Customer Reviews

The Vermont Cheese Book

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ellen Ecker Ogden's The Vermont Cheese Book is, quite simply, a tribute to and celebration of the farmstead and artisanal cheeses produced throughout the state of Vermont. If you want to explore those cheeses it can guide you through them either by product (in case you want to purchase them elsewhere) or by farm (in case you want to visit some of these delicious places). But best of all it gives life to what could have been a dry guidebook, detailing the people, history and practices behind each farmstead.

The whole of the book went above and beyond its mission. It's certainly intended as a guide to Vermont's cheeses, not some sort of basic primer on cheesemaking in general, and it doesn't pretend to act as the latter. Yet in lovingly detailing how each cheesemaker achieves his or her desired results, the book does indeed impart a surprising amount of information regarding cheeses in general. I went to the store this weekend armed with and determined to make use of a new body of knowledge, and have been reaping the delicious benefits ever since--I may not have been able to access these Vermont cheeses here in Maryland, but I still learned enough to be able to choose other cheeses that have blown me away with their quality. It's enough to make me wish I still lived in Vermont or New Hampshire and could find some of these cheeses in my local store, and I expect I may have to look into ordering one or two from the farms' websites!

Other than some slightly confusing editing snafus this was a splendid book, so consider my rating 4.5 stars.

I got this for my cheese and Vermont-loving dad who moved to the Northeast Kingdom a few years ago. The reviews and layout are great, but the book is pretty old. I would love to purchase an updated edition.