Recap of all documents posted in the Facebook Cheese Study Group regarding Affinage aka Ripening:
Gianaclis Caldwell article on Brie and Camembert Ripening:
file:///C:/Users/marce/Downloads/Brie%20ripening%20(1).pdf
Affinage: The Art of Ripening Cheese – Video from Sterling College:
https://sterlingcollege.edu/course/affinage-art-ripening-cheese/
Chrysosporium sulfureum article:
http://microbialfoods.org/microbe-guide-chrysosporium-sulfureum/
What causes cheese to turn pink?
http://microbialfoods.org/what-causes-pink-cheese-defect/
http://microbialfoods.org/wooden-boards-for-cheese-aging-reviewing-the-science/
Surveying Cheese Rind Microbial Diversity:
http://microbialfoods.org/science-digested-cheese-survey/
Sporendonema casei:
http://microbialfoods.org/150/
Ripening of Comte Video:
More Comte info:
More Comte articles:
http://www.seriouseats.com/…/comte-how-largest-small-batch-…http://www.thekitchn.com/french-comte-cheese-tour-cheese-ca…http://www.davidlebovitz.com/comte-cheese-ripening-and-tas…/http://www.comtecheese.co.uk/comte-making-process/
From Encyclopedia Britannica:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/149947/dairy-product/50446/Ripening
Getting Buggy – an article written by Sheri Allen ACS CCP and Erin Clancy ACS CCP:
Time to get “Buggy” with the last day of BOK 3 Cheese Ripening and Affinage.
Cheese is absolutely alive, And all of that life — the molds, bacteria, yeasts and mites — help make cheese what it is. The mites on Mimolette can contribute flavors of their own (they have a somewhat earthy smell), and by eating into the rind, they can also increase aeration — and the surface area in which the other microbes can do their work.
Cheese mites are arachnids; along with their close relatives the spiders and scorpions, mites are among the creepiest creatures in the animal kingdom. Several species of mites from the genera Tyrophagus and Arcarus live in and on cheese, including the flour mite, Acarus siro. The species with the official common name “cheese mite” is Tyrophagus casei. Like the more famous dust mites, adult cheese mites mites are tiny, round organisms, measuring no more than a few hundred micrometers long. They have a life cycle that lasts around 15 days, including truly microscopic egg, larval and nymphal stages.
Unlike their arachnid ancestors, mites do not have a clearly defined head, or any other major body segments for that matter. Instead, their itsy-bitsy mite brains and other organs are in one major body compartment called an idiosoma. The idiosoma and legs are covered in whisker-like appendages called setae that help them sense their environment; setae can be seen with light microscopy or in full detail with scanning electron microscopy.
All in all, there’s no way of getting around it: cheese mites aren’t the most adorable creatures. Nevertheless, cheese mites are for all intents and purposes peaceful and harmless. They can cause allergic reactions like dermatitis in a rare subset of people. Otherwise, they don’t colonize the human body and they don’t bite.
Mites feed on fungal hyphae that continuously grow on the rind. Over time, their relentless activities create more surface area for the biofilm of bacteria and fungi that together impart flavors and other qualities, like softness, to the final product. Mites have such an impact on this microbial food web that some cheeses wouldn’t be the same without them.
The characteristic flavor of Mimolette can be traced to individual molecules produced by cheese mites. These molecules include neral, a volatile constituent of lemon oil. Neral is one molecule within a cocktail of hydrocarbons, terpenes, and aromatics produced by a pair of glands found on cheese mites. It’s no wonder that cheesemakers seeking the desirable products of mites sometimes inoculate them onto cheese wheels during the aging process.
However, flavor-enhancing or not, mite populations can quickly get out of control. If there are too many mites, they dig too far, too fast, transporting mold spores from the rind to the interior of the cheese and potentially ruining the entire product. This is why vacuums, brushes and compressed air are often used to blast mites off the rind. Even so, these measures only buy cheesemakers some time. It’s nearly impossible to remove all of the mites, especially considering that a typical female lays hundreds of eggs in one lifetime.
SO how to control mites in an affinage setting? In your cheese island?
VACUUMING- the chore you hated growing up is essential to avoid the proliferation of mites and their destruction of cheese.
Oxford Companion to Cheese pgs 125, 151, 152, 463 speaks to Cave Maintenance and Maturing cheeses- more vacuuming and regular disposal of mites.
Read about Mary Quicke and her solution to segregating cheeses to control mites.
http://cheeseunderground.blogspot.com/…/on-location-fightin…
References:
http://www.quickes.co.uk/news/cheese-mite-friend-or-foe
https://www.asm.org/…/4433-the-natural-history-of-cheese-mi…
http://www.npr.org/…/tiny-mites-spark-big-battle-over-impor…
Cheese Mites from Microbial Foods:
http://microbialfoods.org/microbe-guide-cheese-mites/
Geotrichum:
http://microbialfoods.org/geotrichum-candidum-mold-transition/
Cheese Rinds 101 by Janet Fletcher:
https://www.specialtyfood.com/news/article/cheese-rinds-101/
Cheese Ripening: pH in cheese ripening. From Erin Clancy
pH, along with salt and moisture contents, shapes the chemical environment within the cheese that governs the microbiological and enyzmatic process that are responsible for changes during the ripening. The pH directly affects the structure of the cheese and it’s texture.Read in depth about this in American Farmstead Cheese. If you don’t have a book here is a link to the google book copy. Go to pages 125-128 for pH in ripening.
