Cambozola Cheese

Cambozola Cheese is a cross between blue cheese and camembert. It was invented in the early 1970s by the Kasseri Champignon company in Bavaria (Southern Germany).

Meant to be a cross between Camembert and Gorgonzola, this is a triple-cream, full-fat cheese that like Camembert is soft and creamy with a powdery rind. During the making, however, it is injected with the same mould as is used in Gorgonzola, which gives Cambozola streaks of blue mould. It is much milder than Gorgonzola, however, as it doesn't develop as much of the mould.

Cambozola is made from cow's milk

Making Cambozola Cheese

Cultures needed:

ׁ(Mesophilic Starter Culture (MM100 ׁ)

-Penicillum Candidum

-Penicillium Roqueforti

-Rennet(dissolved in a little amount of cool water)

-Calcium Chloride/optional/use ¼ tsp.(1.25ml) in ¼ cup of cool water.

Milk:

Raw milk or

1 part heavy cream to 7 parts skim milk or

non-homogenized whole milk

Procedure:

Heat milk/cream to 85f (29.5c).

Maintain this temperature throughout the process.

For a 2 gallon (8 liters) milk batch use approximately 1/8th tsp.

of the Mesophilic Starter Culture.

Sprinkle the culture onto the warmed milk, letting it thoroughly dissolve before gently stirring, using top to bottom strokes.

Add the rennet and stir gently for about 2-4 minutes. Let the curd set and test for clean break after about 60 minutes.

After getting a clean, gently cut curds into ½ inch (1.5cm) cubes.

Stir curds in the whey for 2 minutes. Drain off 100% of the whey from the curds using either a colander or draining bag for 25-30 minutes.

Now ladle the drained curds in your camembert moulds until they are half full using about 50% of the curds.

Sprinkle a very small dusting of P. roqueforti mold powder (about 1/8 tsp.) on the top of the curds.

Ladle the rest of the curds into the half full Camembert moulds.

Let the filled moulds drain for 16-24 hours until you see no additional

Draining.

Turn the moulds over during this draining period at least 5 times so they drain uniformly. Once your cheese are drained and firm enough, take them out of their moulds and place them onto a draining mat/platform and place in a plastic container to begin aging.

The temperature should be 50-54f (10-12c) in your aging room. Cover your aging container when the cheeses no longer look excessively moist, making sure there is no moisture touching your cheeses.

Flip your cheeses daily using clean hands. The white mold should begin to appear within 3-6 days, maybe a bit longer if the temperature is colder. After you see a good covering of white mold bloom on the cheeses, use a clean knitting needle or clean thin Phillips Head screwdriver, poke about 10 holes through the top of each cheese.

These holes will air and help in the development of blue veining. Continue to age at 40-50f. You may have to re-poke holes if additional white mold bloom covers the holes.

About 10-14 days after

the first poking, wrap you cheeses in White Mold Paper and continue to age until you like the flavor.

When the center of the cheese is a bit soft to the touch it has completed aging. You can cut one cheese in half to see how ripe it is. A longer aging period will result in a stronger blue flavor.

After the cheese has fully drained you will want to lightly sprinkle about 1 tsp. of course non-iodized salt on all sides of each cheese. After salting, the cheeses can be set aside to age.