Hello everyone,
I have a question for you Camembert masters out there:
I've made a lot of cheese, but this has been my first attempt at a white mold. It turned out, visually, pretty good.
The problem was the flavor. It tastes very moldy. I am a big fan of blue cheeses, so am not put off by the flavor, but it is not the creamy flavor of the Camembert I have bought from stores in the past.
In short, it was a good cheese, just not Camembert... has this happened to any of you in the past? Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
Tell us more about the make, how and how long you aged it, etc. Hopefully we can help ...
I used 4 liters of vat-pasteurized (60 deg 30 min) milk with a Camembert pre-mix culture (meso + pen cand + geotrichum).
Ripened for about 90 minutes, added rennet and set for an hour. Cut into 1" cubes set for 30 minutes stirring once.
Put into molds flipping at recommended times.
Continued flipping and drying for about 3 days, salted the first 2.
Put into ripening box and flipped daily for about 3 weeks. After about a week, I got a nice white rind. Not slimy, not sticky.
I had to wipe the box down every day as there was a lot of condensation on the sides (inside).
Near the end of the aging I started getting some "skin slip" but it was dry. It was more like the rind was separating, but not slipping. This seemed a little odd, but I noticed that under the separating skin, the cheese had developed another white rind, so I let it go.
Moved to the fridge and aged another 2 weeks.
I think that's about it.
Thanks!
When you say it tastes "mouldy" and then you say that you aren't put off by the flavour because you like blue mould cheeses, does that mean that it tastes like blue mould? Or does it taste "mouldy" like mouldy bread? How does it smell? Does it smell yeasty? How about vegetal (like broccoli or cabbage)? Also, how is the paste? How soft is it?
If it tastes blue-mould, mouldy, then my only guess is that you got some blue in that split and that it got covered up by the white so that you can't see it.
For other things, I find that my Tommes pick up a broccoli smell and the paste near the rind tastes of mushrooms -- which I think comes from the geo. I seem to get no wild moulds on my cheeses other than blue -- just geo for some reason. I've got lots of mucor in the appartment but it never ends up on the cheese.
The flavor is heavy and slightly bitter, but it's definitely not p.roqueforti. It's a different flavor, but I don't know how else to describe it. Definitely not a mouldy bread or yeasty flavor. It doesn't smell strongly at all really. The paste is soft but not too soft. I didn't let it age that long.
I wonder if it is the geo... I think I'm going to try adding the mold directly next time and not going with a blend. I know some people love and swear by the geotrichum, but I would rather have a smooth white mold skin instead of the slightly wrinkly mold that is characteristic of the geo.
This was my first try so I guess I'll just see how batch 2 turns out :)
I think when I have a camembert style cheese, the biggest thing I'm looking for is that buttery flavour from the starter culture. It might be a good idea to pick your starter culture rather than the mix. I'm a bit confused by your make instructions too -- Did you say you salted on the second and third day? If so, I'm guessing you are bottoming out the pH, which is what you want to do...
I can confirm that the geo has a kind of mushroom flavour. I'm actually not that keen on it and when I made my Tommes, I didn't really like that aspect. For the Caerphillies, I've let the starter culture go a bit longer, so that flavour dominates. Sorry, I can't help more, but I'm interested in hearing how your next batch goes!
Cheesy, I think you are right to go with separate cultures rather than the blend. The problem is that there are quite a few different varieties of both geo and PC, and you have no control over what's in the blend. It may be that it worked "perfectly" - with respect to the varieties that were included in the blend - just not the results you were wanting.
FWIW, I have used PC ABL and Geo 13, and have been happy with the results. Yes, you do want a tiny bit of geo in the mix - it helps prepare the surface for the PC to take over. But too much geo (or geo by itself) can definitely result in a very moldy, strong cheese that I don't particularly care for. And from what I have read (but not tried personally), some varieties of geo are more aggressive than others; some give much more of the "brainy" look, some are more yeasty, etc.
Thanks for all the info!
I've got some new molds on order and I'll give them a try as soon as I can!
Quote from: CheesyJapaneesy on August 07, 2019, 12:47:01 PM
I've got some new molds on order ...
It occurs to me that only on a cheese forum would one encounter a statement like that ^-^ ... especially when it is a good thing!
Let us know how the new molds work out!