Microbe guide: Chrysosporium sulfureum
If you’ve ever spotted yellow fluff on the surface of a cheese rind, you were probably looking at the mold Chrysosporium sulfureum. Considered a typical fungal species on the rinds of many classic French cheeses including Tomme de Savoie and Saint-Nectaire, this cave-loving fungus is widespread, but enigmatic. Here’s a summary of the little that we do know about this cheese fungus.
Macroscopic appearance:
In the lab and on the surfaces of cheeses, Chrysosporium sulfureum colonies are white at first and eventually turn yellow when the fungus decides to reproduce and make spores. It tends to be very fluffy when it grows and can look like little yellow clouds. Old growths, especially those that have been flattened during handling of the cheese, can look like lichens growing on a rock. It generally grows distinct patches on the rind surface, but I have seen a few cheeses that are almost entirely yellow from growth of this mold. I have isolated other species of this fungus from cheese rinds that are white, not yellow. In the lab, this fungus secretes a considerable amount of an unknown yellow pigment into the medium, and a similar diffusion of yellow can be seen under the surface of heavily colonized cheese rinds.
(A) The yellow spots on the surface of this natural rind cheese are the mold Chrysosporium sulfureum. The yellow pigmentation of the cut cheese right below the surface is due to the growth of this mold. (B) Closeup view of the mold on the cheese surface. (C) A closeup view of Chrysosporium sulfureum growing in the lab, where it is growing on top of another mold, Scopulariopsis (brown), suggesting a parasitic relationship. (A) and (B) photos taken by Adam Detour.
Food habitat:
Chrysosporium sulfureum is generally only found on natural rind cheeses. The fungus grows on cheeses where other fungi have already grown, meaning that it usually pops up on older cheeses after molds such as Penicillium and Scopulariopsis. I suspect (although have no data to prove!) that it may be a mycoparasite, using living or possibly dead fungi as a food source. It may also depend on these early colonizing molds to deacidify the cheese surface because it prefers a higher pH for growth (6-8). Relative to many other cheese molds, growth is quite slow both on the cheese and in the lab. This fungus prefers the cool temperatures of caves (~14-18°C).
The frequent washing of washed rind cheeses prevents the colonization of this and many other species of mold. Bloomy rind cheeses are generally not aged long enough for this mold to establish, although I have heard of it colonizing bloomy rind cheeses aged > 30 days when in the same facility as natural rind cheeses.
It’s unclear where in the environment the mold comes from, but Chrysosporium molds are quite common in natural caves so these fungi are typically only found on cheeses aged in a natural cave environment. It is quite common on cheeses that are aged in natural caves in the Auvergne and Pyrenees regions of France, but I have also seen it growing on cheeses in the UK as well as a few cheeses made and aged in the United States.
Interestingly, this fungus is not just limited to growth on cheese. In addition to being found in natural caves around the world, it has also been reported in the nests of leaf-cutting ants and in mushroom farms where it is considered a pest.
Impacts/Functions:
Our understanding of what this fungus might be doing to the cheese and how it makes a living is surprisingly limited. The French generally consider this mold a sign of a good cheese aging environment, and have quaintly named the mold “fleur jaune” (yellow flower). Some cheesemakers encourage its growth for these aesthetic reasons, although it’s possible that in some regions (e.g. the United States) consumers may be frightened by the appearance of this mold on food. I have heard from several different cheese producers or distributors that this fungus can impart a very bitter, medicinal flavor to the paste of smaller format cheeses if Chrysosporium sulfureum is abundant.
If you observed anything interesting about this mold, please share your experiences in the comments section below.
Other notes:
This fungus was formerly known as Sporotrichum aureum. It is also sometimes misspelled as Chrysosporium sulphureum. The currently accepted name and spelling is Chrysosporium sulfureum.
While clear reports (with DNA sequencing confirming the ID) of this mold as a pathogen of humans are not known from the literature, its potential impacts on human health and production of mycotoxins have not been evaluated.
Finally, it is not a bacterium, as some sources suggest. This is a fungus. And an enigmatic one that desperately needs some more research.
For more details on Chrysosporium sulfureum, check out the following papers:
Ropars, Jeanne, et al. “A taxonomic and ecological overview of cheese fungi.”International journal of food microbiology 155 (2012): 199-210. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168160512000852
Ratomahenina, R, et al. “Study of Chrysosporium sulfureum, the mould responsible for Fleur jaune on Saint-Nectaire cheese. Milchwissenschaft 50 (1995): 266-267.
Post written by Benjamin Wolfe.
Great article and very easy to understand the science behind, amazing for people who haven’t immersed themselves deeply into the world of microbiology and cheese yet.
Thanks again.
Hi
I have put some curds and salt under a weight after sprinkling with ash and mixing a morbiere style cheese with the edges and have grown this yucky , sweetish, yellow spotty fungus on the remaining cream colored cheese that has blue areas, I assume are penicillium types… mixed with the ash, the non yellow area tastes really good. The yellow does taste medicinal and rotten. I have not died yet, but am interested in this. It does not go deep and was on the more exposed areas. I would like to know if this is the fleur jaune !?
Thanks
Clare
Hello,
I found this kind of fungus frequently on italian cheese TOMA PIEMONTESE (the area in Torino, Biella, Cuneo).
The Chrysosporium sulfureum grows also in modern ripening rooms with air conditioning plant(temperature +6 / +8 °C and moisture 95% to 99%), this fungus appears after 1 or 2 mounth of ripening and grows on the surface on the cheese were Mucor is yet grown.
In this period of the year a lot of cheese TOMA PIEMONTESE is covered by the Chrysosporium sulfureum and the cheese producers consider that it is a big problem for the appearance of the cheese.
The cheese factory consider the presence of this mold a blemish and it is difficult to remove this mold from the cheese.
been seeing this fungus on what I would consider slightly neglected cheeses on my travels. They are possibly under-salted, and certainly never washed, with thoroughly natural rinds. Like you mentioned in the article, they appear after other species have already feasted on the cheese. i’ve noticed that the fungus appears to grow mostly on the upper side of cheeses. a collection of caciocavallo in a friends’ cave had incredibly complex growths of this fungus, but only on the sides of the cheese that were always facing upwards!
Hi David –
Thanks so much for these observations!
Ben
Very insightful article. I am the cheesemaker David refers to. This year I have made a lot of Tomme style cheeses and have had a lot of this fungus’ growth. A lot of the cheeses are completely yellow while others just slightly.
Im no cheese afficionado but I’ve seen some yellow pigmentation on sheep’s cheese bought for me over Christmas. No overt mouldy fluff. Tastes bitter. Will try and grow it in the lab and ID it! Hopefully it’s a mould
I usually find this growing on a cheese that I buy from a woman (Marie) right at the French end of lake Cenise. Right at the top of the pass between France and Italy. I stop every time I cross there. It is a tomme Montaigne and always one of the best cheeses every trip. It looks like your pic’A’. The surface has a few small specs of it On top of a fully molded tomme type rind but below the crust is the heavy bright yellow band. I have had some surface growth on older bandaged cheddars in my cave here even before I brought rind samples of hers back.
The mold tends to really transform the body because it is much sweeter (never actually measured the pH though) than most other tommes. Close to the rind to be a bit bitter(I always taste). I would love to see more info on the Functional transformation. She sells a lot of this cheese so it seems to be acceptable to the many buyers that drive up from Torino.
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