Making it Yourself: Cheese

One of my favorite comfort foods to have around is cheese. While I do not consider myself any kind of cheese-snob by any means, I do have several varieties that I like to have on hand (Cheddar, Jack, Gouda, to name a few), and really care about the flavor and texture of those cheeses. These cheeses make up a very important part of my regular diet, and having to go without them would not only cause me and mine to feel the lack of something, but our bodies would probably quickly notice it, and our digestion would likely suffer. Cheese making itself goes back to early man, one of our first ‘processed’ foods. It has been vital to humanity as a way of preserving one of natures most nutritious processed foods for various lengths of time. It also represents various ethnicities, based on their local supplies, and needs based on their environment. Along with Cheese, other dairy products such as yoghurt not only allow for storing dairy, but they also allow for a wide variety of flavors, and also create alternative nutrients due to bacterial processing, enzymys, and additives. For example, yoghurt is often consumable by lactose-intolerant individuals. In an extended emergency situation, lactose intolerance is a very common problem with diet changes, so knowing how to deal with it can literally save a life. For more information about cheese history, check out this Wikipedia article on Cheese. I would definitely recommend that you have some knowledge of cheese making in your head (practice), but also make sure you have that information on paper. There are several books in our suggested links that contain helpful information on making cheese in your own home. For a great variety of cheese making recipes, please check out Fankhouser’s Cheese Page. This site has an excellent variety of cheeses you can make at home, as well as yogurt, and several other great recipes, from breads to jams. This page is a must read (and watch, videos too), if you are interested in trying your hand at cheese making.