Author Topic: Curious question  (Read 1664 times)

cheesewiz

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Curious question
« on: February 03, 2010, 03:47:15 AM »
This may sound like an off the wall question, but someone recently asked me this and I thought I should turn it over to the experts. If you came across, say, a wonderful Appenzellar cheese that you would like to duplicate, could you make the generic guyere recipe, but add some shreds of that ideal cheese during ripening or when milling the curds, to improve the flavor of your generic recipe? Would any of the culture be "live" enough at the point of purchase to transfer to another cheese? Or how about after you've just finished making the generic recipe, could you rub the outside of the cheese with the 'good' cheese previous to aging so it would take on some of the flavor of the better cheese?

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Curious question
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2010, 06:48:38 AM »
For Appenzeller, assuming it was raw milk AOC, it is nearly impossible to just add old cheese and expect those cultures to work. You're dealing with a tiny population that is still alive. Yes, it is possible to do, but in a different way. Here's what you'd need to do to get the culture

1) Emulsify large cheese sample
2) Culture entire sample in nutrient broth using aseptic technique so the bacteria populations go up.
3) Take small aliquots (parts) of the broth and culture dishes (again, aseptic, so autoclave at 121C) with the aliquots to get surface colonies.
4) Then you isolate the colonies you want and reculture them to get pure strains. Then reculture the pure strains.

In other words, not easy.

For rind duplication, that is easier. Look at http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,1645.msg12650.html#msg12650

You just need a piece of the rind.

cheesewiz

  • Guest
Re: Curious question
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2010, 05:56:59 PM »
Thank you so much for your response! I kind of figured if it was easy, we'd all be eating (and making) better cheese....

linuxboy

  • Guest
Re: Curious question
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2010, 07:13:45 PM »
Well, the bigger difference is the milk and not cultures. You can approximate most AOC cheeses with the bulk commercial cultures from Danisco and Chr Hansen. Sure, there are wild priopionic strains in appenzeller and emmenthaler, but bulk shermanii is very similar. What you can't approximate is the complex structure of the milk from specific breeds of cows bred for fat and protein production feeding on hundreds of different herbs, wildflowers, and grasses. To me, those high alpine summer cheeses are just incredibly nuanced, and I can replicate the general paste and texture, but not the aroma or flavor changes on the palate. Rinds are easier, you can inoculate and let them do their thing.