Author Topic: Which Culture for Brie/Camembert?  (Read 2914 times)

Offline Al Lewis

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Port Orchard Washington
  • Posts: 3,285
  • Cheeses: 179
    • Lou's Food & Drink
Which Culture for Brie/Camembert?
« on: January 08, 2013, 02:08:43 AM »
Okay, I have a choice of cultures here.  There is a ABL, HP6, Neige, SAM3, and VB.  If I am only going to make Brie, Camembert, and Cambozola which, if any, of these would be the best culture to buy?
Making the World a Safer Place, One Cheese at a Time! My Food Blog and Videos

Offline Tiarella

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Chester, MA, US
  • Posts: 1,748
  • Cheeses: 81
  • Default personal text
    • Farm Blog
Re: Which Culture for Brie/Camembert?
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2013, 04:28:09 AM »
Okay, I have a choice of cultures here.  There is a ABL, HP6, Neige, SAM3, and VB.  If I am only going to make Brie, Camembert, and Cambozola which, if any, of these would be the best culture to buy?

Did you read descriptions of all of them?  SAM has anti-Mucor action.  Not really necessary usually.  I often use VB but each have their growth patterns so do some thread searching.  I imagine someone has written about it.  Use google search rather than forum search because it will do a better job of giving you answers even if you limit google to the forum.

Offline NimbinValley

  • Mature Cheese
  • ****
  • Location: Australia
  • Posts: 308
  • Cheeses: 7
  • Default personal text
Re: Which Culture for Brie/Camembert?
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2013, 09:31:41 AM »
So you are talking about which white mould to buy?  All of those that you listed are white moulds, although I haven't heard of VB.  And I thought HP6 was a blue mould but I could be wrong...

If it is a first attempt then you can't go wrong with SAM.  It is very vigorous and will quickly cover the cheese.  ABL is fine too but you will need to make sure humidity and temp are correct to get a good cover, from my experience.

Good luck.

NV.

Offline Al Lewis

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Port Orchard Washington
  • Posts: 3,285
  • Cheeses: 179
    • Lou's Food & Drink
Re: Which Culture for Brie/Camembert?
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2013, 03:10:35 PM »
Thanks for the info!!  I seem to have a problem with the centers of these cheeses getting soft and thought I was, perhaps, using the wrong culture, Neige.  I'll give the SAM a try and see if my results improve.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2013, 11:06:19 PM by Al Lewis »
Making the World a Safer Place, One Cheese at a Time! My Food Blog and Videos

Offline Al Lewis

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Port Orchard Washington
  • Posts: 3,285
  • Cheeses: 179
    • Lou's Food & Drink
Re: Which Culture for Brie/Camembert?
« Reply #4 on: January 09, 2013, 04:34:53 AM »
Ordered teh SAM.  I'll let you know how it worked out. ???
Making the World a Safer Place, One Cheese at a Time! My Food Blog and Videos