is remarkably simple not have become so prevalent in so many societies were
to practice—it truly makes itself, so long as the right they a danger to eat! Food sovereignty, food security,
ingredients can be sourced; if, however, they cannot, I and food safety are intimately interrelated; controlling
recognize that this may be the most impossible cheese­ the means of our food production and deregulation
making book that has ever been written. (the simple methods of producing natural cheese
This is not a book about raw milk or raw milk cheese, should be understood as the most effective and easily
but about the transformation of milk, a most healthful implemented safeguards against unwanted microbes)
gift made by mothers, into its cheese, the most healthful are essential for robust, resilient, and healthful food
food. I have a concern with the use of the terms raw systems that can feed all those in need.
milk and raw milk cheese, for the well-practiced process
of transforming milk into cheese constitutes an effec-
tive sort of pasteurization, enabling a more effective How to Use This Book
and long-standing microbial control than heat treat- And so, to further the cause and improve the practice of
ment alone. (And if pressure treatment can constitute natural cheese­making, I offer the world this book. But
a legitimate form of pasteurization, as it is in Australia, before we begin, I’d like to outline how to use it.

6 • Introduction
 This is not a recipe book, but a philosophy book. And and hardest work of any food transformations within
so I recommend you don’t just jump to the cheese­making the entire realm of gastronomy. Many require acquiring
techniques, for there is a more fundamental understand- one of the most restricted and difficult-to-obtain of all
ing that should first be imparted. ingredients: milk still warm from the udder. Yet other
It’s very important that you first build your assurances techniques are among the most easily realized transfor-
in milk and its microbes and their inherent capacity to mations in food, if you can get the ingredients—simply
make good cheese, that you expand your understanding leaving milk at room temperature with a bit of backslop
of the elements at play, and that you strengthen your to make clabber, for instance.
grasp of the methods before you attempt your first Some cheese­making techniques I share on these
batch. So much of this philosophy is built on faith and pages are very strict; others are quite laissez-faire,
feel, and so I believe you should first acknowledge the reflecting the fascinating diversity of cheeses. There’s
integrity of traditional methods of cheese­making, trust a cheese in these pages for every persuasion and every
the nature of your ingredients, and build your under- character. (Some, like aged lactic cheeses, are good for
standing before you attempt the techniques. folks with OCD; others, like alpine cheeses, are best
I therefore encourage you to first read the intro- for folks with anger management issues!) But in gen-
ductory chapters, especially “Natural Cheese,” “Milk,” eral, the harder the cheese, the more challenging and
“Culture,” and “Rennet,” before making the cheeses of demanding the cheese make. Nevertheless, don’t be
this book; for this is an approach to the subject that can dismayed by the complexity and time span of some of
require a deeper familiarity, and not just the following the techniques. Just make cheese—for with your help,
of a recipe. Having an early failure with the methods, cheese really does make itself !
most likely due to a simple misstep or misunderstand-
ing, can cause you to lose faith with the philosophy,
which can cause your natural cheeses to continue to fail. The Chapters
However, you can also learn another way: by doing. Now on to the chapters of the book, fifteen in number,
The cheeses have been put in a certain order in the final plus the appendices. The first eleven define the theory
chapters to build your understanding from the ground and practice of natural cheese­making, while the final
up. Following the techniques one by one teaches four are devoted to eighty or so cheese makes. The
about cheese­making from a practical angle, showing appendices explore detailed techniques for keeping
how each new cheese is elaborated and what makes it natural starters and other odd bits I couldn’t find a
unique from the previous ones explored. Each cheese place for in the main sections of the book.
tells a story about milk and how it responds to the way Chapter 1, “Natural Cheese,” sets the philosophical
we handle it. Often what distinguishes one cheese from tone for the book, helping the reader understand the
its kin is just one slight difference in how we handle it, medium from a more natural perspective. The chapter
either during its make or during its affinage. explores the biological, microbiological, cultural, and
Exploring all of these styles can help you make each agricultural origins of this incredible food.
