mushrooms and cheddar

[eschmid]

So I was wondering if anyone had any experience with mushrooms in cheese (in this case cheddar)? Morel season is coming up and I kinda had a thought maybe morels would go good with a cheddar or maybe a jack or gouda. I'm more interested in finding out how to prepare the mushroom to be mixed into the curd. I'm guessing I should brine the mushroom and wash well because I don't want any unwanted bacteria to be with it since it is a wild mushroom. I kinda have free reign at the factory I am at as long as I pay for the curd So I think I'm going to try 3 wheels, a white cheddar, a Monterey jack with maybe some leek, and a gouda. If anyone had any experience I really would be interested in finding out. Thanks!
-Erric

[SOSEATTLE]

Usually the mushrooms are dried before putting into the cheese. This also applies to most herbs or even fruits. It cuts down on mold on the inside of the cheese and helps sanitize the ingredient being added. Sometimes the dried ingredients are boiled just before adding to the cheese recipe. Mushrooms seem to work fine if dried, powdered, and added that way.


Susan

[Kern]

Ditto SOSEATTLE.  If I were using morels I'd dry them first making sure they were clean going into the drier.  Then I'd probably reconstitute them in whey, boil them, squeeze the water out and add them to the drained curd.  I hunt morels every year in the eastern Cascade Mountains and have tons of dried morels.  Even with the above treatment you're going to get a little grit in the cheese but it should be sterile.  Reconstituted morels do very well in cream so your idea would be worth trying.  Make sure you chop the whey boiled morels before incorporating them.  I'd probably use them in a relative short aged cheese that doesn't have a strong flavor itself.  Butterkase might be a good candidate.