The Everything Cheese Book

From cheddar to chevre, all you need to select and serve the finest fromage
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Cheeses of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

Northern California's pastures have supported a thriving dairy industry for over a hundred years. Dairy farmers and food artisans make specialty cheese with the milk of carefully tended herds of cows, goats, and sheep. Farmstead cheesemakers use the milk of their own herds; others use the milk of local herds.
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Cheesemaking - Part I

At its most basic level, cheese provides the benefits of fresh milk without the need to keep milk fresh. At its most complicated, cheese is the product of an intricate culinary art form dating back to Egyptian times. Every step of its creation can be varied to produce thousands of different types from four main milks: cow, goat, sheep, and water buffalo.
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Cheesemaking - Part II

Curds, Whey, and Rennet
Jennifer Bice of Redwood Hill Farm relies on the milk of her own herd of goats, and Larry Peter of Spring Hill Jersey Cheese on the milk of his own Jersey cows to make cheese. Both of these farmstead cheesemakers pasteurize their milk, and then add starter cultures to promote the development of lactic acid. When the temperature and pH balance are right, the water and sugar (which together form the whey), can be separated from the protein and fat (which together form the curd).
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Cheese Chose Me

Almost daily, a customer selecting a delectable morsel of cheese will look at me wistfully and say, "You must love your job." I lean over the counter and whisper, "Yes, and my first day here included a two-hour cheese tasting."
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