Surface and ripening cultures

Our range of products includes all types of moulds, yeasts and a wide selection of surface cultures. We offer a wide range of ready-made as well as customer-specific culture mixtures for refining your cheeses – from blue cheese to Camembert to Romadur and Alpine cheese. We will be happy to assist you in selecting the right surface or ripening culture for your specific needs.

Red smear-ripened cheeses

  • rapid growth on the cheese surface
  • development of the typical smell, taste and appearance of red smear ripened cheeses such as Tilsiter, Limburger, Romadur and Muenster
  • prevention of dehydration and microbial contamination

Thanks to our many years of experience in the composition of red smear cultures, we understand this highly complex interaction of very diverse bacterial and yeast genera which differ in properties such as pigmentation, flavour formation, pH tolerance and mould inhibition. Yeasts are involved in the deacidification of the cheese surface during the first stages of ripening and thus create suitable conditions for the growth of red smear bacteria. Its most typical representative, Brevibacterium linens, ensures the formation of the characteristic pigmentation (orange, yellow-orange, cream) and, thanks to its proteolytic and lipolytic activity, contributes to the production of the typical flavour components. As the ripening process progresses, the unmistakable red smear layer is fully formed.

White mould

  • use of the edible moulds Penicillium candidum and Penicillium camemberti
  • for the typical mushroomy Camembert flavour
  • uniformly dense mould coating for characteristic appearance
  • differences in growth rate, colour, density, salt tolerance, proteolytic and lipolytic activity, depending on culture

Blue mould

  • wide range of Penicillium roqueforti cultures
  • for the characteristic blue-green marbled appearance of cheeses such as Gorgonzola, Roquefort and Stilton
  • release of proteolytic and lipolytic enzymes for typical tangy flavour and creamy texture of blue cheese

Propionic acid bacteria

  • opti-propioni product line
  • specially selected strains of Propionibacterium freudenreichii
  • for use in combination with other starter cultures for producing and maturing large-hole cheeses such as Emmentaler and Swiss cheeses such as Gruyère, Comté, Tilsiter and Appenzeller
  • for characteristic perforation and typical sweet, nutty flavour in Emmentaler
  • reliable hole formation through rapid propagation and effective gas formation