Know Your Source

You may have made various food related New Year’s resolutions that you may or may not have succeeded in keeping. Perhaps you vowed to give up chocolate, eat more fruit and veg, limit the carbs or cut back on alcohol?                                

Whatever dietary promises you made, a good approach to food is to eat a balanced diet (a well-worn phrase, but a good mix of different foods in moderate amounts seems wise) and to understand more about where your food originates and what it contains.

We certainly care more about the use of additives, rearing of livestock and source of origin than we did in the past, which is very positive. Of course, the more we make our own foods, using locally sourced ingredients where possible, or at least those with a reliable provenance, the more we can be sure of what we’re eating.

You may bake your own bread, make meals from scratch and even grow some of your own veg, so why not add cheese making to your list? By making your own cheese you can select the type of milk you use (sheep’s, cow’s or goat’s) from your preferred source, use our high quality rennet (including vegetarian and GM free) and cultures/starters and add natural flavourings and herbs of your choice for added interest. That way you’ll know exactly what’s in your cheese and how it was made!

Find out more at www.cheesemaking.co.uk

Blue Cheese Culture

In the production of certain cheeses (Stilton, Gorgonzola, Roquefort for example) a blue mould is grown on the surface of the cheese using a culture known as Penicillium Roqueforti. This is added to the milk prior to the introduction of rennet to encourage the growth of the mould.

Actual Roquefort is a blue cheese (protected by AOC guidelines) originating from the south of France, which is traditionally made from sheep’s milk. The Penicillium Roqueforti used in its production is found in the soil of local caves, and was originally ‘harvested’ by cheesemakers by leaving bread to ‘mould’ in the caves, which was later dried to a powder.

Today the culture can be produced in labs, used in a variety of blue cheeses and purchased from Moorlands – a much more straightforward way to acquire it! Just visit www.cheesemaking.co.uk/penicillium-roqueforti-cheese-making-culture?filter_name=roquefort

Use the culture to make your own tasty blue cheese at home – delicious!

Cheesemaking Culture

It’s possible to make a huge variety of cheeses at home, providing you have the right ingredients and equipment at hand, which of course you can purchase from Moorlands, as well as contacting us for valuable advice. 

For lovers of white mould ripened cheeses, such as Camembert or Brie, you’ll need Penicillium Candidum Neige LYO 2D Cheese Making Culture, which you’ll find at www.cheesemaking.co.uk/cheese-making-cultures/penicillium-candidum-neige-lyo-2d-cheese-making-culture

The culture should be added to the milk or put onto the surface of the cheese by dipping or spraying. Once a light covering of mould has grown, usually after about 9 - 10 days but sooner if warmer, you then need to wrap the cheese and place it on a rack in a high humidity atmosphere (around 10ºC) for the coat to grow. One dose of this culture is sufficient for 100 litres of milk.

Incidentally, the Penicillium Candidum culture is also used in the production of salami, to add flavour and lower the pH, therefore reducing the growth of bacteria. A very usual culture to know!

This is just one of the mould cultures that we supply at Moorlands Cheesemakers, with Penicillium Roqueforti and Geotrichum Candidum being other useful examples.

For all your cheesemaking needs please visit www.cheesemaking.co.uk