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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => ADJUNCT - Rennet Surface White Mold (Penicillium candidum) Ripened => Topic started by: Tiarella on December 15, 2012, 03:27:52 AM

Title: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on December 15, 2012, 03:27:52 AM
Hi All, I made a batch of Brie a while back and one of them I turned into a shitake brie. I made two skinnier pieces and put a layer of grated dried shitake mushroom  (grown by us) on one and then put the other on top.  This was after most of the draining had happened in the molds.  Anyway......they were still wet and the top one kept wanting to slip off sideways so I used a birch bark girdle to hold them together.  This ripened nicely and has received rave reviews from all who have tried it.  I will definitely make this again....maybe this weekend.  I'll attach some photos. 

I love how this looks.  I like how the PC showed around the bottom of the bark.  All in all, I call this a beautiful success and I really hope I can repeat it.  Wish me luck!!!   ;D
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Al Lewis on December 15, 2012, 03:33:17 AM
Looks great! 
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on December 15, 2012, 03:50:09 AM
Thank you, Al!  ;D  I am sometimes too creative for my own good and so it's wonderful when the risk taking pays off.  I guess it's easier since I "have" to make cheese at least twice a week whether I want to or not.  If I don't my other option is to start bathing in milk like Cleopatra was reputed to do but I really don't have time......too busy doing barn work and just want a regular shower after that!  So you see, I really have to make cheese and why not experiment.    ^-^   I figure every type of cheese is a result of someone's successful experiment. 
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Al Lewis on December 15, 2012, 05:17:04 AM
Yeah, pretty sure she bathed in asses milk also so that's probably not an option. LOL
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: botanist on December 15, 2012, 09:06:49 AM
Gorgeous cheese!  And here's one back at you.
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: hoeklijn on December 15, 2012, 12:13:15 PM
O my! This looks so good and so original. Can you describe the taste of it?
And you deserve another cheese for this one!
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on December 15, 2012, 12:36:55 PM
Thank you Botanist and Herman for the cheeses.  Hmmm, the taste?   My neighbor waxed lyrical over it saying he could taste the woods and a lovely earthiness.  He is not a man to talk much, spends much time in the woods and this was as close to babbling uncontrollably as I've ever heard from him.  (He's the most wonderful neighbor in the world and a friend for twenty years.). Three other people were just as enthusiastic and wanted to know if I would sell them some.  I gave them some to take home since I am not selling cheese.

For me, it was hard to describe the flavor....I was the hostess trying to keep dinner cooking while we all crowded in the kitchen trying about 6 cheeses that I'd taken out.  It's satisfying to be able to create a nice cheese spread from all homemade cheeses, isn't it??   ;D
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: tnbquilt on December 15, 2012, 02:08:06 PM
I would love to make cheese twice a week. I can make cheese on Saturdays but not every Saturday. I love your creativeness. My husband always says "I just hate talented people, they make the rest of us look bad." I am creative with other hobbies, like sewing, but cheese making I am more trying to get it right before I start experimenting. Raw milk costs $7 and I don't want to waste it. I buy 4 gallons when I am going to make cheese.

Congratulations on your success. I also say a cheese to you on your wonderful cheese.

I was talking to a man at our beer brewing club the other day and he was talking about growing shitake mushrooms. He wants to move away from the city and build him a house out of old shipping containers and learn to live "off the grid" is how he put it. He was asking me about how to learn to make cheese. He was going to grow the mushrooms to sell to make a living. I don't know how he plans on marketing his mushrooms without electricity but whatever.
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: JeffHamm on December 15, 2012, 06:17:40 PM
Very nice result!  Did you steam or otherwise treat the bark before wrapping it around the cheese? 

- Jeff
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Boofer on December 16, 2012, 01:07:42 AM
Another knockout cheese! Kudos, Kathrin.

How do you get the birch bark? Do you go out back and peel it off the trees ::) or is there a bark vendor you use?

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on December 16, 2012, 04:45:59 AM
Hi Jeff and Boofer,  I did harvest the bark off trees in the forest that surrounds us mostly from fallen trees and some from living trees.  (it will not impact their health, I only took outer layers). I did not steam or boil the bark at all.  my thinking is this: the bark is waterproof, was used for canoes by the people here before the Europeans and then by the early settlers too.  I wasn't worried that it would leach a lot of tannins or whatever into the cheese because of that so chose not to boil.  I ripen my cheeses in mini caves that are by nature devoid of the natural microbial profile that I might otherwise have were I ripening in a cave so I left the bark au naturale.

