Hi all-

Thought you might appreciate this great site I found last night with info and supplies for making cheese - New England Cheesemaking http://www.cheesemaking.com/aboutch.htm . My hubby and I bought some starter kits and will be experimenting. No, I am not affiliated with this company in ANY way - just passing along what I hope is useful info.

Jo

-- Jo (Jo@cheesemaking.101), July 07, 1999

Answers

Anyone know of any books about cheesemaking that do NOT depend on store bought supplies? The store shelves may be a bit thin next year......

-- Jon Williamson (jwilliamson003@sprintmail.com), July 07, 1999.

Jon, I agree with you and the short supply. Everything I find, soap, cheese etc depends on something store bought. I would like to find some ways to do things totally independent of those items. For the price you can stock alot of soap, cheese etc for what it takes to make these things from scratch. I spent a ton on money a couple of years ago making jellies and applebutter.

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), July 07, 1999.

I buy my cheesemaking supplies from NE Cheese as well- good selection and turnaround time for small-scale cheesemakers. Cheesemaking is loads of fun- good stuff too. The chickens really appreciate the disasters too- save your whey and disasters to feed to chickens, pigs, etc- no waste at all.

re: what if supplies not avail? I've thought of that too. will stock up on liquid rennet- lasts a good year if kept cool. Also- tablet rennet lasts even longer. cheese cultures last awhile too. Not sure what to do if cheese cultures aren't avail.- could keep buttermilk going I suppose- get a batch going and use it to start a new batch- can substitute buttermilk for many mesophillic cultures. Can use acidifiers in place of cultures in some recipes- ie: mozerella

can make rennet from calf stomach lining or some plant materials. Check out the previous Countryside Mag for a good cheese article.

-- farmer (hillsidefarm@drbs.com), July 07, 1999.

Colorado State University Cooperative Extension has a nice website for making soft cheeses at:

http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/PUBS/FOODNUT/09337.html

"Can be made at home without the use of special equipment".

-- flora (***@__._), July 09, 1999.