Blu di Bufala inspired blue cheese

[Aris]

Blu di bufala is a blue cheese made in Italy using water buffalo milk. I made mine from 7.5 liters water buffalo milk inoculated with russian yogurt and store bought danish blue cheese. I borrowed some techniques used in Gorgonzola making when I made this cheese but mostly my recipe. It weighs over 1.7 kg at 22 days old. It weighed over 1.8 kg after salting which gives a 24% yield. I love using this milk because it is only 30% more expensive but almost double the yield of cow's milk and has 8% butterfat from what I read. Thanks to its high calcium I don't need to use calcium chloride even when I pasteurize it. From the looks of the original cheese, they use Taleggio mold which is very expensive (38-42.95 usd). I improvised by using a big square tofu mold/press with a capacity of 2 kg which I bought for only 4 usd, so much cheaper.

[Aris]

This is a little over 2 months. Half decent blue veining. Flavor and texture is similar to Gorgonzola piccante. Maybe a bit more creamy thanks to the water buffalo milk. It was a little ammoniated at first because of B. linens and being aged in foil for 23 days. Airing it out for almost a day in my cooler almost removed the ammonia.

[paulabob]

Gorgeous looking cheese.  AC4U.

[broombank]

certainly looks very appealing - I can almost taste it

[Aris]

Thanks! Best part of this cheese is the mouthfeel. It is so creamy and melts in your mouth. It is spreadable straight from the fridge. I already ate over 300 grams in 2 days. Very moreish cheese.

[bansidhe]

That looks great!  You have given me inspiration to try my hand at creating a "new" blue.  :-)
AC4U!

[Aris]

Another attempt at this cheese but this time I used store bought plain Gorgonzola for the blue mold. The cheese came out mild compared to my previous attempt where I used Danish blue cheese. Gorgonzola must use a mild strain of P. Roqueforti or it might be P. Glaucum. It also looks very different from the blue mold from Danish blue cheese.