Monday, November 18, 2013



Last Saturday I had the great pleasure of meeting Sister Noella, aka The Cheese Nun at the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, CT. This visit came about after Mateo Kehler of Jasper Hill had made me wonder what kind of fungi were growing on the cheeses I make, especially the Ouleout. When we met in Brooklyn at a cheese fair a few weeks ago he wondered if the white mould on the cheese was Geotricum candidum or mycodore. When I relayed this event to a distributor in Connecticut who buys my cheese and is a friend of Sister Noella, he offered to introduce me to her so I might be able to find out what is growing on the rind.
Well, find out I did. Sister Noella, who is an expert on cheese surface ripening organisms, was so kind to invite me to her laboratorium to examine the cheese. The fungus growing on the cheese turned out to be Geotricum candidum (see last photo).

Below is a link to a recent article about her.

http://tinyurl.com/kt5mwox




2 comments:

Louella said...

What a happy encounter! I bet she was tickled to have one of her microscopic specialties (geo) on your rind. I bet you were tickled to meet such a cheese rock star. Actually, you're a cheese rock star yourself.

Jewel said...

So nice to see a post from you. I'd love to see what you're up to now that it's Spring 2014. What cheeses are you making? I'm a big fan, having read all your posts in my quest to learn about cheesemaking. Several years ago I started raising dairy goats and now have great milk to work with and to make cheese with. I'm so sorry to hear about your wife.