Aged Blue

[Lacaune]

I have an aged cheese I would like to make a blue style. Is it possible to inoculate a six month old cheese with Penicillium Roqueforti and create a blue vined version, or do I need to add the Penicillium Roqueforti from the start?       [/font]                             

[linuxboy]

How are you going to create the marbling inside? By piercing? Is the paste open already?

It's technically feasible, but is not going to be easy to coax the roqueforti to grow. You would need to create a secondary substrate, coat the cheese and let it go into the pieced openings, and then let the blue grow on top of that until its mycelium penetrate the paste.

[FRANCOIS]

You sure can.  I have seen blue cheddar made from 3 year old blocks.  Pierce it and spray with an aggressive blue.  Make sure the liquid runs down the holes.  Let the blue grow, once it's bloomed well you can then vacuum seal it to force the cheese into anerobic digestion.  It makes a super creamy cheese that way.

[Lacaune]

You sure can.  I have seen blue cheddar made from 3 year old blocks.  Pierce it and spray with an aggressive blue.  Make sure the liquid runs down the holes.  Let the blue grow, once it's bloomed well you can then vacuum seal it to force the cheese into anerobic digestion.  It makes a super creamy cheese that way.
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What would you sugest as an agresive blue and where would I find it?

[FRANCOIS]

Danisco PA or PRB are pretty aggressive.

[Lacaune]

Danisco PA or PRB are pretty aggressive.

Do you know a distributor where I could purchase this?

[Sailor Con Queso]

Dairy Connection, right there in Wisconsin.

[elkato]

Hello Lacaune!
great name, my favorite sheep!
please allow me to jump on your thread, since Francois answer was very interesting (I hope he or Sailor can read this)
So in a blue cheese once you get good blue development, you can vacuum pack and will get creamier (proteolized) cheese from anaerobic action?
this could be really helpfull for me as vac packing could increase the shelf life of my blue cheese while it gets marketed
best wishes!

[Sailor Con Queso]

Vacuum packing creates a low oxygen, but not an anaerobic environment. This does cut off enough oxygen to stop further blue mold development, but (as with any cheese) aging, proteolysis, lipolysis, etc keep going full speed ahead if they are maintained at cave temperature. What you want to do is get the blue going really well, pierce, let it go a couple of more weeks to get internal blueing and then I vac bag. I will then hold it at cave temperature until it reaches the desired level of ripeness. Then you have to get it into refrigeration temperature to slow everything down.

[FRANCOIS]

I disagree, we both vacuum and gas flush/vac blues, depending on when they are processed.  I have confirmed gas composition through gas analyser analysis in situ.  There's no oxygen in those bags, but maybe we do it differently than other companies.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Vac bagging will certainly remove most if not all free oxygen, especially with gas flushing, but I suspect there is still some free and dissolved oxygen in the paste of the cheese itself. That's why I say it's not a true anaerobic environment. However, Lactococcus is a facultative not an obligate anaerobe and can function in both aerobic and anaerobic environments. Ironically, the primary metabolic pathway for Lactococcus is actually anaerobic anyway. That's why aging continues unabated after bagging.

[elkato]

From Sailors advice I  vac-packed some sheep milk blue cheese wheels that where approaching 60 days and had good blue veining but had not began the final protheolitic transformation and inside the bags almost overnight the texture changed to creamy with full blue taste, so I can see that this low oxygen period is very important to get the desired creamy texture

[bbracken677]

Hmm...would that work with a cam or a brie?

[FRANCOIS]

Not at all.  White needs at least 5% oxygen to survive.  Trust me, I've tried.  You'll end up with a yeasty, rotten mess.