cheese better. And though I don’t necessarily advocate The next set of chapters gives background informa-
for making each and every style in the book, making tion on the ingredients of primary importance to cheese:
them all will give you a perspective that can help you milk, culture, and rennet. Chapter 2, “Milk,” explores
fully understand how milk evolves into each and every this most fundamental fluid from which all cheeses
cheese, and how each particular one requires a series of and dairy ferments, indeed even our lives, evolve; and
often careful steps to be made just right. helps us to understand its many nuances, and why it
Techniques in this book can be exceedingly chal- can evolve in so many diverse directions. Chapter 3,
lenging or remarkably simple. Some of them are more “Culture,” looks at the fermentation philosophy that
complicated and involved, require hard-to-find tools defines natural cheese­making, and how to best cultivate
like copper vats, and can demand the greatest endurance the exceptional communities of microorganisms that

Introduction • 7
make cheese evolve most naturally. Chapter 4, “Rennet,” milk; and Chapter 15, “Winter,” is filled with cheeses
focuses on the enzymatic aspect of milk’s transforma- involving cooking milk, and with washed-rind styles.
tion, how and why rennet works its magic on milk, and The appendices include various practicalities of
the various ways to prepare the ingredient that is key to keeping the different cheese­making cultures and their
milk’s physical transformation into cheese. close kin. I cannot include enough information about
The next suite of chapters explores how the primary these starters in the book, for successful natural cheese­
ingredients come together to become cheese, with making most depends on successful fermentation, and
chapters exploring the various aspects of cheese’s so my advice has spilled out into these extra chapters:
makes and the tools used by cheese­makers to trans- A, keeping clabber culture; B, a whey starter; C, kefir
form their milk. Chapter 5, “The Make,” focuses on the culture; and D, how to use wooden vats; as well as E,
various aspects of the diverse cheese makes and how advice on thermophilic starters. Appendix F explores
each act of the cheesemaker helps bring about the ulti- commercial considerations for practicing these natural
mate transformation. Chapter 6, “The Tools,” explores methods. Appendix G is dedicated to the care and
how the tools used define the cheese’s make and how keeping of a sourdough mother, as this culture relates
a cheesemaker can best use their tools to their cheese’s strongly to cheese’s natural side. Appendix H explores
advantage. Chapter 7, “The Salt,” addresses various aspects the keeping of a natural yeast starter. Appendix I is
of salt and salting cheeses—how this integral ingredient dedicated to growing the fungus Mucor, as a source of
preserves cheese and enables the art of affinage. ripening culture for certain cheeses, as well as a source
The following three chapters explore the various of microbial rennet. And appendix J investigates the
aspects of preserving cheese after the make: the cheese flaws that can happen in cheese­making, and how to
cave, cheeses’ ripening microorganisms, and affinage solve them in a natural way.
techniques. Chapter 8, “The Cave,” outlines the require-
ments for effective cheese-ripening spaces and discusses Notes on the Techniques
how to create the right circumstances for cheese’s best
degradations. Chapter 9, “Affinage Treatments,” explores and Ingredients
the various options for handling cheeses as they age. I must admit, I am not a follower of recipes, so writ-
And Chapter 10, “Ripening Ecologies,” looks at how ing techniques for eighty cheeses has indeed been a
cheeses are transformed by microorganisms as they painstaking task. I’ve done my best to test every tech-
ripen—essentially exploring the second fermentation nique in the book and assure its fidelity, and have also
that happens in cheeses as they age. enlisted the help of other cheese­makers to test many of
Chapter 11, “The Families of Cheese,” outlines the the techniques.
various relations between the styles of cheese, breaking I’ve also done my best to make these methods as
them down into categories defined by differences and accurate and authentic to the original styles of each
similarities in their makes, helping set the stage for the cheese as possible. In many cases these styles have been
individual techniques. re-imagined, for cheeses are no longer produced today
Finally, you’ll find the techniques, organized by the with natural techniques.
