Return To: Cheese Cultures
MA400 Mesophilic Culture
MA4001/MA4002 is a general purpose, mesophilic culture, suitable for low temperature soft and hard cheeses. A very useful tip is to divide the sachet down into the required amount of starter, put the powder into ice cube trays and fill with previously boiled cooled water and freeze. Its then just a matter of plopping your pre-measured out starter into your warm milk the next time you come to make cheese.
When ordering more than one sachet, a mix of MA4001/4002 will automatically be sent. This avoids the risk of phage when making cheese on consecutive days.
Each sachet is sufficient for up to 50 litres of milk. For smaller sachets of Mesophilic culture, please view product number 0023.
£9.50
Description
MA400 Mesophilic Culture
All the cultures are sold in single sachets, unless stated otherwise.
Cheese cultures are used to make and ripen cheese, yogurt and Kefir. Culture is also just another name for groups of beneficial bacteria, naturally living in raw milk.
Adult humans actually have trillions of friendly bacteria swimming around in their gut.
The definition of ‘Bacteria’. Small single-celled organisms, found almost everywhere on Earth and are vital to the planet’s ecosystems. Some species can live under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure.
Which brings me nicely onto the difference between Mesophilic and Thermophilic cultures.
MA400 Mesophilic, general purpose Culture. When your cheese making recipe requires low-temperature preparation, a Mesophilic culture should be used. Works best with temperatures around 32c – 90f. Suitable for most soft and hard cheeses.
Thermophilic cultures, on the other hand, require heating the milk to higher temperatures. Usually above 32c – 90f. Cheese making recipes typically requiring a Thermophilic culture include Swiss cheese, Parmesan, Mozzarella …..
These cultures are essential helpers and control the milk fermentation during the cheese making process. Fermentation means these cultures acidify the milk, converting milk sugar (lactose) into lactic acid.
However, a cultures job doesn’t end with the initial fermentation process. They are also responsible for the way your cheese will taste at the end of the maturing or aging stage.
We stock a wide variety to suit the home and small scale cheese maker. Including white, blue and red mould producing cultures.
Recipes often use the terms ‘Mesophilic’ and ‘Thermophilic’ so we have included this classification in our descriptions to make choosing the right culture easier.
The worst thing that can happen is moisture gets into the sachet and sticks the granules together. Please ensure sachets are sealed completely between batches.
Toby –
Making cheese on a regular basis this starter is great and a very economical method of starting a cheese. It is incredibly consistent, producing cheeses with delicious sharpness, acidity and creamy texture again and again, highly recommended.
Jeff Stratford (verified owner) –
This is really good starter producing consistent results. If making smaller batches it stores well in the freezer as suggested in the description.
Julie Prisk –
Excellent starter, produces lovely cheese. Stores well in the freezer sealed with sticky tape if using a bit at a time – I used it in 1/5ths with 10 litres of milk with great results. Highly recommended.
Ron Savage –
Tried this starter recently to make a white stilton type cheese great result each time will be using again.
Ryan –
This is my go to Cheese Starter which I use it for a number of differant cheeses, including goats cheese to great effect. It lasts a lot longer than the exp date if stored in the freezer as instructed and is great value in the larger pack.