It's Memorial Day in the U.S., and while the intent of the holiday is somber, it is typically also the beginning of summer festivities - meaning picnics.
This year, the weather is not cooperating as it is cold and rainy. We do have out of town guests and we pulled out three cheeses for the occasion today.
1. St. Michael (6 weeks old)
2. Havarti ( one month old)
3. Fontina (two months old)
Photos of the whole wheels, and each one cut are attached.
Also attached is a closeup of the Havarti - it is oozing from one part of the rind. the flavor is good, but the oozing was a surprise. Any ideas on why this cheese is doing so? it is not supposed to after all!
Thanks!
The cheeses look beautiful! What recipe did you use for the Havarti? Could some GC have gotten in there?
I used the Mary Karlin recipe, but your thought of GC maybe correct as the St. Michael was maturing in the same cave. Hmm.....
I have made a couple of Havartis and have eaten quite a bit, and never seen one oozing before.... ???
Bob
B. Linens is also growing on the rind and likely contributed to making it runny.
B Linens makes cheese runny? What about cheeses like Port Salut which have B Linens? Are there particular conditions in which B Linens will make a cheese runny? Thanks
Yes, it produces ammonia which raises the pH of the paste. This, in turn, causes the paste to go runny (the same thing happens with bloomy rinds).
The reason that cheeses *don't* go runny in that situation is interesting. If I remember correctly, you have some chemistry training, so probably you will understand this better than me. Basically, calcium phosphate is bound up in the casein bundles (micelles). As the pH goes down, the micelles release more calcium phosphate. When it dissolves in the water, it buffers changes in the milk. If you let the cheese acidify all the way down to a pH of about 4.7, it uses up all of the buffer. When the ammonia is produced, there is nothing to buffer the *rise* in pH. However, if you only let the pH of the cheese get down to about 5.5, there is still lots of calcium phosphate left in the cheese. When the ammonia is produced, it's buffered on the way back up. This stops it from making the paste go runny.
I don't quite understand how calcium phosphate buffers ammonia, so probably there is something I'm misrepresenting there, but that's how it was explained to me. Port Salut is a washed curd cheese. The pH is higher than other cheeses because lactose is limited and there is less food for the starter culture. That's why it softens slightly while aging, but doesn't go runny. The same is also true for "stabilised paste" bloomy rinds.
That's some great stuff there! Thanks! I don know about Ca3(PO4)2 but ammonia is quite basic. If there are any free rotor about, they will protonate the NH3. to make NH4+. I also know that there exists Calcium ammonium phosphate .. so perhaps that is formed when there is excess ammonium and the Ca2+ concentrations are reduced.
I've had store bought Port Salut that was like a ripe Brie, gooey. It was bad because it was ammoniated.
Actually, I've had that experience too in Paris of all places. I was quite surprised. I wish I had written down the producer, but it was before I got particularly interested in cheese.