season in which each style of cheese is best made. Chap- That being said, there is a remarkable amount
ter 12, “Spring,” features fresh fermented milks and of flexibility within the many methodologies; each
small cheeses with white rinds, those aged cheeses that cheese, after all, is a relative of all the others, and often
ripen most quickly. Chapter 13, “Summer,” explores the changing just one aspect of the make changes the
cheeses made from milk in abundance, which can be cheese entirely. And to rigidly define a certain style falls
preserved through the year, and those made in warmer in line with the specialization and commodification
weather around the world. Chapter 14, “Fall,” shares of dairying in the twentieth century. There was once
cheeses ripened with Penicillium roqueforti and other significantly greater diversity within individual styles
styles best made in cooler weather with the fattiest of cheese, but many developments (including PDOs)

8 • Introduction
have brought many cheeses that were previously only So if you’re only milking one cow, I don’t recom-
vaguely defined into standardized production. The mend making those cheeses in which I call for ten
diverse ways that milk can be handled, even within a cows’ worth, because the cheeses won’t evolve well at
certain style, contribute to the exceptional diversity of the different scale. There is some wiggle room—you
cheeses in the world—so please don’t feel beholden to can make a cheddar with 20 L cow’s milk, for exam-
the techniques, and develop them according to your ple—but I’d recommend that you make a Lancashire
experiences and circumstances. It is these details that with that quantity of milk, a similar recipe that yields a
will make your cheeses your own! similar cheese, but that evolves much better, and with
much less work, with two cows’ worth of milk. Best, I’d
say, is not to go up or down too many volume classes for
Cheese­making to Scale any particular technique.
One of the more important aspects of this adherence And please, don’t save up small quantities of milk in the
to tradition is that the amount of milk used in a batch fridge to make a larger batch at the end of the week. The
matters to the evolution of each cheese. It should be cheese will be greatly degraded by the milk’s refrigeration.
understood that, in general, softer cheeses evolve best Consider instead pooling fresh milk with your neighbors
with smaller quantities of milk; harder cheeses need to make a more significant wheel—cheese­making is often
more milk to turn out right. I highly recommend keep- a community endeavor all around the world!
ing to these relative scales when making your cheeses,
and not attempting their makes if you haven’t nearly
the right amount of milk. There are important reasons, As for the Milk
for example, that I recommend using 100 L milk to The milk for all cheese­ making techniques should
make a single clothbound cheddar or 200 L for an preferably be used still warm from the udder. If I could
Emmentaler. In the making of these cheeses, the mas- distill a single definition for milk that makes the best
siveness of the cheese is a part of its proper evolution, cheese, this would be it.
and making it smaller will result in a cheese that doesn’t Milk is degraded by any processing other than cheese­
evolve right at all. making. To make the best cheese, any milk treatment,
I’ve put the techniques into different volume classes especially its refrigeration, should be avoided. For a
based on how much fresh milk is recommended to farmer-cheesemaker I therefore recommend twice-daily
make each well, which you can also imagine as how cheese­making, always with the freshest milk, preferably
many goats or cows are needed for each technique. still warm from the udder. You will make a better cheese
These are the different quantities: (flavor-wise, nutrition-wise, efficiency-wise, and food-
safety-wise) if you make smaller batches of cheese more
250 ml 1 cup milk often, using the freshest milk with each batch. Some
1L 1 bottle of milk 1 quart styles like lactic cheeses and barrel butter are effortless
4L about 2 goats’ worth 1 gallon and make regular cheese­making easier—easier even
of milk from 1 milking than putting that milk into the fridge!
10 L about 1 cow’s worth 2.5 gallons Chilled milk, or mixed milk out of a bulk tank, can
of milk from 1 milking be used (though I personally choose not to), but doing
so will cause problems in the evolution of a cheese,
20 L about 2 cows’ worth or 5 gallons
resulting in off flavors, unwanted microbiologies, and
10 goats’ worth
possible risks to human health. For reasons that I’ll
40 L about 4 cows’ worth 10 gallons explain in chapter 2, the longer it’s refrigerated, the
of milk worse milk and its cheese gets. Milk refrigerated longer
100 L about 10 cows’ worth 25 gallons than 12 hours should probably be pasteurized, a tech-
200 L about 20 cows’ worth 50 gallons nology that’s best avoided. I’m not going to get into the

Introduction • 9
details about it in this book, as it’s entirely unnecessary Some techniques work specifically for cow’s milk and
when working with the freshest milk. others specifically for goat. I do recommend in general
Milk, still warm from the udder, is as good as it that you stick to those particular species for those partic-
gets, and though its sale off the farm is largely illegal ular makes, switching things up only by making appro-
(if raw milk can be sold it is generally mandated to be priate modifications. Every species’ milk works slightly
chilled to 4°C (39°F) immediately after milking, dam- differently than every other, and in the milk chapter
aging that milk), it is worth seeking out for its many we’ll explore the different tendencies of each milk.