I would be happy to send some bark to you Boofer if you'd like.  Just message me a mailing address.  I sent some to Yoav and he made some way out there rare cheese for his first trial.  I'll post a bark photo from my other computer.  Do you have paper birch out in WA?

Thank you for the cheese tnbquilt!  Tell your husband he's probably a very creative guy, just in an area in which he's not recognizing it.  And I bet your quilts are beautiful!
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on December 16, 2012, 05:10:34 AM
Here's a photo of some of the birch bark I collected in a short walk.  the trick is finding pieces you can cut into strips that will work for your size cheese.  It is possible to use two strips if you have someone to help with tying the string while you hold the two pieces around the cheese.  that's how we did one of the cheeses.
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tomer1 on December 16, 2012, 05:44:13 PM
Will Eucalyptus bark work? (there are plenty of thos around)
Did you steam the bark to soften and sanitize it?
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on December 16, 2012, 06:07:26 PM
Hi Tomer, this type of bark is already very pliable and soft and if you see a post above I explain that I don't steam or sanitize it and why.  I would think eucalyptus bark would do it's own particular thing in cheese making and I think you should experiment and post photos and results!  I love to see more people thinking about using other things in their cheese making and aging. 
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Boofer on December 17, 2012, 02:50:18 PM
Absolutely fascinating. Kathrin, you bring a new dimension to this forum. Your imaginative rind treatments have, no doubt, inspired others here besides me. I almost hold my breath when I see one of your postings, waiting in anticipation for what new inventive thing you have introduced us to.

My humble cheese to you for being a "cheese pathfinder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pathfinder_(military))". I've associated that moniker with my military frame of reference. You're right out there in front. 8)

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on December 17, 2012, 04:51:58 PM
Boofer!  What a thoughtful and encouraging post!  Thank you!  I notice and appreciate how supportive you are across the wide range of the forum and often think you should have ambassador status here.  Maybe with a cool uniform sporting epaulets.  (did I spell that right?)

My offer of a box of bark is a serious offer.  It's not in short supply around here.....seemingly endless amounts surround me.  And since you are so nice I'd also send you some of the little leaf-adorned mini Valencay cheeses if I thought they'd survive the trip.  I have to confess that I ate two of them myself last night.  In fact, although the rind is too thick to be "correct" I actually very much like the succulent "snap" of it and the flavor is a nuanced play of melodies through the layers as they move across the palate.
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: botanist on December 17, 2012, 08:04:03 PM
Boofer, you mentioned eucalyptus bark as a possible alternative to birch.  Eucalyptus is extremely allelopathic to most plants, which is why little, if anything, grows under it.  I'm including a couple of references (links) to that, as well as one for its toxicity (terpenes in all plant parts).  Dogs have been known to be poisoned by chewing on their bark or leaves  :'(

You may want to check out plant toxicity for anything in advance of human (or animal) consumption.  And even if something is safe for human consumption, it isn't necessarily for animals, depending on the animal.

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2424020?uid=3739560&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101457264843]http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Eucalsp.htm
[url]http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2424020?uid=3739560&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21101457264843 (http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Eucalsp.htm
[url)
http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=BT9900245 (http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=BT9900245)
[/url]
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on December 17, 2012, 11:27:03 PM
Actually, it was Tomer who mentioned Eucalyptus, not Boofer.  I'm surprised that Walnut bark can be used given how thoroughly is suppresses competitive growth beneath it but Yoav says it's boiled and works fine so who knows about Eucalyptus....might work okay. 
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Boofer on December 18, 2012, 01:34:45 AM
Actually, it was Tomer who mentioned Eucalyptus, not Boofer.  I'm surprised that Walnut bark can be used given how thoroughly is suppresses competitive growth beneath it but Yoav says it's boiled and works fine so who knows about Eucalyptus....might work okay.
Thank you for clearing the aspersions from over my head, Kathrin. And thank you for your bark offer. I will PM you.

Gee, I think that's the second time you improperly gave me something to say, botanist. ???

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: botanist on December 18, 2012, 02:23:58 AM
Actually, it was Tomer who mentioned Eucalyptus, not Boofer.  I'm surprised that Walnut bark can be used given how thoroughly is suppresses competitive growth beneath it but Yoav says it's boiled and works fine so who knows about Eucalyptus....might work okay.
Thank you for clearing the aspersions from over my head, Kathrin. And thank you for your bark offer. I will PM you.

Gee, I think that's the second time you improperly gave me something to say, botanist. ???

