Can I "clone" bleu cheese?

[Johntodd]

Can I take store-bought BC crumbles and use them to inoculate a regular plain cheese I make here at home?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Treasure-Cave-Crumbled-Blue-Cheese-5-oz/10308512

Thanks!
-Johntodd

 

[passedpawn]

Absolutely. Works great. I made agar agar plates with lactose as a growth medium, and then made dynamite blue cheese from it. See pics below. I think it's best to grow a bunch, then mix just the mold into your curds.

But you can simply put some on a piece of bread, put it in a baggie with a few drops of water to make sure it stays moist, and wait.

 

[imasickboy]

I've always kind of wanted to branch out into cheese making, but your pics have pretty much sealed the deal, @passedpawn

Seeing that beautiful hunk of cheese, knowing that you made it...sign me up.

 

[passedpawn]

Beer's easier.

Mozzerella has gotten me closer to suicide than anything else in my life. On numerous occasions. Don't want to think about that any further. Last month was another disaster (x 2) in that dept.

 

[Johntodd]

Think I will. I've saved yeast from wine and beer, I've grown EM for my bokashi, I've done excellent kefir, kombucha, and water kefir, made kimchi. I make excellent garden soil, too!

One could say I am a micro-organism man. One better not, but it could still be said.

Thanks!
-Johntodd

 

[JDXX1971]

Absolutely. Works great. I made agar agar plates with lactose as a growth medium, and then made dynamite blue cheese from it. See pics below. I think it's best to grow a bunch, then mix just the mold into your curds.

But you can simply put some on a piece of bread, put it in a baggie with a few drops of water to make sure it stays moist, and wait.

Ohhhhh man.............YUMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

We already can, smoke, ferment veggies, make cider ect. and now beer. We gotta make us some cheese toooo. Someday, someday...........

 

[passedpawn]

haha, you guys like blue cheese? I've got a bunch of mason jars full of homemade blue cheese dressing. From this cheese. nom nom. Here's a pic from my last batch (3 blocks of stank). I don't know why this stuff is so expensive at the store, it's so easy to make at home.

 

[tjosborne]

What kind of milk do you use to make this? If store bought do you see any savings over store bought cheese?

 

[Johntodd]

Wow! I didn't realize you guys were so into this.

Please tell us an easy BC recipe using grown-out crumble cultures.

 

[passedpawn]

What kind of milk do you use to make this? If store bought do you see any savings over store bought cheese?

Store bought whole milk. I've made cheese from all sorts of milk, including raw. For this cheese, the cheap stuff is fine.

 

[passedpawn]

Wow! I didn't realize you guys were so into this.

Please tell us an easy BC recipe using grown-out crumble cultures.

I'll upload a recipe later. Off to tennis now. If I forget and you don't see something by tonight, remind me.

 

[tjosborne]

Hey passedpawn, here's a reminder. I'm interested as well now. Aren't you on the egghead forum as well?

 

[passedpawn]

Hey passedpawn, here's a reminder. I'm interested as well now. Aren't you on the egghead forum as well?

Is that the green egg forum? Nope, not on that (why did you think so?). I have green egg envy though. Maybe one day. I'm a weber cooker.

 

[tjosborne]

Maybe I seen you on another BBQ forum or maybe beer advocate then.

 

[passedpawn]

Here you go - Stiton Blue Cheese Recipe

This is the recipe from her book Artisan Cheese Making At Home, which I bought on Amazon.

I've made that cheese several times. Each time I make 3 wheels of it (I have 3 molds). 1 gallon of milk and 1 cup of cream will make one 4" cheese, so I start with 3x that recipe. It's not a pressed cheese, so it's soft and craggly when you pull it out of the molds. I get my hands wet and smear the outside to smooth when it's nearly finished. Here are a few pics of the cheeses in their adolescence, and finished, because pics make a thread so much better!.

 

[Homercidal]

Man, I wish I liked Bleu Cheese!

I should fire up the cheese press and get a batch or two of something going this winter. It's a nice hobby for spending a few hours in the kitchen when it's too cold outside for brewing.

 

[Johntodd]

Awesome, thanks!

Can I "blue up" a Queso Fresco?

 

[Staestc]

Andrew, quit posting sex pictures!! Awesome.

 

[Staestc]

And, is that whole series in your last post all the same cheese?

 

[passedpawn]

And, is that whole series in your last post all the same cheese?

No, not. Each time I've made blue cheese I've made 2 or 3 wheels of hit, and I've made it 2 or 3 times. I'm not really sure what's posted up there

 

[WheyToGo]

Absolutely. Works great. I made agar agar plates with lactose as a growth medium, and then made dynamite blue cheese from it. See pics below. I think it's best to grow a bunch, then mix just the mold into your curds.

But you can simply put some on a piece of bread, put it in a baggie with a few drops of water to make sure it stays moist, and wait.

