Cheese

Cheese covers both cheese knowledge and cheesemaking, two sides of the same thing.

The knowledge side is about understanding distinctions that are often blurred. Fresh cheese, bloomy rind cheese, blue cheese, washed rind cheese, hard cheese and goat's cheese differ not only in flavour but in production method, the origin of the milk and, above all, maturation. Affinage, or ageing, is the most underrated part of the craft, because the same curd can become two entirely different cheeses depending on temperature, humidity and how it is turned and washed.

The Oxford Companion to Cheese, with its 855 entries from 2016, is the category's reference work in English, while the Swedish Finsmakarens handbok om ost provides a practical introduction for anyone who wants to build a cheese board and understand why it works.

Cheesemaking begins with milk, starter culture and rennet, and quickly becomes technical. Bronwen and Francis Percival write about raw milk and microbiology, while David Asher covers cheesemaking entirely without commercial cultures.

The section also covers cheese and wine, cheese and bread, and the history of cheese.