Muscadine & Magnolia
An old hand-crank cream separator beside metal milk cans in a farm museum
Shelf in progress

Home Dairy & Cheesemaking

Separators, churns, pasteurizers, cultures and presses for cream, butter, cheese and yogurt at home.

Photo: Nemracc, CC BY-SA 4.0

Harvest & Kitchen

Once the milk is in the pail, the kitchen work begins: separating cream, churning butter, pasteurizing, and setting cultures for cheese and yogurt. This shelf covers that side of home dairy. The animal side, from milking stands to udder care, lives on our Milking & Dairy shelf. We don't keep dairy animals, so anything listed here will be researched, not used.

Our picks

Products coming soon

Products coming soon as partners approve us.

What we look for

Buying well in home dairy & cheesemaking

  • Cream separators sized to your daily milk, with parts that come apart for scrubbing
  • Churns that suit your batch, from a quart of cream to a few gallons
  • Seamless stainless pails and cans that clean up completely
  • A pasteurizer, or a tested stovetop method, if you pasteurize at home
  • Cultures from makers that publish storage and batch-size instructions
  • Presses and molds that match the cheeses you want to make
  • Strainers, filters and cloth fine enough for soft cheese and yogurt

From the Journal

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