Cheesemaking was my gateway into fermentation. My first cheesemaking book was a slim volume that was quite rudimentary. Along the way I embraced home cheesemaking that followed in the footsteps of commercial cheesemaking in the United States which relies heavily on denaturing milk, commercial cultures and ingredients. Natural cheesemaking has since taken a hold of me.

If you are new to cheesemaking, I recommend a solid foundation and successes with pasteurized milk, commercial cultures and molds, coagulants, and so forth. Work with various commercially produced mesophilic, thermophilic, blended cultures (even try your own blends), molds and so forth. Then move onto cheeses that rely on wild cultures such as ripe milk kefir and yogurt, homemade coagulants, and home harvested molds. I’ve found it helpful to recognize the outcomes with some controls before heading down the road of raw milk cheeses, culturing with milk kefir (or raw milk’s endemic cultures and other natural cultures) months long aging with natural rinds, and so forth.

Of the many books on home canning, these are my go-to references with solid, reliable information and good recipes. I favor recipes that preserve the bounty in a way that maximizes flexibility with the end product. For example, I prefer a plain peach jam or peach butter that I can modify it to suit when I pop open the jar.

I encourage folks to not quickly dismiss the classic Ball canning books and USDA recipes as the recipes can have reliable and tasty results.

Keeping chickens ain’t exactly cheap if all you want and need is a dozen eggs a week. If you want a creature that is a vital part of your garden or homestead, chickens can be a good addition.

In addition to eggs, a well managed laying flock also provides meat, gelatin, fat, broth, and manure for the garden.

The world of fermentation is diverse and vast. I love that the world of books on fermentation has exploded!

Here is a just a sampling of my favorite books. Cheesemaking has its own list as I am an avid cheesemaker.