Penicillium Candidum (ABL)

A must have for Brie and Camembert!

New England Cheese Making Supply alway has everything I need for what ever cheese I’m making. This time Brie and Camembert. The Penicillium Candidum (and Geotrichum Candidum) always make a wonderfully flavored cheese and always bloom. Here are my cheeses after about 5 days. Still have a ways to go but blooming nicely.

Fantastic culture for my camembert!

I'm new to cheesemaking and still learning how everything works. However, this culture worked fantastic and it was beautiful seeing the white rind growing on my camembert. Nice even coverage and the flavor was amazing!

Very traditional Brie mold

I finally have enough experience with this mold to do a review. First of all, I'm very happy with it. However, I think first time buyers will want exercise some caution. This is a very traditional Brie mold. It produces a really rocky kind of mold growth pattern. To me, it looks a bit like frosting that's dripping off a doughnut. While other PC molds produce a fine even surface, this produces a pattern of thick and thin patches. You need to be a bit careful as I've found that it's not particularly happy to get knocked back. So when you flip the cheese, make sure to handle the cheese in the areas where it is thickest, otherwise it make be slow to fill in. Also, it's less happy growing in very high fat areas, so I think it's better for cheeses like a traditional French Brie style rather than some of the super high fat American "Brie" styles (for example triple creme). In terms of flavour, I was really surprised: it screams "Brie". So if you want a traditional Brie mold, this is definitely the way to go. If you are looking for something with uniform coverage and ease of use, then there are probably better options. The picture here is of a triple creme.