Hello hello Everyone.

Thanks for joining me. Not going to talk too much sh@t apart from the things you are here for. :)

So approx 25 days ago me and my very sweet cheesemaker Chef friend Szabi jumped into some crazy cheesemaking project while we inoculated our fresh raw milk with white rice and black koji spores then curdled it. You can see all of this in my previous post here.

So after all the conclusions i had – decided to learn from all my mistakes and wait out whats happening with these cheeses during some ageing. I wanted to learn more so i could gather more information to see what shall i change for the next time in the proccess.

I WARN YOU – you do not follow me or copy anything like this. It is risky. The cheeses are obviously contaminated with other molds not only my koji spores – and because i havent got a lab to investigate properly (can be good or bad or just not good for flavour) i took my chances by trying these one by one. (i ve already tasted each one of them previously with the mold and i had no sign of illness). You can get sick – please dont be as insane as i am. I JUST HAD TO TRY THEM so i can share now the results here with you.

I kept 4 pieces – 2 rounds – inoculated with white (green) spores and 2 squares – inoculated with awamori spores. 1 of each had got a beautiful ash coating and 2 of them i started to brush with some palinka (homemade spirit) in every second day. Here are my judgement so far.

1. White spores. Left alone how it was at the beggining – possibility for the mold to keep growing. The texture hasnt changed much, still acting like a not crumbly but creamy feta. Flavour developed – more salty, not very moldy, bit more complex. Overall – not superinteresting but great little cheese to eat if you dont like challanges.

from the tasting: ” nice like a soft cheddar, more flavour than before”

2. White spores. Got an ash coat before ‘cave-curing’. Also started to brush it with palinka. Texture hasnt changed much, still keeping its hardcore soft-creamcheese style, bit more crumbly maybe. Flavour has developed big time. INSANE. Taste like a very nice medium mild stilton bluecheese. Very complex. Yes its moldy and maybe could take a touch more salt yes. Overall – very surprising – ash and palinka did a very very decent job to enhancing more flavour.

from the tasting: ” palinka oh, its fucking delicious like Silton, God good, happy so far. ohh this is very delicious”

3. Awamori spores. Left alone, no ash but palinka bath yes. First impression – much more less interesting than the previous one. Texture changed a bit – more guey close to the rim which makes it more interesting – More umami flavour but in a simple way – not very deep. Palinka did a good job again. Notes of bitterness.

from the tasting: “palinka black koji, nothing too interesting. more moldy than the white one. Bitter.”

4. Awamori spores. No palinka but ash. Left the mold free to grow. The most impressive changes happened here texture-wise. Close to the edges the cheese became just as guey like a proper camambert. Flavour-wise was very similar to the other black spored one. Missing the palinka cure.

from the tasting: “black koji ash. best texture like real camambert/brie. bitter.”

So my overall opinion is:

• the palinka does its magic – brushing with delicious spirit does not make a ‘boozy cheese’ but enchances and opens up flavours
• ash gives a real good rimm – koji seemed to like it
• slight difference between white and black koji ‘flavours’ – im voting more for the black spores (acidity)

Next step – next experiment. I read tons of koji since this first attempt and i do understand its working way more than before. It needs carbs. It likes protein and fat (in the milk) but it needs carb to feed itself and thrill. So my next experiment will involve aspergillus luchuensis mold (like awamori, creates acidity), ash, palinka and some other starch to help my mold to grow. Trying to grow spores this time like i will try on meat – inoculate the milk but also cover the cheese outside with more spores and some starch – like a coat.

Till then i had no heart to discard this first batch… i placed them back to the fridge for some more ageing. And of course always finding a safe way to enjoy some. Like on a delicious sourdough pizza with some freshly made spicy ratatouille. With a crispy pissy’ organge wine. God thanks for life. So grateful. :)

Stay with me, its more to come. :P