EVERYDAY CHEESEMAKING
“How to Succeed Making Dairy and Nut Cheese at Home”
“How to Succeed Making Dairy and Nut Cheese at Home”
K. Ruby Blume [Microcosm]
Whenever
I read a book or a zine, I learn something—not necessarily a
life-altering philosophical truth, but facts, knowledge, information.
Like, for example, I did not know that you could make milk and cheese
from nuts. I've heard of almond milk, of course, but I've never given it
much thought and I did not know that you could make milk and cheese
from other nuts as well. Now I know this and a whole lot more about raw
and pasteurized milk, animal husbandry, ethical dairy and how to make
your own cheese everyday and, it's all thanks to K. Ruby Blume and her
book, Everyday Cheesemaking.
K. Ruby Blume spent years as
an activist. She hit the streets with signs and puppets aloft and
protested nukes, war and income disparity. There came a point, however,
when she started questioning the effectiveness of her actions. She
wondered just what she was accomplishing with her signs and street
theater antics. Blume decided instead to use her considerable skills and
talents to teach, empower and encourage people to take back a little
more control of their lives by becoming more self-sufficient. In this
seemingly small way, big changes can be the result.
Blume teaches cheesemaking, among other things, at the Institute for Urban Homesteading,
which she founded in 2008. The purpose of the Institute is to teach
people how to live a meaningful and sustainable live in an urban
setting, which in her case is the Bay Area of Oakland and Berkeley. Her
work there has borne the fruit that is this guide. Blume’s
comprehensive, step-by-step instructions can help anyone make cheese.
The process is not as complicated as you might think but it does require
the use of specific tools and ingredient, all of which are outlined in
the guide.
The book begins with some schooling on the history of
milk production, the original reasons behind pasteurization, the
benefits of consuming raw milk, the harmful effects of factory farming
and the ethics of animal husbandry in the more traditional sense where a
symbiotic relationship is created between human and beast. Cheesmaking
101 begins the discourse on the creation of a variety of different dairy
cheeses. Vegan? That’s fine, no worries there, the last section of the
book deals with making cheese with nut and seeds.
So I learned a
few things by reading this guide to making cheese at home, but will I
actually make cheese at home? I might, I might not. You may or may not
give it a go yourself, but this is a good book to have should the need
for homemade cheese inspire you to break out the cheese cloth and curd
knife—Chris Auman
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