benefits. Refrigeration is such a norm on dairy farms
today that milking systems immediately chill milk on
its exit from the animals, providing no option for a When It Comes to Culture
farmer to take out warm milk. Producers typically have Please keep your culture natural! I hold natural fermen-
to work around their built-in systems to do so, often no tation to be the strongest pillar of natural cheese­making.
easy task. Find warm milk if you can, by bypassing the Good cheese can still be made with low-tempera-
industrial system that largely destroys the best qualities ture-pasteurized (62°C [144°F]) milk so long as it’s as
of our milk and making connections to get it directly fresh as possible, and genetically modified rennets still
from your local farmers. Be sure to use the milk right form curd (I can’t deny that they work). But natural
away, or within 2 to 3 hours of milking, for best effect. starters are not easily replaced by freeze-dried starters,
Any unprocessed milk from any style of farming which alter the ecology of cheese and do not allow the
will work for these techniques: from pastured cows to food to be so effortlessly and fantastically fermented. I
cows inside on hay and even those fed baleage, silage, or cannot with any good conscience recommend the use
total mixed ration (TMR). Though I hold the practice of industrial starter cultures or ripening adjuncts; makes
of feeding fermented corn silage to be among the most are significantly changed by their frailties and shortcom-
destructive inroads of industrialization into dairying, ings. The convenience of freeze-dried starters comes
corn-silage-fed cow’s milk still makes remarkably deli- with a large cost—they are the most complicating and
cious cheese when transformed in a natural way. When misconceived aspect of modern cheese­making practice.
working with it I have been surprised to find it respond The techniques to cultivate starters include natu-
and ferment the same way as other, more naturally rally re-fermenting milk as a clabber culture; using a
produced milks. It seems to me to be a misconception kefir culture; saving whey from batch to batch; and
that milk made with fermented feeds causes cheeses to making cheese daily in a natural material such as wood.
bloat; the problem is more likely a systemic one. Use All of these starters require regular care and feeding to
what milk you can get access to and uphold your own remain in good order, for the activity of these cultures
ideals. Fresh milk direct from an animal is still milk and rises and falls much like a sourdough starter. The suc-
will work for all of these techniques. cess of a natural cheese make depends on their health.
And for those that aren’t dairy farmers, or cannot These starters will be explored in chapter 4, as well as
source the freshest milk, pasteurized and unhomoge- in specific appendices at the end of the book. Under-
nized milk will work well enough for most techniques standing their evolutions is essential to having success
in these pages. However, you should avoid High Tem- in natural cheese­making.
perature Short Time (HTST) pasteurized milk (72°C
[162°F] for 15 seconds) and ultra-high-temperature-
treated (UHT) milk (110°C [230°F] for 10 seconds). As for Rennet
Bulk pasteurized milk (62°C [144°F] for 30 minutes) The milk-coagulating enzyme known as rennet is prob-
does respond to most cheese­making methods, but the ably the most controversial and misunderstood ingredi-
curds are less responsive and often need more delicate ent in our food system. Now, I don’t expect everyone to
handling and a prolonged stirring to achieve the same sacrifice a calf to source this enzyme from its stomach
result as a raw milk version. in what I believe is the most natural and ethical way,

10 • Introduction
but I also do not recommend just buying any seemingly or ignorance on behalf of the cheesemaker is one
innocent brand of “vegetarian” rennet (often genetically reason; unfortunately, it can also be the result of the
modified) off a cheese­making supply website. Every mistaken and insensitive belief that the public doesn’t
rennet works to coagulate milk, but each works slightly know what’s best for them. Manufacturers, of course,
differently from every other, and each comes from a contribute to misunderstanding by obfuscating that
different source whose origins I believe should be con- their rennets are genetically modified.
