I loved this book and found it very informative and made the making of cheese look easier than I thought. I am always looking for ways to make my own things. The photos and information are clear and easy to understand even for the novice. Gives information on making everything from cream cheese to ricotta cheese. Also includes a few recipes for using the cheese. Though the initial tools needed are high it is a one time purchase in most cases. I was very surprised to find all the different cheese molds available. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in making their own cheese from scratch.

What an amazing illustrated book! Definitely, one that should be in every home.

The Modern Cheesemaker starts off with the basics. It explains everything in detail and the beautiful illustrations make this the best cheesemaker book I have seen in a long time.

I want to make the cheese.

I want to meet the cheese mongers featured within its pages.

I want to make the recipes. (Including this grilled brie with caramelized apples and honey.)

I want to buy a copy of this book for myself. (The digital ARC will go away soon.)

This book goes far beyond my cheesemaking abilities, but is an excellent resource for a serious cheesemaker! Someday when I have more time, I want to return to this book to truly explore all that it has to offer!

A book for real enthusiasts. I love cheese and loved learning more about the whole process of making and tasting. Honestly, I doubt I will make my own cheese but loved finding out more.

Excellent primer for cheese making. Provides basic information in a easy to follow format.
Sections are logical and the cheeses in the book are all delicious.

4,5 stars, rounded up.

This is an extremely detailed handbook for making cheese and enjoying cheese.
Morgan McGlynn structured this book from the easiest cheeses to make to the most difficult, making this a guide helpful to everyone, from beginner to more skilled cheese makers.
Each recipe (both for making the cheeses and using the cheeses) is accompanied by beautiful pictures. Every step in the making of the cheese is describe thoroughly and the pictures add extra clarification.
I also love that she put the recipes after each homemade cheese. This way you get direct inspiration for what you could make with your homemade cheese and, to be honest, it gave me a lot more drive to actually make the cheese if the dish looked delicious.
At the end McGlynn also added a list with cheese suggestions per country & possible places/links to get the ingredients/tools. Both are great and smart additions.

Morgan McGlynn has been a fan of cheese her whole life. In fact, she loves it so much she bought a cheese shop when she was only 21. Working at the store, tasting cheeses, traveling to cheesemakers to stock her shop, she has learned a lot about cheese. She has even started making her own. And now she is sharing all her best cheese secrets with us all in The Modern Cheesemaker.

Written with novices in mind, McGlynn takes readers step by step through the process of making cheese, from simple cheese that can be made with ingredients you can probably find in your kitchen to more complicated recipes that take specialty ingredients and can age for months. She includes tips on cheese making equipment (you don’t need much to get started) and ideas on knives and slicers to use to create the ultimate cheese board.

In other words, you can put as little or as much effort in as you want, invest a lot or not so much, the options are as numerous as the types of cheeses available.

After a quick introduction to the history, basic process, and equipment of cheesemaking, McGlynn gets to the important part—the recipes. First she starts with simple fresh cheeses, like mozzarella, ricotta, burrata, and mascarpone. And along with the recipes to create these cheeses, she includes recipes you can use these cheese for, like Lemon and Raspberry Ricotta Cheesecake, Curd Cheese Dip, and Burrata and Lemon Penne.

After the fresh cheeses, she takes us on a tour of cream and soft cheeses, so you can make your own cottage cheese, cream cheese, and Brie. Then it’s on to goat’s cheese, with ideas for creamy and crumbly ones, and recipes like a Courgette (Zucchini) and Goat’s Cheese Tart or Goat’s Cheese and Spinach Filo Swirls.

Then things get harder, as both the recipes and the cheese get harder, going through an aging process. You can choose semi-hard cheeses like Paneer, Swiss Cheese, Halloumi, and Feta; or you can go for the hard cheeses, and try your hand at Cheddar, Gouda, or Red Leicester. And then you can go to use those to make Very Naughty Mac and Cheese, a Classic Croque Monsieur, or a Tortellini Bake.

And let’s not forget the Blue Cheese.

Throughout all these recipes for cheeses and for tasty dishes made with cheeses are vignettes of cheesemakers from around the world and lots of beutiful photographs. Add in some expert advice about serving cheese, wine pairings for different cheeses, and how to create an exquisite cheese board for any season, The Modern Cheesemaker is a beautiful reference for cheese lovers of all kinds.

Galleys for The Modern Cheesemaker were provided by White Lion Publishing through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I was so excited to see this book pop up on NetGalley. A friend in Virginia is an avid cheesemaker, and he talks so energetically about his cheese projects that I always leave his company wanting to try my own cheesemaking experiments. I’ve gone so far as taking an Italian cheesemaking class at the local cooking school: however, my limited home experiments have epically failed. So I wanted to learn more about the process of cheesemaking before I attempted any more home experiments.

This book definitely did not disappoint! The cheesemaking recipes were clearly written, and generously illustrated with step-by-step full color photographs. In addition to the cheesemaking recipes, there was a wealth of recipes for dishes using the homemade cheeses. As much as this book demystified the cheesemaking processes, I’m more likely to try one of the ancillary recipes at one of my upcoming dinner parties.