-Boofer-
Mea mea culpa!!!  :( Totally unintentional, but no excuse for it!!  I'd send you some bark too, if I had any to send.
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: margaretsmall on December 18, 2012, 03:11:09 AM
Australian paperbark (sp. Melaleuca) should be a possibility - it was used widely by indigenous Australians as a wrapper for cooking food and now by foodies and bushies, especially from cooking fish. Easy to collect as the tree sheds the bark in good sized soft pieces.
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Boofer on December 18, 2012, 02:20:55 PM
Mea mea culpa!!!  :( Totally unintentional, but no excuse for it!!  I'd send you some bark too, if I had any to send.
Not a problem. Thanks for the no-bark offer. ;)

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tomer1 on December 18, 2012, 03:40:13 PM
Actually, it was Tomer who mentioned Eucalyptus, not Boofer.  I'm surprised that Walnut bark can be used given how thoroughly is suppresses competitive growth beneath it but Yoav says it's boiled and works fine so who knows about Eucalyptus....might work okay.


It turns out it is poisonous.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Eucalsp.htm (http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Eucalsp.htm)
 
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Schnecken Slayer on December 18, 2012, 03:49:40 PM

[/quote]

It turns out it is poisonous.
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Eucalsp.htm (http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Eucalsp.htm)
[/quote]

Unless you are a Koala.  :D
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on December 18, 2012, 04:33:19 PM
Australian paperbark (sp. Melaleuca) should be a possibility - it was used widely by indigenous Australians as a wrapper for cooking food and now by foodies and bushies, especially from cooking fish. Easy to collect as the tree sheds the bark in good sized soft pieces.

Although Melaleuca oil has anti-fungal properties so it may not be good for blooms but maybe it would be great on hard cheeses to help prevent molds when that is your objective.  I've considered using essential oils to support or control rind invasions.
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on December 18, 2012, 04:45:37 PM
Boofer, How is Santa Claus going to get the bark to you in time for Christmas if you don't PM an address, hmmmm?    ;D
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Al Lewis on December 18, 2012, 07:33:57 PM
It turns out it is poisonous.
[url]http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Eucalsp.htm[/url] ([url]http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Eucalsp.htm[/url])


That's really strange as eucalyptus oil is used in cough drops and also in topical pain relievers and has many other medicinal uses.  Must have to really eat a lot.

http://www.aromatherapy-at-home.com/uses-of-eucalyptus-oil.html (http://www.aromatherapy-at-home.com/uses-of-eucalyptus-oil.html)
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tomer1 on December 18, 2012, 11:27:15 PM
Quote
eucalyptus is widely used to treat congestion
Its toxic effects are used as a medicine.  many drugs take advantage of the fact that you only make you half ill.  :o
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: ArnaudForestier on January 29, 2014, 01:37:39 PM
Absolutely beautiful, Tiarella.  I'm certain this was, and is, as scrumptious as it gets.  As a late newcomer (again... ;D), cheese to you.

I mentioned I've birch a-plenty, this thread is a great, instructive and inspiring thread, thanks.  I recently bought some spruce from Yoav, from his site (go, Iratherfly!), but I'd like to harvest fallen spruce, as well, and wonder if you or others happen to perhaps know of a source for something like this:

(http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p316/pkphotodo/02114057400.jpg) (http://s131.photobucket.com/user/pkphotodo/media/02114057400.jpg.html)

?  Back in my previous life making cheese, I looked, to no avail.  Anyone?
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: jwalker on January 29, 2014, 03:07:36 PM
I love Shiitake mushrooms , never thought of using them in a cheese.

The birch bark is a nice touch too.

So the mushrooms were just grated and dried , did you process them in any way ?

That's funny , I just made a couple of Bries two weeks ago , they came out too thin so I fused them together , it never even occured to me to put something between them for flavour.

A cheese to you ! ;D
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on January 29, 2014, 04:07:33 PM
Thank you Paul and JWalker!  Kind of nice to receive cheeses for something I did last year!   ;D  The mushrooms were dried and then grated but I think you could do it the other way around.  I'd dried them when I harvested them quite some time before this make. 

Paul,  I want one of the bark stripping tools! The blade turns up at the edges to give you a perfect width each time.  Okay, it's true I'm a tool junkie.....I guess the good thing about birch bark is you can use scissors to trim it or just peel by hand.  I don't know of any sources for fallen spruce but if you want me to send you some birch bark I'd be glad to.  Just PM me your mailing address.  (unless you just want to post it here and see what else gets sent to you!   ??? )

JWalker, I'll be curious how your thin Bries turn out.  YOu know, I think you could add some shitake between a stacked pair of thin Bries even at this point.  You couldn't put the shitake on all sides and top and bottom but surely you could make a layer cake with them.  I didn't do anything to the shitake and I'm sure they brought all kinds of extra stuff with them given that they grew in the woods and were dried in our kitchen.  I think the PC had it's favorite conditions and was more than able to out compete everything else. 

