What Is Mold in Cheese?

The Facts

• Cheese begins as milk that is processed using rennin, the active enzyme in rennet, to separate the curds from the whey. The curds are then separated, drained and packed tightly into molds, where microorganisms begin to grow and spread. Molds either already present in the curds or introduced at this point then grow, breaking down the curds into fats and other chemicals that eventually form the cheese after months or even years of processing.

Penicillium camemberti

• The Penicillium camemberti fungus is a common species of mold used in the production of many cheeses from around the world. It is a member of the genus of fungi that also produces the antibiotic medicine penicillin. Penecillium camemberti is responsible for the edible rind that grows around a variety of soft cheeses, including Camembert, from which it gets its name, and brie cheese.

Penicillium roqueforti

• The Penecillium roqueforti fungus is a species of mold from the same family as Penicillin and Penicillium camemberti. It gets its name from Roquefort, a variety of tangy, veined cheese. Penecillium roqueforti is responsible for the growth of the veins in Roquefort and other similar cheeses such as Stilton and Danish Blue. It is often injected into the center of a wheel of cheese and allowed to grow outward over time.

Cottage Cheese

• Cottage cheese is a form of mild-tasting cheese which does not contain any additional molds above and beyond what was present in the milk the curds were originally extracted from. As a result, cottage cheese is little more than mostly-drained curds, bearing little resemblance to other cheeses created using the traditional aging process.