Author Topic: Marscapone Cheese - Sweet or Sour?  (Read 3226 times)

Nic C

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Marscapone Cheese - Sweet or Sour?
« on: August 08, 2011, 09:04:48 AM »
Should marscapone cheese be sweet or slightly sour when made with culture?
I used Ricki Carrolls recipe and creme fraiche starter.
I let it sit for 12 hours and drained it for an hour via butter muslin.
It is very thick and has nice consistency, however to me its more tarty like a sour cream but really smooth.

Has anyone else used Ricki Carrolls prepared starters?
I should be able to sweeten with icing sugar as I would like to make a tiramisu from it.
Thanks

Nic

Tomer1

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Re: Marscapone Cheese - Sweet or Sour?
« Reply #1 on: August 08, 2011, 10:10:41 AM »
I think mascarpone is always directly acidifed since you want to conserve all of the lactose and get as little lactic acid as possible.
Culturing it (longer then cream fresh) will just give you high fat sour cream which you can strain to make cream cheese.
I would make it with tartaric acid as most do.

linuxboy

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Re: Marscapone Cheese - Sweet or Sour?
« Reply #2 on: August 08, 2011, 02:08:25 PM »
You just made creme fraiche, not mascarpone. For a cultured mascarpone, you need to use only a slow acidifier with high EPS properties, such as a single strain Leuconostoc, so you can finish it before there's too much acid. Anything else, and it tends to acidify too much.

Nic C

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Re: Marscapone Cheese - Sweet or Sour?
« Reply #3 on: August 08, 2011, 10:12:54 PM »
Thanks all for such prompt replies.
I did add some icing sugar to it and its pretty good.
Linuxboy you are so right, i did make 'drained' creme fraiche. Ricki Carrolls instructions are the same for both without the draining for creme fraiche!
I think I have a very big learning curve in front of me. Anyways, thanks again all for your help.

linuxboy

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Re: Marscapone Cheese - Sweet or Sour?
« Reply #4 on: August 08, 2011, 10:35:31 PM »
What I would do, if you really want to make the cultured version, is to make a hybrid. Start by inoculating with either straight Leuconostoc, or an LD or D culture, like Danisco's MD series. Then take your pH readings. When you hit 5.9, start heating up that cream. Heat it like normal, to normal mascarpone temps. As you heat, it will get thicker (use a good pot, and do not overstir... you want that curd to set as one mass). And then it should thicken enough to be able to form... well, it's kind of like a custard or a cream sauce. Looks the same as acidified mascarpone... maybe a little thicker. Then you follow through and drain per usual.

This would give you the best of both worlds. You would retain the low acidify, have better textural properties because of the bacteria, and you would gain an additional flavor from the bacteria, such as the added diacetyl. And of course, you would stabilize it by heating to such a high temperature, which would give you the desired shelf life.

For a faux, fully cultured mascarpone, what I do is up the fat from 20% to... say, 30-36%, and then culture with Leuconostoc all the way until terminal pH, which is usually about 4.7. I don't even strain it after that because it's so thick. It's definitely NOT mascarpone, but it's not exactly creme fraiche, either. Kind of a delicious, lighter hybrid. Sometimes what I do is use 25-28% cream, add culture, let pH drop to 6.3 or so, and then I will whip the cream to stiff peaks and let it continue to acidify. The bacteria stabilize the mixture enough to where I can flavor it when pH hits 4.8-4.9, and pipe it out as a type of topping, or use for my deconstructed cultured chevre cheesecake, my lemon curd mini croquembouche, etc.

Really, it's up to you, based on the textural and flavor properties you need.