Making Camembert cheese from cheddar ?

timturtle, Jun 17, 11:17pm
I think it was on here that ages ago someone explained how to do this. Does anyone remember reading this or now how to do it ? TIA

245sam, Jun 17, 11:56pm
you're so right timturtle - it WAS on here "ages ago" (on 06-06-06) that raze4 posted this how to make

CAMEMBERT MADE FROM CHEDDAR
Grate as much cheese as you want to convert and put it into a supermarket bag - one without holes in it. Add about ¼-â…“ cup of milk per 500g and mix it up in the bag, then put the bag of cheese in a bowl and press it with your bodyweight - the cheese and milk will form a solid mass with the moisture level needed to make camembert. At this stage it maybe best to leave it overnight before continuing…
Take some camembert rind (just the rind from one side of a purchased camembert) and put it through a blender with some water. Dip the cheese in to the solution to inoculate it with the camembert mould.

I haven't tried this but I have kept the above just in case I ever want to try it out. :-))

timturtle, Jun 17, 11:59pm
Your just a Gem ! Thanks

kvb, Jun 18, 5:49am
Just looked up my recipe file and this also was in the thread

Blue Vein
1kg block of cheese - tasty is best - and a wedge of blue vein. Grate the block and half the wedge - (Half is all you need and you can eat the rest. ) Add about a teaspoon of salt then shake the bag to mix it all up. Then push the bag into a small, strong bowl and press the cheese together as hard as you can. Seal the bag and put it somewhere warm for a week or two. When it's looking good and smelling like the real thing keep it in the fridge to keep it from maturing further.
jan2242 (392)11:37 am, 7 May
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timturtle, Jun 18, 5:57am
I asked Raze this today:

Hi this is nothing to do with your auction. you posted a method of making Camembert cheese using cheddar cheese in recipes, but it doesn't state how long to store it and how to store it before it is ready. Thanks timturtle (67 )12:40 pm, Fri 18 Jun

That was a while ago! Time for maturation depends on temperature - room temperature (at least down my way) is a little lower at the moment than other times. I would suggest keeping it airtight for storage in the kitchen and maybe in a transparent plastic container so you can monitor its progress. Basically you're using a fungus to digest and modify some of the sugars/nutrients in the cheese and its ideal stage of maturity is a matter of personal taste. Hope this helps. 4:49 pm, Fri 18 Jun

timturtle, Jun 18, 5:58am
and the reply, thanks so much Raze

raze4, Jun 18, 11:26am
No worries. Like most worthwhile things it's easy to do, takes some effort to do well. And like wine it's an art which is helped by knowledge of the science behind it.

lythande1, Jun 19, 3:52am
You can't. Camembert is a soft lightly ripened cheese. Cheddar is a matured cheese. You might make a soggy mixture by adding milk to cheddar but you sure can't call it camembert by any stretch of the imagination.

uli, Jun 19, 5:56am
lythande1 - the above recipe makes me wince actually - but one day I am going to try it out with a small batch just to see what it actually tastes like.

I have made lots of cheeses with my goats milk, feta mainly but including blue vein (very sharp) and brie (melt in your mouth type stuff).

I wonder actually where that recipe came from originally. Any idea raze4?

It sounds a little bit like a war recipe or something like that - would be interesting to know who came up with it and why. As it is just as easy to make junket from fresh milk, let the whey drip off in a mold (which can be just an ice cream container or something similar but smaller) and then inoculate it with the white camembert mould.

raze4, Jun 19, 11:22pm
The recipe/method is one I made up as an extension of making blue cheese by innoculating cheddar with blue cheese mold.

uli, Jun 20, 1:19am
Wow - you made it up yourself raze4?
I thought it was an old wartime recipe LOL :)

Must try it one day. Why did you think it was better than making it "from scratch"?

letitia, Jun 20, 1:26am
I would be a bit concerned about the cheese becoming contaminated with other unwanted mould spores/bacteria/fungus during the process. I wouldn't want to give myself and others food poisoning. But if anyone is game to try this recipe, I'd be interested to know how it worked out.

uli, Aug 25, 10:04am
Just came across this again - has anyone actually tried it - and how did it taste?