Even the apocryphal material in this book was super interesting. My favorite section was the section about cheese pairings, which went well beyond pairing cheese with wine. These was an entire page of tips for pairing cheese with beer and cider, as well as other subsections about pairing cheese with whiskey and pairing cheese with other spirits.

To make the cheesemaking process even more accessible, the book contains paragraph length descriptions of the more exotic ingredients used in the recipes, such as the different enzymes and molds required for more advanced cheese making. In addition, the book provided websites accessible worldwide that source cheesemaking materials. And I was tickled that the author chose to include Amazon as one of the sources, because sometimes that is more reasonably priced than the boutique sources.

Even though this was a British book, the measurements and vocabulary were generously translated in American measurements and vocabulary throughout the book. As an American, I felt comfortable that the ocean gap would not prevent me from attempting any of these recipes.

I received this book as a digital advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I have not tried any of the recipes from this book, and will update this review if I do.

An ok basic cheese book. I wish it would've gone more in depth to the theory and science behind cheese, as such a living process is highly sensitive to the specific environment it is created.

In The Modern Cheesemaker, McGlynn shares 18 cheesemaking tips and over 40 cheese recipes inspired by her love for cheesemaking from a young age. This guide provides a complete hands-on guide to making cheese from scratch.

The author opens this book with by introducing the reader to the history of cheesemaking, cheese seasons and the best season for optimal cheese production; she elaborates using cheese from the mountains (The Alps and Pyrenees).

The first section is devoted to the ingredients: cow’s milk, goat’s milk, sheep’s milk, acid, salt etc). Here, the author suggests the quality of milk for the best results. This section also covers cheesemaking equipment (Cheesecloth or muslin, large saucepan, thermometer, wooden spoon etc), and the basic steps in making cheese with illustrated step-by-step instructions to make the cheesemaking process accessible for anyone to try at home.


The cheeses in this book are divided into five categories: Fresh cheese, cream and soft cheese, Goat’s cheese, semi-hard cheese, Hard cheese and blue cheese. Each entry begins with a brief overview of the cheese as well as a summary of the cheesemaking process.

Each of the cheeses listed here is further broken down into different kinds of cheese, as well as recipes to try at home. For instance, under Fresh Cheese, you will find kinds of cheese followed by a recipe or two. Some examples are curd cheese ( curd cheese dip), Ricotta, Mozzarella, Mascarpone (Mascarpone Chocolate Pots with Honeymade Honeycomb. The chapter also features a star cheesemaker from different regions in the world.

Under the cream and soft cheese section, you will find a variety of delectable cheeses such as cream cheese, cottage cheese, Brie (Grilled Brie with Caramelized apple and honey).

In the subsequent chapters, (Semi-hard cheese and Hard cheese), the author presents more challenging cheesemaking techniques and introduces the art of ageing cheese, known as affinage. She shows the reader how to make semi-hard cheese such as Paneer cheese, Swiss cheese, Halloumi and Feta cheese including recipes such as Cheese straws and Raclette. Hard cheese: Cheddar, Red Leicester and Gouda.

The author also includes some cheesemonger tips and offers different ways to flavor cheese. Another chapter is dedicated to cheese pairing and explains the balance of tastes, textures, and fragrances, as well as the author’s favorite pairings. Included in this book are seasonal cheese boards featuring cheese in all four seasons and tips on storing cheese.

The Modern Cheesemaker concludes with an extensive list of additives and cultures used for cheesemaking, equipment and where to source them, as well as the author’s selections of cheeses from around the world.

Highly recommend to cheese lovers and experienced hobbyists.

Many thanks to Morgan McGlynn, NetGalley, and Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A beautiful and informative book that attempts to take the mystery out of home cheese-making. I have long desired to make my own cheese, and this would be a great boo to get me started. It's filled with clear instructions and well-composed photographs, and contains recipes for a wide variety of cheeses. I especially appreciate that it has recipes from easy to difficult - if I owned this book it would be in use for many years.

Oh my goodness, this is a fantastic book! I love the idea of making cheese and this book sets it all out for you.

There are six different types of cheese to have a go at: fresh, cream & soft, semi-hard, hard, goats and blue. Overall this book provides instructions in how to make 20 cheeses along with many scrumptious recipes to use them in and drink pairings.

The instructions are very detailed and each step is accompanied by a colour photograph. The ingredients are listed in metric and imperial measurements and at the rear is a list of suppliers as some equipment might be needed, though a few cheeses can be made with a couple of ingredients from the supermarket.

Interspersed are also worldwide family run cheesemakers with a small bit of their history and what cheese they produce.

I've seen the author on Sunday Brunch back in March this year feeding the guests and presenters with the most delicious looking cheese - though last time she was asked about using breast milk to make it!I

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

I LOVED this book. I requested it because I love cheese, but loved it on it's own merits. The pictures were GORGEOUS and mouth-watering, the author clearly knows her stuff and the recipes all looked amazing and made me want to get started RIGHT NOW.