Culturing your own mold at home is an awesome idea! Where did you get the agar agar plates? Do you buy them all ready made or do you make them yourself?

 

[WheyToGo]

Absolutely. Works great. I made agar agar plates with lactose as a growth medium, and then made dynamite blue cheese from it. See pics below. I think it's best to grow a bunch, then mix just the mold into your curds.

But you can simply put some on a piece of bread, put it in a baggie with a few drops of water to make sure it stays moist, and wait.

Growing your own mold is an awesome idea. Did you buy the agar agar plates or did you make them yourself?

 

[bernardsmith]

Wow! Is that what the penicillin looks like (on that petri dish)? I had a small batch of cheese that was covered in a very similar looking culture and I had no idea what the culture was and was too nervous to treat the culture as safe. My culturing medium is kefir and I believe that penicillin is found in kefir...

 

[Johntodd]

Kefir contains pen., but it isn't pen.Roqueforti, which is the right one for a bleu.

How do I know? Already researched. Left disappointed.

 

[passedpawn]

Growing your own mold is an awesome idea. Did you buy the agar agar plates or did you make them yourself?

I have glass petri dishes in which I make my own. It's very simple, but you really need a pressure canner to sterilize the plates. Agar agar comes in many forms. You can get the raw stuff at vietnamese and similar grocers, but I recommend looking for agar powder at a nutrition or whole foods type place (that's where I got it). I have Now brand. Of course, Amazon carries.

However, as I mention above, it's just as easy to smear a piece of bread and put it in a baggie.

Wow! Is that what the penicillin looks like (on that petri dish)? I had a small batch of cheese that was covered in a very similar looking culture and I had no idea what the culture was and was too nervous to treat the culture as safe. My culturing medium is kefir and I believe that penicillin is found in kefir...

Pennicillium Roqueforti. If the loaf of bread you forgot about in your pantry has bluegreen mold sprouting on them, that's it.

Kefir contains pen., but it isn't pen.Roqueforti, which is the right one for a bleu.

How do I know? Already researched. Left disappointed.

Bingo.

 

[passedpawn]

BTW, if you're going to make your own plate, I use 3g agar powder and 200ml of water. To that, you can add growth medium like lactose, or yeast nutrient, food coloring, etc. Put some into your dishes, cover, cook and cool. DON'T open dishes until you're ready to inoculate. Believe me, it only takes a second for airborne critters to get in there and colonize your plate.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Can I take store-bought BC crumbles and use them to inoculate a regular plain cheese I make here at home?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Treasure-Cave-Crumbled-Blue-Cheese-5-oz/10308512

Thanks!
-Johntodd

I will tell you the super-easy way I do it.

1) scrape a bit of the blu with a clean knife, make sure to get as much fungi as possible. A total of a large small pea sized is about right.

2) place blu in a small jelly jar.

3) pour jar full of milk

4) set on top of fridge for 2-4 days with loose lid

In the end you should have a chunk of curddled milk that smells like a good blu cheese. Add that to you milk with your Mesophilic and then make the cheese like usual. It is best to only lightly press (or not at all) a blu so there are plenty of cracks for the fungi to grow in. Also, you need to pierce the cheese after a week or so to help spread the blu into the interior. I do it whenever I start to see blu on the outside.

This works easy and really well. I am on my third simple blu, and they are great! If you repeat with each new blu cheese you make, you will have an endless supply.

 

[kh54s10]

I made blue cheese once. It was supposed to be a Colby.

I am going to have to try this!

 

[bernardsmith]

Me too. This seems to be a far simpler way of culturing the bacteria than encouraging them to grow on a slice of sourdough bread then grinding up the bread and the culture. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[marcelo]

I tried this method. the mold has grown well, but since the second week until today (45 days) it still continues with a strong bitter taste.
Is this normal?
I will try again this week, but this time I bought an expensive gorgonzola to donate the mold and see if I have different results.
some advice?

 

[passedpawn]

I tried this method. the mold has grown well, but since the second week until today (45 days) it still continues with a strong bitter taste.
Is this normal?
I will try again this week, but this time I bought an expensive gorgonzola to donate the mold and see if I have different results.
some advice?

The bitterness might be high acid content. That's caused (I think) by leaving too much whey in the curds. And, perhaps by too high temperatures during fermentation. Try cutting the curds smaller, and maybe pressing (did you press the cheese?). I recently made a hard blue cheese and it was far less pungent than the stilton I usually make - and I like this new one better.

 

[marcelo]

I did not press the cheese, I let it drain for 2 days.
apparently got quite dry. but he was in 23C (I have no cheese cave) I will try to ferment in the refrigerator around 10C to see if make the difference.
but for sure, being my first ever attempt at making cheese, I'm very excited and I can see a lot of cheeses coming!