(https://books.google.com/books…)
Here is a 24 minute video of Gianaclis Caldwell explaining the intricacies of monitoring pH at different stages of cheesemaking – including what that pH tells you after the cheese is done or partially through aging.: https://gianacliscaldwell.com/…/ph-and-acid-in-cheesemaking/
I am posting a couple different documents that you should read on this subject. Because pH is so in depth they are a bit long. However, you science curd nerds can get your read on! If any cheesemaker wants to chime in on this subject PLEASE do! You guys are the real food scientists out there.
Time Magazine article re Microbes:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/fda-coming-around-idea-cheese-083812140.html
Designing a space for affinage (Compiled by Sheri Allen, ACS CCP):
So, we all know certain things have to be kept in mind when building an affinage space. These links will help you find out exactly what if you don’t know and refresh your mind if you do!
The Small-Scale Cheese Business ( book by Gianaclis Caldwell): If you hit this link you should hit the page 120 link. Scroll down to 126-152. It’s SO much great information. Don’t skim, definitely worth the while. https://books.google.com/books…
I am going to upload a file called “Current Options in Cheese Aging Caves: An Evaluation, Comparison and Feasibility Study” It’s pretty long, really extensive, and if you scroll to the end you will see a list of many of our favorite farms that helped contribute to this. I would say give it a read. I only read half so far and it’s really interesting.
American Farmstead Cheese: See page 254-255.
I am also uploading a cool article on HAACP plans. It’s a bit old (2003) but I still think it’s a good read. There are some good articles regarding that am I think this should also be touched upon. Here are some links:
http://foodscience.psu.edu/…/creamery-haccp-and-safety-plans (this has lots of examples of HAACP plans)
*if the google book page doesn’t work you can either buy the book, check it out from the library (I have checked out so many cheese books in the last few weeks), or reload after a while (no clue how much time needs to pass).
The Small-Scale Cheese Business
There has never been a better time to be making and selling great cheese. People worldwide are consuming more high-quality, handmade cheese than ever before. The number of artisan cheesemakers has doubled in recent years, and many of the industry’s newcomers are “farmstead” producers-those who work…
Chemical Process in Affinage by Sheri Allen ACS CCP and Erin Clancy ACS CCP:
Glycolysis: The breakdown of sugar into lactic acid.
Proteolysis: The breakdown of proteins.
Lipolysis: The breakdown of fats.
Ok, so I am going to send a few links to read more on this. I could just copy and paste but some are PDF’s and you can’t C&P on that :). Here are my must reads on the subject:
Mastering the Art of Cheese by Max McCalman: This link will bring you to google books and will highlight anywhere in the book Max mentions affinage. Important pages to the subject of the 3- lyosises (that made me laugh 🙂 ) are 75-76 and 81. I would read everything though ’cause it’s interesting. https://books.google.com/books…
Big Cheese Stories courtesy of Murray’s: Zoe Brickley teaches a serious lesson in cheese chemistry. http://bigcheesestories.blogspot.com/…/schools-in-session.h…
This just because it has a cool bullet point break down of affinage: http://artandscienceofcheese.blogspot.com/
Department of Food Science at University of Guelph in Canada,breaks this stuff down! : https://www.uoguelph.ca/…/ripening-processes-chemical-and-p…
Cheesescience.net : http://www.cheesescience.net/…/introduction-to-cheese-scien…
Oxford Cheese Companion (Congrats!!):
Proteolysis: Pages 593-594
Glycolysis: Pages 318-319
Lipolysis: Page 437 (there is more information in the book about this but this is specific to cheese ripening)
Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese_ripening
*if the google book page doesn’t work you can either buy the book, check it out from the library (I have checked out so many cheese books in the last few weeks), or reload after a while (no clue how much time needs to pass).
Cheese Rinds by Cheese Rank – article no longer available online except in File Section of Facebook Cheese Study Group.
CDR Director discusses defective crystals in cheese:
https://www.dairyfoods.com/articles/90769-how-to-avoid-crystals-in-cheese?v=preview
Crystalization in Cheese:
Click to access pipeline_2014_vol26_03.pdf
Revisiting Calcium Lactate Crystals in Cheese:
Click to access pipeline_2004_vol16_01.pdf
Biodiversity of the bacterial flora on the surface of a smear cheese:
http://microbialfoods.org/biodiversity-of-the-bacterial-flora-on-the-surface-of-a-smear-cheese/
How Cheese Rind Gets its Color:
http://microbialfoods.org/beyond-b-linens-how-cheese-rinds-get-their-color/
In addition to being an American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professional, I am a Certified ServSafe Food Production Manager with certifications that also include ServSafe Certified Instructor and Proctor. I am available for cheese events, cheese program development, cheese training, food safety training and 3rd party food safety auditing. See my About Me and Resume pages for more details or call me at 360 921 9908 to discuss availability.
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