Okay, I’m a sadist. But, I’m trying Camembert again. Actually, I made 4 rounds of Camembert and I put some blue mold in the center of 2 of them to make a Cambozola.

I did not use Margaret Morris’s recipe this time. Instead, I used Rikki Carol’s.

Heat milk to 90°F. Added 1/2 tsp Flora Danica direct set starter and stirred with 20 up-and-down-strokes. Covered and allowed to ripen for 90 minutes. Added about 1/8 tsp Penicilium candidum and stirred well. Added about 1/4 tsp CaCl and stirred well. Added 1/4 tsp rennet and stirred well. Covered and allow it to set at 90°F for 60 minutes. Had a good break.

Cut the curds and gently stirred for a few minutes. Then allowed the curds to set and settle. I drained the whey to the level of the curds and then scooped them gently into 4 Camembert molds set up for a mold sandwich. In two of them, I added a little Penicillium roqueforti in the center.

I turned the mold sandwiches after an hour. This is hard to do with 4 molds because I put them in a plastic storage container and it gets tight, so the rounds came out a bit ill-formed. I allowed them to set overnight, then removed the molds. They were still quite damp and fragile, so I was careful with them. I drained all whey from the plastic storage box, salted both sides of the rounds, then placed them on mats on a rack in the box and put it, open, in a small fridge in the basement set to 45°F. I put a small container of water in the fridge to keep the humidity up.

That is were I am as of today. Will keep you posted.

Good luck getting ready to make Gorgonzola myself.

These cheeses are coming along slowly, which is good considering my recent success with camembert. The white fuzz began to appear a few days ago and within another day or two the camembert will be ready to wrap in cheese paper. I poked holes horizontally through the center of the cambozolas today, and I think I’ll let them stay open to the air for another week or so. For some reason they don’t have as fullly developed fuzz as the camemberts, even though they are from the same curds.

As I poked the holes through the cambozola some of the inside pushed out, so I tasted that and it tasted wonderful. I think I’m going to have a couple of amazing cheeses in a few more weeks. I sure hope so!

sounds great!
Pics would be nice
So it took about 2 weeks for the furr to show?

Yes. Two weeks. But, given my experience, I think that is good!

I’ll get some pics tomorrow.

Hmm, I always get furr about 3 days, wondering what the dif is, if its the normal behavior of the freezdried culture that delays the growth ??

In the past, I’ve always gotten the fuzz within 3-4 days, too. But, then the cheese went on to ripen too fast. Recipes say that the fuzz should appear after 3-5 days. But, I’m happy that I’ve got fuzz at all, and fine with the fact it took a couple of weeks…

Photos of Camembert and Cambezolla just before wrapping in cheese paper.

Looking nice

I’m a bit late with this post, but these cheeses suffered from the same problem as earlier Camembert attempts. I am now wondering if it is the culture? I’m going to order some fresh and see what happens. Although, I tend to slow down on cheese making in the summer.

problems ? ripening too fast?
I have only had problems when room temp too high, and yup, not looking forward to summer because too hot to make cheese, harder to control ripening temp without the proper equipment LOL

You might try making Chaource, if you haven’t tried it yet, from Margaret Morris’ book. It is hands down my all time favorite fall back-on cheese, the easiest to make, always does its thing reliably, you can make a big batch and start eating some fresh, and just keep munching. It is mature in 2-3 weeks if you are keeping it in the 50’s, longer if it is in the 40’s I love how complex it is, much more interesting to me than camembert. I love how the acidity of the curds doesn’t allow the center to fully ripen, so you have this beautiful little white patch (described as having the texture (not temperature!) of fresh melting snow in your mouth), while the outer innards are so gooey and luscious. And the rind is fabulous too. I also love cambozola, but the chaource is just such a no-brainer dang good cheese. I make it a lot more often than the cambozola. If you have never tried Chaource, this time of year you can buy it at upscale cheese stores, or whole foods in a raw milk version from Jasper Hill farms. It is expensive, like $7.00 for a 5 ounce round, but such a good education. Wait to open it until it is soft, like camembert, since you will probably only be willing to spring for one. When you make your own you can taste it at all of it’s delicious stages. This cheese gives me the strength to wait until the harder cheeses have ripened long enough…
My only caution would be to use plastic ripening mats instead of reed or bamboo, and turn it every day. If you wait the newly forming rind will stick and tear when you finally turn it, and then you may have the slip skin problem, because it has Geo in it. I don’t think they can ever really recover if you tear the rind when they are young. Oh, and by the way,  this is by nature a fairly salty cheese…