Hello. I just made my first hard cheese 2 days ago :). I have been told that Flora Danica is such a nicer culture than Mesophilic starter. I made my first cheese with it. It looks good but I won't know if the taste is good for another 3 months. Since I don't know what these cultures do, I am not sure if I can substitute the Flora Danica for every call for Mesophillic starter or not. Does anyone know about this?
Thanks, Judy
Hi Judy,
Which cheese?
FD is a Meso starter, so what are you comparing it to? Do you want all of your cheese to taste the same? What cheese did you make?
I made Manchego and Cheddar with FD. What is the purpose of a culture? Is it just flavor or is there another purpose? I am so new to all of this. Thanks for your patience with such a novice. ;) Judy
Judy, a culture has five primary purposes. Not all cultures serve all purposes
- To acidify
- To provide primary flavoring, such as diacetyl, in fresh cheeses
- To create openings in the cheese by producing gas
- To provide flavor as the cheese matures by releasing enzymes in the cell wall and in the inside of the cell
- To increase body by forming chains and by having exopolysaccharides available on the cell wall
In aged cheese, it is mostly the enzymes that make a difference for flavor and texture. And different strains and different cultures provide for different flavors.
Thank you for sharing the purpose of the starter!!! It's critically important!
One more question, when a recipe calls for 2 oz. of prepared starter, I froze the starter in ice cube trays. The cubes can differ greatly in size. What I thought was a 2 oz. cube weighs less on the scale. Should I be weighing these cubes to get 2 oz. or should I be thawing them and measuring 1/4 cup for 2 oz.? Thanks so much for your help!!! I'm using a standard ice cube tray, but cube sizes still vary quite a bit.
Judy
PS...I remember a few years ago when I ventured into making my own bread, I knew nothing...at least now I can trouble shoot many bread problems....mostly from experience. I wish I had had a forum for bread questions back then!! The good thing about bread, when it's a flopped loaf, it still makes great croutons. Does flopped cheese make anything good?
You should use 1-2% by volume when using bulk starter. This is in fluid ounces. 1 cup = 8 fl ounces. So measure how many fluid ounces each ice cube space is.
Yes, flopped cheese can be made into processed cheese. It's done all the time commercially. :)
Quote from: judyp on January 04, 2011, 06:07:27 AM
Does flopped cheese make anything good?
I've had some flops (Boy, have I! ;) ) that I ended up using grated on pasta, on toast, or combined with something else. That is, unless they were
really bad! In which case, I dumped them.
-Boofer-