Got this idea out of a cheese book. Infuse the cheese with mushroom flavor. This is a semi-creamy cheese with a leather-like skin. The skin is really the best part.
There are three cutures at play here: MM100 (bacteria) to lactic acid flavor and buttery notes (diacetyl!), penicillium candidum to produce the nice white mold on the outside, forms the leathery skin, and causes the cheese inside to get really soft and creamy. Finally, geotrichum candidum, which also produce the nice white exterior mold and helps with slipskin, which can be a problem for camembert.
I heated the milk to 110F, added the mushrooms, then steeped for an hour. Then, strained mushrooms.
This is not a pressed cheese. The curds are ladled into molds and allowed to drain overnight. I cover them with cheesecloth so no critters find them.
They lose over 75% of their volume, and result in the small cylinders in the picture. In about a week, they will develop a white moldy exterior, and in 4 more weeks they will be delicious, soft and creamy on the inside, with a tasty skin on the outside.
More pictures in a month. Into the cheese cave they go.
There are three cutures at play here: MM100 (bacteria) to lactic acid flavor and buttery notes (diacetyl!), penicillium candidum to produce the nice white mold on the outside, forms the leathery skin, and causes the cheese inside to get really soft and creamy. Finally, geotrichum candidum, which also produce the nice white exterior mold and helps with slipskin, which can be a problem for camembert.
I heated the milk to 110F, added the mushrooms, then steeped for an hour. Then, strained mushrooms.
This is not a pressed cheese. The curds are ladled into molds and allowed to drain overnight. I cover them with cheesecloth so no critters find them.
They lose over 75% of their volume, and result in the small cylinders in the picture. In about a week, they will develop a white moldy exterior, and in 4 more weeks they will be delicious, soft and creamy on the inside, with a tasty skin on the outside.
More pictures in a month. Into the cheese cave they go.