Recommend non-tang mesophilic culture for light cream cheese?

[tananaBrian]

Hi,

  Most cream cheese, neufchatel (American or otherwise) all say "Mesophilic culture" ...but the typical mesophilic blend results in a bit of a sour cream type of tang.  My wife asked me if I could make a 'neufchatel' (light cream cheese / American neufchatel) that had the same or similar flavor as the stuff coming from the store ...without the tang.  I tried googling around and checking cheese making sites on the web but am not seeing specific culture recommendations.  Can any of you experts here recommend a mesophilic culture, or culture blend, that would produce a milder product such as your typical Philadelphia Neufchatel product?

Thanks!

Brian

[MrsKK]

I use store bought buttermilk as my culture for cream cheese and American Neufchatel and am very pleased with the flavor it gives.

Be aware that the longer it takes to coagulate, the stronger the flavor of the cheese will be, too.

[susanky]

I am far from an expert.  But I used Flora Danica for my last batch and it was fantastic!  I think the recipe was from the 200 easy recipies book.
Susan

[Cheese Head]

tanana, I believe that store bought Kraft brand style Cream Cheese / American Neufchatel is made using Ultrafiltration, see our Wiki: Milk Processing article and discussion here and you could search the forum on Ultrafiltration to get more hits.

[tananaBrian]

Interesting stuff about that ultra-filtration.  Just another way to adulterate an otherwise near-perfect product of nature I suppose.  That said, I guess I don't know if the Philadelphia Neufchatel product is made from UF milk or not, but I suppose it could be since it lacks the typical 'tang' of a cultured product.  My son and I went down to the local brewing supply shop and bought some C33 culture (Creme Fraiche / Mascarpone) and will see how that works.  We'll be using it with pasteurized / homogenized Lucerne whole milk from Safeway and will likely do the 3-quarts milk, 1-quart cream combo that I used last time... save a little cream to be blended in after the cheese has drained (along with the salt).

Brian

[tananaBrian]

UPDATE:  I hadn't realized that the packet of C33 Creme Fraiche culture only ripens one quart of cream ...I put 4 packets into 1 gallon whole milk and one quarter of a quarter-tab of rennet into 86 F milk tonight (diluted the 1/4 tab of rennet in 1 cup of water and then put 1/4 c. of that solution into the milk).  I have no clue if this will work or not, but I'll know in the morning!  I'll update later on both whether it worked and what the flavor profile turned out to be.

Brian

[george]

C33 already has rennet in it.  Did you add more on purpose?  (just curious)

Also, I've started doubling the amounts that the NE Cheesemaking supposedly culture per the packet instructions, and the results have been just fine.  I.e. I use one packet for 2 quarts of cream.  Sometimes it takes a little longer, but still yummy in the end.

[tananaBrian]

Already has rennet in it?  Where'd you see that mentioned?  Mine is from the New England Cheesemaking Supply company and their web site (and packets) say nothing about rennet ...the web site does list "microbial coagulant enzyme" in the list of ingredients though, just nothing about rennet.  (Is "microbial coagulant enzyme" rennet?).

...the milk looks like it took a nice set this morning, but I haven't checked it for texture and clean break (I don't really want it to quite have a clean break ...I find that slightly softer curds make a smoother fresh cheese).  Lucerne milk from Carrs/Safeway works again!  I'll update later on though, after the cheese has drained.

Brian

[FRANCOIS]

Use Flora Danica for buttery flavours. 

Judging by the ingredient list on Kraft's website their product is made from reconstituted powders.  It's likely the slurry is  pre-ripened and then in-line coagulated.  It's essentially the same process as UF, but just uses powders instead of the UF kit.  It would need to be repastuerised and/or hot filled to get the shelf life they have without preservatives.

[george]

Yah, microbial coagulant enzyme - I think it's the same as the "veggie" rennet they sell (can't remember the name of the actual thing - mucor or mycor-something?).  I just noticed it when "C33" sounded familiar to me, so I double-checked it on the website.  I went a little nuts when I first started playing with cheese and bought at least 4.32 million starters etc. from NE Cheesemaking, so everything I have is from them (albeit much of it repackaged).  Based on recipes I've seen here on the forum and also using the 200 Easy Cheeses book, I've also figured out that one pack of their mesophilic culture is too much - I measured one and it's 1/2 teaspoon - which is the amount generally used for FOUR gallons of milk, not two.  My hard cheeses have been much better since I reduced the amounts I used accordingly, despite the directions on the package and website.  Wasn't too much of a stretch, then, to start halving the amount of the other pre-mixed starters that I already had from them (buttermilk, creme fraiche, fromage blanc, primarily).

Saves money, too!     

[tananaBrian]

Final update:  The milk set reasonably well, but was a bit mushy towards the bottom.  Still, we got a little over a pound of cream cheese from it, and it turned out very creamy and smooth.  The flavor, I think, was superior to the other cultures but still had a mile 'sour cream' note to it.  We thought it was delicious ...the deal about trying to make a Philadelphia Neufchatel-like cream cheese is mostly just a fun experiment, although we like how it tastes as well.

Brian