Photo of Gruyere courtesy of New England Cheesemaking Supply Company

The following resources, compiled by Tami Parr, will be valuable as you try your hand at cheesemaking using these recipes for Fresh Mozzarella and Paneer. Read the full Edible D.I.Y. story on cheesemaking from the Spring 2008 issue here: Making Cheese—Kitchen Magic with Curds and Whey.

SUPPLIES
Kookoolan Farms
This just in! Kookoolan Farms, located in Yamhill, has cheesemaking supplies for the the Portland metro area. They appear to be the only local supplier. However, it also seems that they source their supplies from The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. The Kookoolan Farms website lists "cultures, rennets, cheesecloth, wax, thermometers, curd-cutting knives, wrapping papers, and enzymes" to all be among their shop.

New England Cheesemaking Supply Company
An exceptional resource for supplies, kits, and everything the aspiring home cheesemaker could ever want. Owned by Ricki Carroll, author of Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Homemade Cheeses. The Thirty Minute Mozzarella Kit includes everything you need to start making your own mozzarella.

Glengarry Cheesemaking and Dairy Supply
Based in Canada, Margaret Morris’s company is a useful source for supplies, recipes and advice for home and professional cheesemakers.

BOOKS
Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Homemade Cheeses by Ricki Carroll
Ricki Carroll, self-described “cheese queen,” has helped hundreds of commercial artisan cheesemakers get their start with her simple, easy-to-use instructions, recipes, and advice. This book is an indispensable guide to home cheesemaking.

American Farmstead Cheese: The Complete Guide to Making and Selling Artisan Cheeses by Paul Kindstedt
More advanced than the previous book, Kindstedt includes in-depth science as well as advice about business strategies. Nevertheless, offers sound cheesemaking advice in an easy-to-use, accessible format.

CHEESEMAKING CLASSES
Kookoolan Farms
Yamhill, Oregon
503-730-7535

Foster & Dobbs Authentic Foods
2518 NE 15th Avenue, Portland, OR
503-284-1157

WSU Creamery
Washington, Oregon and Idaho locations

WEBSITES
Cheese Chick
Check out Christine Hyatt's Cheese TV!

Pacific Northwest Cheese Project
Includes comprehensive lists of ALL Northwest cheesemakers.

NOTES ON MILK

Good Cheese Comes from Good Milk
As with all cooking projects, the quality of your finished product depends on your ingredients. Use the best quality milk you can find—if you have access to milk from a local farm, all the better. Whole milk makes the best cheese.

Avoid ultra-pasteurized milk, which has been heated to a high temperature that lengthens shelf life, but harms the internal protein structures of milk. This process affects rennet’s ability to coagulate the milk’s solids.

Using Raw Milk to Make Cheese
The use and consumption of raw milk is controversial, and it is important to understand the issues before deciding to use or consume it. When making cheese at home, use pasteurized milk—leave raw-milk cheesemaking to the professionals.

Pasteurization is the process by which milk is heated to a temperature at which any bacteria and potentially harmful pathogens present in the milk are destroyed. So-called “raw” milk is simply unpasteurized milk. Some believe that pasteurization destroys beneficial bacteria and proteins in milk; others advocate that all milk should be pasteurized lest harmful pathogens be consumed by humans. In Oregon, farms can sell raw goat’s milk, if they follow certain handling regulations, but not raw cow milk. In Washington, farms can sell raw cow milk if they are licensed to do so.

In the United States and Canada, laws require cheesemakers who use raw milk to age the cheese a minimum of 60 days, the threshold at which it is believed that any harmful pathogens in the milk will not survive in the finished product. This is a sore subject among domestic cheesemakers, who point out that cheeses have been made with raw milk in Europe for centuries. Cheese aficionados say that artisan cheeses made with raw milk have more complex and nuanced flavors than those made with pasteurized milk.