Longlisted for the André Simon Award for Food Books for 2024
"Essential reading for anyone wanting to learn all they can about the ways in which humans, and our domesticates, share this world with microbes."-David Zilber, chef and food scientist; coauthor of The Noma Guide to Fermentation
With recipes for over 80 natural cheeses and complimentary ferments, this groundbreaking, comprehensive book guarantees high-quality results and perfect flavors for every season.
Cheese is milk's destiny. In Milk Into Cheese, cheesemakers at every scale will learn to produce a broad range of traditional cheeses, entirely naturally. Experienced educator, activist, and celebrated natural cheesemaker David Asher introduces the reader to the cultures and practices of cheesemakers, the role our agricultural practices play in making cheese, the biological evolution of cheese, and the transformation of milk into cheese through fermentation.
A perfect companion to David's The Art of Natural Cheesemaking, Milk Into Cheese expands the cheesemaker's tool kit through an exploration of cheesemaking styles from around the world. These natural cheesemaking processes are made simple, in contrast to the complicated, controversial, and confusing world of industrial cheesemaking, with its reliance on freeze-dried cultures, chemical additives, and ever-expanding use of expensive technology.
Milk Into Cheese also celebrates the world's most delicious seasonal hand-made cheeses, including alpine, blue, and milled cheeses. Through gorgeous photography and detailed recipes, David prepares the reader for their own journey into traditional natural cheesemaking. He also shares simple recipes for fermented foods that complement and help us understand cheesemaking better, including pickles, sourdough bread, butter, and salami.
For home, small-scale, and larger-scale cheesemakers, Milk Into Cheese delivers a sophisticated look at the biological science that informs-and the ecological principles that guide-natural cheesemaking.
"An inspired how-to guide for the greatest of culinary transformations."-Dan Barber, chef, Blue Hill
"In detail and with great passion [Asher explains] the hows and whys of making cheese in traditional and simple ways, based on extensive and broad experience with the incredibly varied ways in which people have, do, and can work with milk."-Sandor Ellix Katz, fermentation revivalist; author of The Art of Fermentation and other fermentation bestsellers "The biological, historical, and ecological principles of good cheesemaking are as much a wonder as the cheese itself. It's all connected, and it's all here in Milk Into Cheese. An inspired how-to guide for the greatest of culinary transformations."
-Dan Barber, chef, Blue Hill
"David Asher has continued to deepen his understanding of cheese in the years since The Art of Natural Cheesemaking was published. His new book, Milk Into Cheese, is no less than a cheesemaking textbook, with thorough treatment of basics such as the biochemistry of milk and its transformations, rennets and other coagulants, salting, microbial development, aging environments and protocols, tools, and many other variables. These sections are followed by a survey of cheese styles, detailing methods and parameters for each. David explains in detail and with great passion the hows and whys of making cheese in traditional and simple ways, based on extensive and broad experience with the incredibly varied ways in which people have, do, and can work with milk."
-Sandor Ellix Katz, fermentation revivalist; author of The Art of Fermentation and other fermentation bestsellers
"Milk Into Cheese is a near-encyclopedic deep dive into the world of fermented dairy. Having traveled the world, David Asher's intimate and diverse first-hand knowledge of cheesemaking (and fermentation in general) makes the stories, explanations, and recipes within this book feel le
