St. Paulin

A few weeks ago I cut into the St. Paulin I made in January. I used the procedure from Frank Kosikowski's book "Cheese and Fermented Milk Foods, Volume II: Procedure and Analysis." Although the cheese does not look so great, it does taste good. Precisely like a St. Paulin should taste like; mild and buttery. It turned out a little too salty to my taste, though others didn't mind the saltiness. I checked my notes and compared them with the recipe. The cheese had been too long in the brine. I do try to be moderate with the use of salt. In "The French Cheese Book", the author Patrick Rance keeps complaining about cheeses being too salty. "I am all for moderation" he said about the amounts of salt being used while salting St. Nectaire cheeses.

St. Paulin

This is the St Paulin I made early January. I took it out of the aging cave a week ago and moved it to the fridge. It has quite a coat of corynebacterium. I suspect that the white part on the rind is a yeast. 

St. Paulin

On January 9 I made a St. Paulin, also known as Port du Salut, after a recipe from Kosikowski's book "Cheese and Fermented Milk Foods" Volume II Procedure and Analysis. Here is the result three weeks later. The cheese has quite an open structure because I did not press it. I have been washing the cheese regularly, first with brine with Brevibacterium linens added to it and later with brine without the bacteria. The smear is developing but as with the Epoisse cheeses, it has been slow going. The temperature in the cave has been below ideal for optimum growth. But with spring coming and rising temperatures, the atmosphere in the cave will change for the better soon.