There is a shitake Brie tutorial I posted somewhere on the forum.  Alas, I had some B. linens visit one batch of 4 shitake Brie and the flavor was SO strong that it could no longer be called Brie.  Thinking of that cheese "Stinking Bishop" has me wondering if I should have named them "Stinking Woodsman" in honor of the mushroom component.
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on January 29, 2014, 04:15:57 PM
Here's a link to the tutorial for shitake Brie:
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10706.0.html (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10706.0.html)

Here's a thread for the first make's issue of some blue/gray showing up early and what I did about it and how it resolved by being out competed:
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10449.0.html (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10449.0.html)
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: ArnaudForestier on January 29, 2014, 04:51:53 PM
Thanks, Tiarella.  Yeah, that's been my problem as well, finding one with the "U" or "C" shape to it.  I thought to score the bark for the width and then just run a wide chisel, would probably work but would hope to find the dedicated tool. 

Thank you on the offer of birch - I have tons, due to heading to the U.P. several times per year.  I'm definitely doing some cheeses with it, seeing how beautiful and delicious yours look.  Just the traditionalist in me seeking something to peel the spruce. 

Let's keep our eyes out!  :)
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: jwalker on January 29, 2014, 04:53:12 PM
JWalker, I'll be curious how your thin Bries turn out.  YOu know, I think you could add some shitake between a stacked pair of thin Bries even at this point.  You couldn't put the shitake on all sides and top and bottom but surely you could make a layer cake with them.  I didn't do anything to the shitake and I'm sure they brought all kinds of extra stuff with them given that they grew in the woods and were dried in our kitchen.  I think the PC had it's favorite conditions and was more than able to out compete everything else. 


I made one with a divider in the mold , thinking that just one would be too thick , then they settled down to only about 1/2-3/4" each , which just looked to thin to me , after a few days in the cave , I decided to put them together , so they will have a bit of a rind between them.(maybe will age faster?)

These are the ones , they are now fused into one and aging , will let you know how it turns out.

Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: murmur on April 25, 2014, 05:46:13 PM
I am very late to the party, but I am absolutely blown away by what you have achieved. You are a new source of inspiration in both my cheese making and in my appreciation of incorporating natural elements into my culinary passions.
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on April 26, 2014, 07:28:53 PM
I am very late to the party, but I am absolutely blown away by what you have achieved. You are a new source of inspiration in both my cheese making and in my appreciation of incorporating natural elements into my culinary passions.

I'm so happy to hear you are inspired.    :D   If you do anything like this I hope you will not only post about it by starting a thread but do please post a link to that thread here so anyone reading this one will also get to read about your wonderful experiments with cheese also! 

Did you the see the shitake brie cheese tutorial I posted about?  If not, I will find a link to it for you.  I think the link might be somewhere in this thread but am not sure. 
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: murmur on April 27, 2014, 12:59:34 PM
I am very late to the party, but I am absolutely blown away by what you have achieved. You are a new source of inspiration in both my cheese making and in my appreciation of incorporating natural elements into my culinary passions.

I'm so happy to hear you are inspired.    :D   If you do anything like this I hope you will not only post about it by starting a thread but do please post a link to that thread here so anyone reading this one will also get to read about your wonderful experiments with cheese also! 

Did you the see the shitake brie cheese tutorial I posted about?  If not, I will find a link to it for you.  I think the link might be somewhere in this thread but am not sure.

I have a Brie in the cave that I rubbed with a Truffle Salt and another with dried crushed Juniper Berries. I also collect/harvest wild Morel mushrooms, dry them and use the powder in my cheese.

But what I immediately started thinking when I saw your pictures was using a Birch Syrup drizzled over cheese and figs on a dessert plate. Perhaps even a little Birch Syrup in the make.:)
Title: Re: Shitake Brie is delicious and beautiful
Post by: Tiarella on April 27, 2014, 08:21:42 PM
Aaah, I love what you are doing!!!  And what do you notice in taste from the Juniper berries?  I was going to do a morel brie but chickened out until I was sure I could do it right.  I'm still going to practice more with the shitake.

I have some Red Bud tree leaves  (Cercis canadensis) that have been soaking in brandy for more than a year now.  I was using them to wrap small cheeses in.  I did it last year....I think I have some photos.  I wanted cheese wrap that was from nature.  In the second photo you can see that I used seed pods from the Stewartia tree as the skewers to hold the wrapping on.  I am looking forward to using these leaves but this year I don't have many goats in milk because I am switching goat breeds and sold most of my herd.  The new ones will start kidding next year.   ???