Cheese Book Chat

A Cheesemonger’s Tour de France

by Ned Palmer

The Book in One Sentence

Ned Palmer takes a pilgrimage around the major cheesemaking regions of France, meeting the remarkable cheesemakers and unravelling the mysteries behind terroir and the part it plays in each cheese’s unique flavour and form.

Why should you read it?

Usually a champion of British cheese, Ned turns his inquisitive and jocular eye to France in this, as Ned puts it, “homage to fromage”. This, Ned’s second book, is written with his often dry, but always fertile, expression (“I chose a plump slice of Brie, its rumpled white duvet of a rind flecked with pink and orange“), and is bursting with enlightening facts and anecdotes, casting a revelatory glance across one of France’s oldest conventions. Throughout the book, Ned’s extensive knowledge of cheese and dairy history shines, providing valuable insights that give France’s modern cheeses their context.

Not only a truly entertaining read, Ned demonstrates his sensory and pairing expertise with each of his hero cheeses and, in turn, will help you get more out of yours. Take his direction over an aged Crottin as an example: “Approach them with respectful caution, shave off a thin sliver, let it melt on the tongue, noticing the rich deep farmy flavour, with notes of caramel and pepper. Have to hand a glass of the most authoritative Sancerre you can afford, to lessen the sting of the cheese and round out all those dark brown flavours with some acidity and white fruits.”

Best Line

“Whey splashes about so freely that whey-soaked trousers are an occupational hazard – though, as I was to find out later, it can make you very popular with the farm dogs“.

What Others Are Saying

Palmer writes with a pace and passion, and his encounters with modern-day practitioners fizz with infectious delight.

Sunday Times

Balıkesir – City of 50 Cheeses

by Berrin Bal Onur and Neşe Aksoy Biber

The Book in One Sentence

This book is a not only a beautifully-compiled chronicle of the culture and traditions of this unique city’s cheesemaking history, but it is of historical significance to the dairy industry as a whole.

Why should you read it?

Balıkesir, in the heart of Turkey’s Anatolia region, with its fertile soil, endemic flora biodiversity, amalgamation of different cultures and the abundance of animals this brings, is known affectionately as Turkey’s Dairy. Located within the South Marmara region, it was home to some of the area’s first settlements, and is thought, thanks mainly to the discovery there of 8,500-year-old earthenware vessels, to be one of the first places cheese was produced. Nesir and Bellen travel from the past to the present and are invited to eat at the tables of the gracious people of Balıkesir, who keep the cheesemaking traditions alive and pass the ancient flavours on to today’s consumers.

Best Line

“Parallel to discovering a different cheese in every district which reflects another culture and another custom, Balıkesir flings back its doors to history for us and reveals it all. Let us enter through those doors then and in the company of the amiable people of Balıkesir observe the cultures and history of the city we have discovered through cheese.”

Home Cheese Making

by Ricki Carroll

The Book in One Sentence

Often referred to as the ‘Bible for home cheese making’ this book is a fantastic resource with 100 cheese making recipes, tutorials, questions and answers.

Why should you read it?

Ricki Carroll, co-founder and owner of New England Cheesemaking Supply, learned cheesemaking in England. Her company has been supplying home cheese makers since 1978, with the goal of providing people with all the equipment and information needed to enjoy this most delicious of hobbies. Widely acclaimed as “the Cheese Queen,” Ricki Carroll has guided thousands of home cheese makers with this book, easily explaining the cheese making process, from your very first batch of cheese.

Learn about equipment, preparing starter cultures, using rennet, controlling temperature and storage of finished cheese. You will enjoy stories about artisanal and home cheese makers, recipes for using your homemade cheese and hints on how to cut your cheese. The easy-to-follow format, includes illustrations, charts, glossary and a trouble shooting guide, taking the complexity out of home cheese making.

The updated fourth edition features 35 new cheese recipes to reflect the broader range of cheeses available, including burrata, Brillat-Savarin, Cabrales, Drunk Gouda and more. Companion recipes are included for cheese plate condiments and classic cheese dishes.

Best Line

On making blue cheeses at home: “In many ways, a good homemade blue cheese is like a child. Easy and fun to produce, but difficult to bring to maturity.“

What Others Are Saying

“This book is great for beginners and will challenge me to go much further than I dreamed. Well written and organized. It’s so refreshing that I don’t have to highlight hidden tidbits in order to find them later. Everything has a place and is in its place. Beautiful!”

Patrick Parker, November 2023