Cheese that Looks Like a Brain

The biochemistry of cheese is a giant wormhole that can keep you occupied, quite possibly, forever. You can think about cheese as a rubbery, fatty, melt-y thing- and all of that is fascinating. But when you think about milk as a nutrient and fat dense substance created by the body of a mothering mammal for it's young, and cheese as that vulnerable substance left out to rot as microbes- introduced and in the environment- colonize it until it gets so far gone, it's good again... well, that's really fascinating. Right? 

For your consideration: Cheese That Looks Like a Brain

Vermont Creamery's Bonne Bouche. I take a local raw honey and put mulling spices in the jar: cinnamon stick, clove, cardamom and a vanilla bean and use it for toast and tea. It's warm, fragrant spice is a wonderful match for the earthy flavors of this cheese. I served this with a hearty seed bread.

Perhaps you have encountered such a thing? This style is characteristic of cheeses from the Loire Valley in France, but the Vermont Creamery (formerly the Vermont Butter and Cheese Company) started making a line of these cheeses in Vermont and now, there a relatively common find. The microbe responsible for this characteristic brain-y rind is Geotrichum candidum, a fungus. In the case of the cheeses we eat today, it is most likely applied to a puck of set cheese after the milk has been coagulated and the whey has been drained. Any microbe added in cheesemaking after the first lactic fermentation is called a "secondary culture" and includes these fungi, and other moldmicrobes that may be introduced (as when strains of mold are added to a cheese to create a blue variety). When these microbes are applied to a already shaped cheese, they might be called "smear ripened", "mold ripened", "bloomies" or "whites". I've often heard these brain-y cheeses called "georind" or "geos".

In modern cheesemaking these isolated strains of fungus are added in a sterile, controlled environment, but it is very interesting to think about the history of cheesemaking and all of the wild yeasts and molds that may have alighted upon a young cheese, and the bravery that must have gone into cheese-making in the days before modern science. The histories of cheese making in different areas, the "Cheese Culture", if you will ignore the punning, has so much to do with the local microclimate of these distinct regions. Early cheesemakers would wash, wrap, and brine their newly formed cheeses to encourage or inhibit the growth of these organisms they knew virtually nothing about. Even today, the most technologically advanced cheese makers will discover new varieties flourishing on their rinds without fully understanding why. If you bought Jasper Hill's Harbison this year it might have had a sticker on it explaining the furry blue-green mold that dotted it's wooden belt, and might have been responsible for this year's distinct flavor.

When Geothrichum candidum is applied to the exterior of a young goat cheese it begins to grow, and releases enzymes. As milk transforms to cheese, the proteins in the milk are broken down, "proteolysis" as are the fats, "lipolysis". When you introduce a mold and the enzymes it produces, these processes are affected greatly. The pH changes, the rate of break down changes. Someone with a degree in biochemistry could explain this better, but what you need to know- as an eater of cheese- is the affect they have on taste, and looks, probably

• the surface of the cheese has a brainy texture which might cause some pockets of moisture
• the area just below the rind has ripened the most and creates a gooey, gluey layer
• depending on several factors, this goo is somewhere between "brie-y like" and a funky smelling rivulet
• because of this uneven ripening these cheeses need to be cared for carefully- in cheesemaking, by your monger, and in your home (be gentle, keep it in your butter drawer, share with your very best friends.)

Tasting notes and things to consider while tasting

• take one adventuresome bite with a bit of rind and core and notice any impression. Chew the way you normally chew, eat it as if it is something familiar
• then take another series of tiny bites, of each part of the cheese: rind, goo, and core
• keep these bite on your tounge for a moment so it warms, and you have time to develop a full impression. With your mouth closed, breath up into your nose- basically, smell what is in your mouth and see if that changes your impression
• Tasting the rind: note the glue-y tacky texture. Note any earthy, mushroom flavors. Is the bumpiness of the cheese noticeable?
• Tasting the goo: describe the texture. Is it milk-y? glue-y? brie-like? If a cheese smells and tastes strongly of ammonia it is overripe, but frequent tasters-of-cheese often come to appreciate a funkiness you will often find in this style of cheese. Do you ever cut a bunch of basil and notice a strong, pungent aroma? Do you notice something like that now?
• Tasting the core: this will often have a chalky texture and taste like young goat cheese aka chevre. Can you find new flavors to describe what you know as "goat cheese-y" keeping this cheese in your mouth think about the following flavors and aromas- do you find any?
  • grass (the smell of fresh mown grass, a field in springtime...)
  • hay
  • herbs (thyme, sage, parsley)
  • lemon (juice, zest)
  • musky mushroomy aromas
  • yogurt
  • honey (honeycomb)