So many cultures, so little time

[bansidhe]

It seems so many recipes use so many different cultures, I bought  Flora Danic ,a  thermophilic C201 and a mesophilic C101.  Then I got a Chèvre.. Now I see recipes for other types of mesophilic and/or thermophilic cultures.  I really dont want to buy 20 different cultures just to have them hanging around in my freezere.  So,  isthere some sort of guide that gives the relation ships of these cultures and tells which substitutions are allowed?

[Chetty]

My best advice is to look at cultures from what bacteria they contain and not so much by the particular name.  Your c201 has lactis and cremoris which is similar to mm011 which covers most meso cheeses. C201 if I remember right is a multi purpose thermo culture.  Has the equivalent of ta60 lh100 and a one other that I cant remember.

Flora Danica has 4 different bacteria that would be similar to mm100 or I think aroma b. 

This is all out of memory so if there is mistakes hopefully someone will correct me.  With those three cultures you should be able to make quite an assortment. 

[rsterne]

There are several tables showing the different strains of bacteria and what they do.... One that I like is on the University of Guelph website....

https://www.uoguelph.ca/foodscience/book-page/classification-lactic-acid-cultures

The table is at the bottom of that webpage.... Another good one, which shows which cultures are in which commercial packet, is on Caldwell's website....

http://artisancheesemakingathome.com/pdfs/cultures.pdf

Yet another is on the "Get Culture" website....

https://www.getculture.com/cultures-1.html

We only started cheesemaking 8 months ago, and like you, started with NEC's Meso C101 and Thermo C201.... The Meso is virtually the same as MA 11, containing LL and LC, the main meso acidifiers that die off at about 104*F.... We then wanted to make a Gouda, and wanted the small eyes, so we bought MM 100, which has LL and LC, plus it adds LLD to produce a "buttery flavour and CO2", and it worked great.... We could just as well have bought LLD on its own, as an "adjunct", and mixed our own blend....

For cheese that needs a higher temperature (Swiss, Italian), you need a thermo that can survive the temperatures.... C 201 has the two most common of those, ST and LH, plus a 3rd one.... When we ran out of that, we replaced it with Su Casu, which has a different 3rd one, LBL, and it seems to work the same.... Then I discovered that thermo cultures have another use.... In a meso cheese they can cause different flavours to emerge during aging, most notably LH will cause a nutty flavour to develop.... My wife and I particularly like that, so since we are running low on Su Casu we decided to just buy the ST by itself, as TA 61, and some LH 100 (which also has LBL).... That way when we want a conventional thermo, we will use a mix of TA 61 and LH 100.... but we can also add the LH 100 to either MA 11 (for a nutty cheddar) or to MM 100 (for a nutty gouda)....

If you plan on making a Swiss, where you want eyes, then you need another adjunct, Propioni Shermanii, which additionally causes that typical swiss flavouring....

So, you can either buy several mixed cultures.... or you can delve into the basics and buy some "pure" ones and mix and match them to get what you want.... I am looking forward to starting a new adventure doing the latter....

Bob

[bansidhe]

Thank You both very much.  I think I am going to try a combination of cultures for the Cabra Al Vino I want to make.  I will be sure to post what I have done...  I do have a chemistry degreee, so I can get to be a bit of a mad scientist... But I really have to learn the basics so I dont blow up the lab

[rsterne]

You too?.... B.Sc. in Organic Chemistry, S.F.U.'68 here.... I used it for a whole 10 months, recession hit, and I became a car mechanic.... 

Bob