Lichen on cheese

[Stinky]

Would this be possible? I've been looking at cheeses like Rizzo's beautiful Double Gloucester. I was just wondering out of curiosity if it'd be possible to cultivate lichens on one's cheese. Any thoughts?

[scasnerkay]

Truely a cheese of beauty - but I don't think I would like to eat the rind....

[TimT]

Probably not possible. There are edible lichens but not so many, and anyway, their natural environment is stones and trees, not cheese. Also worth bearing in mind that some lichens are definitely not edible.

Though ironically one folk recipe I have heard for encouraging moss and lichen to grow on stones in your garden is to pour yoghurt on it.

You could look at using edible lichens to flavour cheeses in another way, ie, through mixing them through the curds or even using them to help curdle the cheese. I have some Icelandic Moss somewhere - it's a lichen that you use to make teas (or I use it in brewing). It releases acid into the water to make for a kind of bitter-tangy taste. Perhaps if you got that acid in an intense enough form you could use it to make a ricotta or something.

[Stinky]

Of course you would cut the rind off.

[Mermaid]

The stone walls here always remind me of beautiful cheeses ! Or maybe the cheeses remind me of stones. Ether way, you should try and report back!!
I know lichen is a sign of good air quality not sure what your cave situation is like but it would need air flow

[TimT]

Why would you cut the lichen rind off if you wanted to have a lichen cheese? Because it might be bad for you? But then why would you let a rind that might be bad for you on the cheese in the first place? Just sounds weird. I dunno, I like doing weird stuff with cheese but when I do I want to have a think before if it will work and if it will be worth it.

[Schnecken Slayer]

I would also check the toxicology of any Lichen you intended to try as they are a symbiotic community formed between a fungus and an algae or cyanobacteria (or both).

[Stinky]

Why would you cut the lichen rind off if you wanted to have a lichen cheese? Because it might be bad for you? But then why would you let a rind that might be bad for you on the cheese in the first place? Just sounds weird. I dunno, I like doing weird stuff with cheese but when I do I want to have a think before if it will work and if it will be worth it.

Decoration?  :D

Good point, Schnecken. I mean, if I were aiming for edible lichen rind, I think it might be more important, but as it is I'm just turning the idea over in my mind.

[Schnecken Slayer]

Or you could hunt down some Caribou....  :o

http://wedgeintheround.com/2012/06/15/caribou-gut-lichen-cheese-yeah-you-read-that-right/

[TimT]

Lichen is essentially a symbiotic entity - a fungus and an algae living together. Cyanobacteria is included in this very broad family - it's blue-green algae. You want to avoid blue-green algaes; aside from anything else they have toxins that could lead to motor neurone disease (you *really* don't want to get that).

I mentioned before Icelandic Moss which I have and use in brewing; I looked up the algae that it has - from memory, it's a green algae. Icelandic Moss has been known for centuries as a food (maybe the Vikings were eating it!) Traditional cold remedy, apparently.

Wiki has an entertaining session on edible lichen, it mentions:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen#Food)

Iceland moss (Cetraria islandica)
Wila (Bryoria fremontii)
Reindeer lichen (Cladina spp) (that's the Caribou lichen Schnecken mentions)
Rock tripe (Umbilicaria spp. and Lasalia spp.) (sounds tasty dunnit? Rocks and tripe, everyone loves eating 'em)

One issue that you would have to look into is how to isolate and grow an edible lichen. Not a common hobby as far as I know! Then you'd have to find a way to grow that lichen in a way that is not incompatible with cheese bacterial growth and maturation. (Sounds like the Caribou gut cheese people are onto that, maybe shoot them an email?)

You could also try doing it with moss! A bit less complicated than lichen in some ways I reckon; but similar issues - what if it's toxic?

[Stinky]

Maybe I should do a test run on a rock...

[awakephd]

I dunno; I'm just not lichen this idea very much ...

:)

[Schnecken Slayer]

I don't know, he sounds like a bit of a fungi.    ::)

[Mermaid]

@Stinky
Look at this article about lichen cheese!

http://culturecheesemag.com/blog/cultures-believe-not-lichen-cheese

[Stinky]

@Stinky
Look at this article about lichen cheese!

http://culturecheesemag.com/blog/cultures-believe-not-lichen-cheese

Huh, that's interesting. The article is written by someone who doesn't care too much, so it's hard to figure out what they were doing, but that's definitely cool. I wonder what they found out.