Tomme rind types?

[linuxboy]

Paul, it's straight p candidum that does this in camemberts. highly proteolytic.

[ArnaudForestier]

OK, thanks, Linux.  Makes sense, now.  From Danisco's site, I see now, the possibilities of various strains on just this consideration:

Penicillium candidum (or Penicillium camemberti) is used in the production of white mould cheese such as Camembert and Brie, soft
blue cheese with a white ring, goat cheese, and whey
(Sauermilch) cheese. It has a number of important functions:

• Creation of the characteristic appearance of white mould cheese
• Protection of the surface from foreign moulds such as mucor
and green mould
• Neutralisation of the cheese through its capacity to break down
lactic acids, influencing taste and structure considerably
• Contribution to the cheese ripening process by proteolytic and
lipolytic properties that produce typical flavour components

CHOOZIT™ Penicillium candidum covers all needs, ranging from
strains with high enzymatic activity and a strong influence on taste
to strains with no activity but which only give a white, thin
appearance. Some strains have a specific anti-mucor action.

[mikekchar]

I'm going to start a "thread necromancy project".  This forum has too many amazing threads that are lingering with people not knowing they exist.  As there is much less traffic these days than there used to be, I propose that we post to old threads that deserve a new life.  I just happened across this one in a google search for something and it is really fascinating.  Especially for those of us doing natural rinds, it's hard to get the pieces of the puzzle so that we can start putting them together.  This thread talks about the composition of the rind for tommes (something near and dear to my heart).  It also talks about pH curves for tommes, as well as touching on the history behind why brie and camembert start out life at a low pH while something like a St Nectaire starts at a much higher pH.

[DrChile]

Agree!
This is great!

Trent

[fattyacid]

Agreed! BTW can we dig up linuxboy, Francios, iratherfly et al. Too many great people to mention who have crowdshared us into cheese greatness.

-FA

[Dr.Awkward]

I'm going to start a "thread necromancy project".

I'd love to see earlier "long-dead" cheesemaking threads resurrected! I'm only here every now and then, and usually post at reddit's Cheesemaking community. I do love the bits of knowledge KI can find here, too, though!

[DrChile]

I've been resisting reddit for a while but now knowing there's a cheesemaking thread (if that's what you call it?), may make me go there...
is reddit helpful?

Trent

[mikekchar]

I'm quite active there, as is 5ittingduck.  However, I would say nearly half the posts are people wondering why their quick mozzarella didn't work ;-)  There are one or two commercial cheese makers in that subreddit and I've gotten some good advice occasionally.  However, I would say that the experience level on average is quite low.  Most people are posting questions because they have just started making cheese.  Lately I've been reading /r/Cheese and I'm enjoying that to a certain extent.  About half the posts are meaningless memes, but the other half are people posting pictures of cheese -- often cheeses I've never heard of before.  I've found it's been great inspiration.  Still, I enjoy both subreddits.  The atmosphere is quite friendly (un-reddit like ;-) ) and people are pretty nice.

[DrChile]

Thanks!

[Boofer]

You know, the search function is really helpful....

You can click on someone's profile to see if and when they've last been active. If they haven't been active recently or for several years, they most likely have moved on in their lives. I would put linuxboy, Francois, Sailor, and iratherfly in that last category. I was fortunate enough to be able to access their knowledge before they departed the forum and they really helped my cheesemaking. I attempted a number of blues, washed rinds, soft cheeses, and hard cheeses.

-Boofer-