Chaource recipe and request for culture advice

[Judi]

Hi all

I've been making Chaource reasonably successfully as follows:

7 litres (1.7 US gallons) of raw cow's milk at 25 degrees C - about 77F, and pH about 6.7 and titratable acidity at 18 Dornic

Add starter culture: Danisco Choozit MA4002 as ice cubes
Add mold former P. candidum, about 1/4 tsp
Incubate at this temp (about 10-12 hours i.e. overnight) until pH drops to about 6.5 and TA = 25 Dornic

Add rennet - about 0.5 ml.  any less than that and all the cream ends up in a layer at the top
Incubate at 25 degrees C for a further 7 -8 hours, until pH is about 4.5, TA is about 60 Dornic, a whey layer has formed and the curd is beginning to come away from the edges of the pan.

Scoop whole curds into crottin hoops and leave for 12 hours
Turn cheeses and re-mould for a further 8 hours
Remove from mould, salt, and store at 12 C / 54 F for about 10 days until mould bloom forms
Store in fridge

These cheeses are quite nice and fresh tasting but I want to take the taste to a new level.  My questions are:

1. Does anybody use PLA and / or Flora danica or equivalents such as PROBAT?  If so is it in addition to the MA / MM culture or instead of?
2. Do people put a pinch of Geotrichum into the mix?  I've just ordered some Geo 17.

I'd appreciate some idea of your experience of flavour improvement.

thanks
J

[Boofer]

Alas, Judi, no one responded to you.

Thank you for your recipe. I just made this for the first time, having only heard about it very recently. I used PC and Geo 13. Geo 13 was all I had, but two recipes called for Geo 15.

Did you ever try it with the Geo 17? If so, any feedback?

-Boofer-

[iratherfly]

Ooops, I missed this thread too.

Judi - kudos for using °D (Dormic) degrees in your post!  This is a nice, slow recipe. Probably a little tangy and looks like a fun Chaource.

I use PLA in mine. I use it INSTEAD of geo. PLA has geo/aromatic yeasts/light b.linens in it and it gives it a nice finish together with the PC.
I use MM100 which is a lot like the MA4002 but without the thermophilic strain. I sometime may use Flora Danica or a combination of MM100 and MD89, however I find this cheese to be so creamy that the butter flavors of MD89 or Flora Danica are unnecessary. MA4002 will give you a slightly different results than MM100 but will be more stable. the MM100 is more traditional.  There is no point in using these together as you asked. the MA4002 is really an MM100 with thermophilic added to it so all you will end up doing is doubling up your MM100 components and adding a tiny bit of thermophilic.

Boofer - Geo 13 is a lot better for this cheese than 15. I think that these books were written before the 13 was so readily available and the 15 was the choice for all soft bloomy cheeses... use your judgment.  I also use a mix of 50% PC-VS and 50% PC-Neige so the growth is aggressive and tall and the flavor is richer.