Forgot Meso culture for Camabert - anything salvageable?

[schoettl]

So I am a dingus and realized I forgot one of the most important steps for Camembert - The mesophilic culture (i put in the penicillium candidum and just spaced on the second culture).

They have both been in the molds and are in the ripening stages. Not really any mold growth on outside. Anyone think they are salvageable in any way? What have I created, just cheese blob?

I am a somewhat beginner (clearly)

[AnnDee]

What milk did you use? Raw, non homogenised or P&H?

[Gregore]

if you added no culture that could bring down the ph then you do not have cheese

unless you used raw milk , then you might have cheese

Not even sure if the curds would really bind with out a culture of some kind to bring the acid down , so if the curds are bound together reasonably well then I would go ahead and see how it ages .

[AnnDee]

That exactly what I thought on the raw milk part, Gregore.
Otherwise this is probably a halloumi (or soft halloumi?).

[wattlebloke]

Good point about the halloumi, Ann. Half the halloumi recipes I've read call for meso, half not. I don't use meso and get a perfectly fine cheese. As far as I can see the starter cultures for any cheese do very little to the pH in the first hour before the rennet is added. So yes, Schoettl, you've made a cheese but it probably isn't Camembert. You aren't the first to make exactly that mistake
The reason others have asked if the milk was raw (unpasteurised) is because the naturally occurring bacteria in the raw milk include the Meso bacteria you forgot to add. That's how people were able to make cheese before multi-national culture companies stepped forward to save us from the old ways
Happy cheese adventures!