I received this as an eARC and while eBooks are ok, for this, I would highly suggest the "real" book. I ordered one for me about halfway through reading this and some for my store will be following. I'm being greedy, I get my copy first!

I wish she had been a tad more clear about the cheesecloths however. Can they be washed and re-used when used for straining, or are they one-time use only?

Other than that, she was very clear and the pictures corresponded to the text. I love how she included her favorite cheese makers, giving a short bio of them/their cheese and where they were located in the world.

If you love cheese, then this is the book for you. It seems from this book that cheese isn't all that difficult to make, you just need good, fresh ingredients. She also includes vegetarian options for the rennet (don't ask what it is, I went a tad green when I heard what it was, but not enough to not keep shoving cheese in my mouth).

5, huge cheese-wheel, stars!

My thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion Publishing for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

I have made quite a few cheeses, from the fresh ones to the soft Bries/Camemberts and soft blues over the years but have yet to venture into the Cheddar style hard ones. This book is what I would have liked at the start of my cheesey journey - sound, practical advice. So many other books make the whole process seem so convoluted and needing expensive equipment not to mention using 100 litre quantities of milk! This is just not true as Ms McGlyn's book ably demonstrates. The pictures of the various stages of the curds are very clear and useful. The photographs and recipes are an added attraction too. A slight downer is the obvious need for areas of quite cool and steady temperatures and about which she gives us little idea as to how we can achieve these. Normal 'fridges are generally too cold and, whilst I am lucky enough to have a cool traditional larder, many other people won't. and the cool maturing temperatures are definitely essential for many cheeses. I found the approximate yields from given volumes of milk also useful - don't forget that a lot of whey is produced and you need to be a bit imaginative to use it - soda bread, add it to smoothies, for cooking instead of water and so on. I have produced the Norwegian brunost by boiling the whey down to a fudgy caramel, err, mess but it's so much a Marmite thing that I leave it to you to decide whether to try this or not! I like it, my husband does not - brunost that is. We both hate Marmite. A very useful book overall and one that should encourage more people to take time to make their own cheese even if only for a treat. Some may well find that it becomes a routine. My thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - White Lion Publishing for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a treasure! Step by Step cheese making instructions along with some recipes you'll be on your way to being a cheesemonger! Beautifully photographed, well written, with mouth-watering recipes, this book earns a solid 5!

The Modern Cheesemaker is a tutorial guide with recipes for home fromagier by Morgan McGlynn. Released 21st March 2019 by Quarto on their White Lion imprint, it's 224 pages and available in ebook and hardcover formats.

I am a lifelong cheese fanatic. I am in love with artisanal cheeses which are, unfortunately, in short supply in my area. I do always look forward to the traveling cheese faires and competitions which happen a few times a year locally, but it's a cheese desert betweentimes. There are apparently 3500 different cheeses and they are distributed literally all over the planet across cultures and time, just not where I live, apparently. This book comes to the rescue.

This recipes are arranged more or less in order of difficulty. The book begins with an introduction to the tools and ingredients necessary. Readers will likely have most of the supplies in their kitchens already and the author clearly advises against buying extra expensive equipment which will likely not be used regularly. There is also a short subchapter on different types of milk and how different seasons affect milk production along with a very short discussion of the biology of cheesemaking.

The first cheese recipes in the book are fresh, unaged cheeses such as ricotta and 'cottage' cheese. I like that the recipes also include refinements and 'satellite' recipes using the cheeses produced. The ricotta section, for example, includes a recipe for ricotta and basil pesto gnocci, and a ricotta cheesecake that made my mouth water.

The types of cheeses covered in the book include fresh cheeses, cream cheese, goatmilk, semi hard, hard and blue cheeses. I really had thought that most except the very simplest would be beyond the scope of a home hobbyist, but now I'm inspired to try.

All of the recipes and procedures are packed full of clear and well made photographs which elevate the whole to an artistic, almost coffee table book. The photos really make this book beautiful.

Five stars

The Modern CHeesemaker goes through the processes, equipment needed, and step by step instructions for how to make 18 different delicious cheeses! (40 different recipes!) This is a great book for any bigger or even someone with some knowledge in cheesemaking!

*I received an advanced reader's copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This is a beautiful book with recipes both for the actual cheeses and what to make with the cheeses, whether it's Paneer Stuffed Peppers, Cheese and Garlic Scones or other yummy treats. I also really loved the photos.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing for an e-galley of The Modern Cheesemaker for review.
I was mostly just interested in the methods in making cheese at home and this book really lays it all out for you. From easy soft cheese to more complicated aged cheese, they do require some special equipment and ingredients but the book lays it all out so it looks easy! This would be perfect for anyone looking to control the ingredients in their cheese or even to make a speciality cheese that costs a lot in the store. I think I will start making buratta as it is hard for me to find in stores near where I live but it seems simple to make for myself.