All articles written by Benjamin Wolfe

Experimental design for fermented food producers

When a fermented food product is not meeting quality standards, a producer will want to quickly identify the potential causes of poor quality. If microbes are playing a role, it might be helpful to conduct controlled experiments to determine how to control a fermented food microbiome to improve quality.

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Profile: Cecilia Garmendia – Scientist and Cheesemaker

Artisanal cheesemaking and science may appear to have little in common. “Not so!” according to Cecilia Garmendia who has translated her Ph.D. to cheesemaking and business ownership.

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A Visual Guide to the Microbiology of Washed-rind Cheeses

Ever wonder what is living in your favorite stinky cheese? Our new visual guide provides an overview of the microbial diversity of washed-rind cheeses. Print it out. Hang it up. Impress your friends with your new cheese microbiology knowledge.

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Microbial strains versus species —why small differences matter in fermented foods

By Megan Biango-Daniels with editing assistance from Megan Martin

Many cheesemakers credit strains of microbes that are specific to their caves with providing terroir, flavors, or appearances that cannot be replicated. This so-called microbial terroir is the unique taste imparted by microbes that make these foods. But what are microbial strains and how do they differ from species? [click to view the full story]

The curious case of the purple cheese rind

When you buy an aged cheese at the store, you expect it to have a specific appearance. Camembert should be white and fuzzy. Limburger should be orange and sticky. Cheese makers work hard to manage aesthetics, but sometimes unplanned colors or textures cause cheese defects. In the past few years, cheese rinds around the world have started turning an unusual purple color. In this Science Digested, I’ll explain how my lab discovered the microbial cause of this purple rind defect.

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A Visual Guide to the Microbiology of Natural Rind Cheese

Ever wonder what is living in that undulating crust on your favorite blue cheese or clothbound Cheddar? Our new visual guide provides an overview of the microbial diversity of natural rind cheeses. Print it out. Hang it up. Impress your friends with your new cheese microbiology knowledge.

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What causes cheese to turn pink?

Various attributes of a cheese, including both flavor and appearance, contribute to the final quality of the product. During the production of some cheeses, microbial processes can cause strange quality defects, often with colorful outcomes. Researchers in University College in Cork, Ireland identified the microbial culprit behind a notorious pink cheese defect. In this Science Digested, Adam Shutes from the Boston Cheese Cellar explains what they found.

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Cheese mites, gophers of cheese rinds

Next time you buy a piece of cheese with a mottled natural rind, such as a clothbound Cheddar or Tomme de Savoie, take a close look at the rind with a magnifying glass. If you look long enough, you will see tiny pieces of the rind are moving! These specks are microscopic arachnids known as cheese mites. Gophers of the cheese world, these tiny mites can both impart flavors as well as cause headaches for cheese producers.

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Geotrichum candidum: A yeast holding on to its moldy past

Have you ever noticed those goat’s milk cheeses with the wrinkly surface at the cheese shop? They look like a fuzzy white brain or a dusty grey coral and they smell like sweet, buttery flatulence. Those aesthetics and aromas come from the growth of the fungus Geotrichum candidum. Using in-depth genomic sequencing, French scientists recently unlocked the evolutionary history of this important cheese microbe and revealed a fungus with an identity crisis.

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Organic and conventional flours produce different sourdough fermentations

It’s difficult to connect the dots throughout our complex food system. Although it is rarely demonstrated scientifically, we generally accept that what happens on farms impacts the quality of our food. For microbial foods, the raw materials we use in fermentation can introduce different microbes depending on how those materials were produced. A recent study in Italy of sourdough fermentation demonstrated that organic vs. conventional farming can affect the quality of sourdough bread. This exciting new research highlights the role that microbes play in shaping food quality as it moves along the path from farm to fork.

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