sidered (and advertised) when making cheese. Though I personally hold the slaughtering of young
Unfortunately, today the vast majority of cheese­ animals not needed on dairies and the use of their
makers in many regions of the world (especially the stomachs for rennet to be the highest ideal in natural
United States and Canada) use genetically modified ren- cheese­making, for many, such a practice is completely
nets. But few advertise their origin. Misunderstanding impractical. And for many in the world, the commercial

Natural cheese­making techniques can be, indeed should be, incorporated into commercial cheese­making operations.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DOETIE’S GEITEN

Introduction • 11
rennets I would recommend simply aren’t available. So so to keep with the theme of universality, this is the
go ahead and use the rennet you can find in your locale. technique I will focus most attention on in the book.
In my previous book I offered advice on rennet
brands to purchase, but I’ve chosen not to do so in this
work—in part because the manufacturer of the natural The Units
rennet that I recommended, Hundsbichler in Austria, Though I do have a fondness for imperial units (a gallon
which formerly produced the Walcoren tablets, was of milk makes about a pound of cheese, how perfect!),
bought out by the world’s largest manufacturer of I’ve chosen to use metric units (aside from temperature)
enzymes, and the provider of enzymes and microbes in my techniques to simplify the text, leaving more room
used in at least 50 percent of the world’s cheeses, the on a page for more important information, and avoiding
Christian Hansen company (Chr. Hansen) of Den- confusion that might result from having two conflicting
mark. As well, in light of the different availabilities numbers. I understand that many readers will not be
of rennets to different makers around the world, and familiar with liters and kilograms, but given the universal
the constantly shifting and consolidating nature of the nature of the lessons in this book (and the tendency of
industry, I’ve simply advised that you use the recom- even commercial cheese­makers in the imperial kingdom
mended rennet dosage for a standard amount of milk of the United States to use metric), I thought it would
for the rennet that you’ve purchased (commercial be more in line with the philosophy to unify the units.
rennet should come with operating instructions and a We should also realize that a cheese doesn’t need
recommended dosage). You can then do the math to measured degrees to evolve right, and that cheese­
find out how much rennet is needed for the amount of makers originally made cheese without the aid of
milk you’re working with. Celsius/Fahrenheit or milliliters/ounces, simply being
Almost all the techniques in the book (aside from comfortable and familiar with the capacity of their
lactic goat cheeses) call for the same standard amount rennet, culture, and salt to do the work they do. Rest
of rennet, which fully curdles milk at 35°C (95°F) in assured, I don’t measure anything in my cheese­making
about 45 minutes. If you can’t find that information on (aside from the amount of milk, and the corresponding
the package, contact the manufacturer, and they can amount of rennet needed, and the pH, but only with
give you advice, or you can test the strength of the ren- more traditional tests). And I’ve done my best to
net on a small quantity of milk kept warm at 35°C to avoid unnecessary scrutiny in measuring, by providing
determine its dosage for a larger batch of cheese. Lactic alternative ways of measuring temperature, acidity, and
goat cheeses use a quarter of the standard dose. humidity that are more intuitive and that measure just
In chapter 4 I have provided more directions on as effectively (if not more effectively) as more techno-
how to prepare and use rennet stomachs if you choose logically advanced instruments. See chapter 5 for more
to do so. In some regions these stomachs can still be detailed explorations on natural measurements.
purchased from cheese­making supply shops or found
in local markets, but in general they’re hard to find and
their production is restricted or even taboo. Typically, Enjoy!
the only way to procure one is to take it from an animal What else can I say without digging into the meat of
yourself and transform it in-house, which can violate the matter—just jump in and enjoy making the most of
the regulations of commercial dairying. (Though your milk! You can look at cheese­making not as a chore,
there’s nothing inherently illegal about using animals’ but rather as a practice to be enjoyed and savored as it is
stomachs to curdle milk, ingredients used in modern performed, a meditation on the transformation of your
dairies need to come from certifiable sources, not just milk into its most beautiful, enlightened form. Consider
from a backyard-slaughtered buckling.) However, cheese­making and dairy fermentation a regular ritual to
anywhere in the world that animals are being milked, look forward to, acts that feed your soul as much as they
making animal rennet is a realizable possibility. And feed you, your family, and your community.

12 • Introduction