MVA and B linenes

[fromge3ie]

Maybe I should make two different topics but I figured one is enough. I just got some birthday money and I usually buy cheese ingredients but I have practically everything I need now.

However I just tried  a cow milk  Tomme cheese for the first time (Loved it) and it tasted very similar to the traditional sheep milk manchego that I fell in love with in Spain.
I've tried making manchego with lipase and cows milk but the lipase is always over powering and not very manchego-y.

I wrote it off as it needing sheep's milk but this cow milk tomme has my hopes up again. My first question does anyone else taste the similarities between a tomme and a manchego or was this one I tried just in left field?

Additionally I found a tomme de savoie (sp?) Recipe that asks for MVA which helps in texture flavor and aroma. I'm curious if this is responsible for the flavor.

So anyone who has used MVA? Is it a big difference or a very small difference? Is it worth spending some birthday money for?


Completely separate, I'm having the hardest time with b-linens growth on my raclette? Does anyone have a tried and true method to grow them well?

Thanks!

[MacGruff]

I've been working on my own Tomme recipe. Is the Tomme de Savoi recipe you found the one from Jim Wallace? If so, please look at the thread that I posted "Tomme #2" for the comments made about some of his recipes and the oddities with them. While I did not follow the Tomme de Savoie recipe, I did see the same issues with the Tomme recipe that I was having problems with.

Moving on to the flavor profile. I have been using Flora Danica and it imparted a nice buttery flavor to my successful Tomme. I have another one in the cave now which is about three weeks away from being tasted - also with Flora Danica. I've been looking at trying my next make with different cultures to see if I can "amp up" the flavor some and was thinking of trying a Mesophilic Type B, or MM4001, but have not really found many resources on the net to tell me what flavors those would impart.

If you find any info, please share.