Have you ever come across a cheese that you like that has rind that was colorful/flavourful, and you think I want to make that cheese or hey that rind would be awesome on this cheese. Well you can, by creating something called a morge. This is a mixture of bacteria that help produce the flavours/smells that help ripen your cheese. You can purchase these in a pre-made morge like PLA or Brevibacteriun linens (B. linens), or you can make your own morge, like I am doing for my next batch of Special Project Cheeses.
Disclaimer Time: Many of these rinds on commercial cheeses may contain a proprietary blend of bacteria, this post is intended for the HOME CHEESES MAKER, you should not do this with anything you are selling or could enter in competitions. Do so at your own risk.
OK, now that is out of the way I can get on with how I made the morge. First I took the rind of a cheese that bought, it had a nice orange/red rind, which meant it had B. Linens on it. I could also tell by the smell and the stickiness of the rind. As I cut my pieces of cheese, I also cut the rind off and placed it in a container in the fridge. After I had finished the cheese it was time to start, especially as it will be used in the next batch of cheese I will start tomorrow.
After cutting up the rind I then placed it in my blender and then added distilled water to help liquefy the rind bits.
I then turned on the blender and proceeded to make my cheese rind smoothy. It took a bit to get the rind chewed up, and I have some small pieces, I can live with it. I poured it into a mason jar and into the fridge it goes.
I will use half of the solution in the actual make, the rest will be used in a brine during the washing stage. I don’t expect to have the as,e results, but I do hope for some B. linens to play in these cheese party. We will just have to see.
Go make some cheese, or at least eat some you like. ’cause in the morning, I’m making waffles…err….cheese!
Much To Do About Cheese 