Chapter 32 — Further Reading

Resources organized by depth. Each entry has a one-line annotation: what it offers and who it's for.

Beginner

  • Sandor Ellix Katz, The Art of Fermentation (Chelsea Green, 2012). The single most accessible and culturally generous book on fermentation in English. The dairy chapter covers yogurt, kefir, and simple cheeses with practical home protocols. For any home cook who wants to start.

  • Gianaclis Caldwell, Mastering Basic Cheesemaking (New Society Publishers, 2016). A clear, well-illustrated guide to home cheesemaking from a working artisan. The early chapters on milk, rennet, and acid coagulation map directly to the science of this chapter. For home cooks who want to make cheese, not just yogurt.

  • Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat — Netflix episode 3 ("Acid"), Samin Nosrat (2018). Visits Parma in Italy and walks through the Parmigiano-Reggiano process from milk to wheel. Excellent visual introduction to a hard cheese's birth. For visual learners and anyone curious how the long aging actually plays out.

Intermediate

  • Paul Kindstedt, Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and Its Place in Western Civilization (Chelsea Green, 2012). Kindstedt is a cheese scientist at the University of Vermont who can also write history. This book traces cheesemaking across the ancient and medieval world with both scholarly rigor and storytelling warmth. For the food-science student who wants the long view.

  • Patrick Fox et al., Fundamentals of Cheese Science (Springer, 2nd ed. 2017). The standard graduate-level cheese science textbook. Casein chemistry, rennet coagulation, salt, ripening, defects — all of it, in detail. For food science students and serious learners; chapters 6 and 7 are particularly strong on coagulation.

  • Harold McGee, On Food and Cooking (Scribner, 2nd ed. 2004), chapters 1 ("Milk and Dairy Products"), with sections on cheese, yogurt, and cultured products. The canonical reference. Read alongside any home cheesemaking project. McGee's accuracy is unmatched and his prose is luminous. For everyone — home cooks, students, teachers.

  • Sandor Ellix Katz, Wild Fermentation (Chelsea Green, 2nd ed. 2016). The home-fermentation classic that started Katz's broader writing. The dairy section covers yogurt, kefir, and simple chèvre with a strong cultural and political frame. For the cook who wants community-rooted, low-tech fermentation.

Advanced

  • N. P. Shah (ed.), Yogurt in Health and Disease Prevention (Academic Press, 2017). Multi-author scientific reference covering yogurt's microbiology, processing, and (with appropriate caution) health effects. Useful for the student or teacher needing primary-literature-grade evidence on probiotic claims.

  • B. K. Mishra et al., "Probiotics, Postbiotics and Paraprobiotics: An Overview" (review article, available open-access via PubMed Central, search 2021–2024). A current scientific overview of probiotic claims, evidence levels, and where the science actually stands. Read this before believing any health-food-store yogurt's marketing.

  • D. Walstra, J. T. M. Wouters, and T. J. Geurts, Dairy Science and Technology (CRC Press, 2nd ed. 2006). The definitive academic reference on the physical chemistry of milk and dairy products. Walstra's casein-micelle work is foundational; the book covers fat-globule structure, casein micelle structure, gel formation, and process engineering. For graduate students and serious technical readers.

  • PubMed search: "Penicillium roqueforti" + "secondary metabolites" or "lipolysis." A small body of primary literature on the chemistry of blue-cheese ripening, particularly the methyl-ketone and free-fatty-acid pathways. Useful for advanced students writing papers.

Online resources and channels

  • Cheese Underground (cheeseunderground.blogspot.com). Wisconsin-based cheese journalism by Jeanne Carpenter — interviews with American artisan cheesemakers, regional reporting, news from the cheese world. For cheese enthusiasts wanting current voices.

  • The Cultures for Health website (culturesforhealth.com). Practical guidance on home culturing — yogurt starters, kefir grains, cheese cultures. Their tutorials are well-tested. For home cooks ready to source cultures and try.

  • Modernist Cuisine, Modernist Cuisine at Home (2012) and Modernist Bread (2017). While not cheese-specific, the broader Modernist Cuisine project covers dairy chemistry rigorously and includes cheese-related techniques. For students who want technical rigor with photographic illustration.

A note on sourcing rennet and starter cultures

For home cheesemaking, rennet and dedicated starter cultures (mesophilic, thermophilic, blue mold spores, white-rind mold spores, Brevibacterium linens) can be purchased from a small number of suppliers worldwide. In the United States: Cultures for Health, New England Cheesemaking Supply Company, The Cheesemaker. In the United Kingdom: Moorlands Cheesemakers. In continental Europe and Australia: similar specialty suppliers exist by country. Search for "cheesemaking supplies" in your region. ⚠️ Use the supplier's recommended dosing; cultures and rennet are biologically active products with shelf-life limits — store as the supplier recommends, typically refrigerated or frozen.