Advice on purchasing molds for lactic cheeses

[InTheWoods]

Hello.  I'm new to cheesemaking.  Been making cheese and cultured milk products for about a month or so now and I'm really enjoying it.  I've made buttermilk, yogurt, fresh soft cheeses including chevre and cream cheese, halloumi, and traditional mozzarella successfully.

I am fascinated by bloomy rind cheeses.  I am in the process of making my first cam right now and want to make more.  I would like your advice about what kinds of molds to get to make lactic and semi lactic cheese.  There are so many choices that it gets confusing for a noob.  I currently have 4 chevre and 2 cam molds.  I am thinking of getting an assortment of sizes so I can have cheese ripening over a period of time from one culture and not all at once, plus it would be nice to have an assortment of cheese to give to my friends.  What molds are the most useful?

I am thinking of getting Petit molds for bite size cheese.  Other options are Crotin, Sain Marcelin, Rigotte, Fourme d'Ambert, etc.  What molds do you use most often and why?

Alexandra

[Bantams]

Which source are you looking at?

[InTheWoods]

I was looking at NEC's molds, but I am not wedded to them.  I need to do some price comparisons among the suppliers.

[Bantams]

Generally bloomy rind cheeses are all about the same height (optimal rind:paste ratio and ripening speed) so I don't think different sized molds will make much difference in aging time. You'll want everything to be about 1.5" tall or so.

The molds that have enclosed bottoms and few holes are designed for pre-drained curd. Crottin and Valencay molds will work for lactic cheeses (no pre-draining) but the taller ones (St Maure) rely on pre-draining.
Are you using goat milk? Generally you'll want to use goat milk for the true lactic styles (Crottin, Valencay, etc). With cow milk I would stick to Camembert style.  (Cow curd is not homogeneous enough to form an nice intact round of cheese unless there's a higher rate of rennet usage like in a semi-lactic).

There aren't any good options for cam molds with a bottom (unless you're looking at $$$ block molds for commercial operations) so I think the feta baskets from Cheese Connection are a nice affordable compromise.
https://cheeseconnection.net/product-category/cheese-molds/
You need many more/larger holes for cam style than lactic curd.
Or use open bottom cam molds and plastic matting.

[InTheWoods]

Thank you for pointing out that site to me.  They have some marvelous sale prices on goat cheese molds right now.  Way better than most NEC prices!