![]() They do, however, all agree that slime molds are clearly neither plants, animals, fungi nor bacteria. Taxonomists, folks who specialize in classifying organisms, haven’t all agreed on how to classify slime molds. Some strange things live in the forest at Tryon Creek State Natural Area (TCSNA) but for my money, none is stranger than the organisms known as slime molds. But if you just see some small areas or even specks of mold, the United States Department of Agriculture advises that it’s OK to cut off the affected parts of the cheese and eat the rest.By Bruce Rottink, Volunteer Nature Guide & Retired Research Forester In a harder product, like many cheeses, the enzymes won’t travel as far, so some of the cheese might still be fine.Ī firm cheese with mystery mold on most of its surfaces isn’t worth saving. In something soft and liquidy, like yogurt, those enzymes more easily disperse throughout the entire food. Molds release enzymes that will change the food’s flavor and texture. That said, the molds public health experts are most concerned about grow on grains, nuts and certain types of produce, not dairy products.Īn uninvited mold on your cheese (or yogurt or sour cream or other dairy delight), can, however, negatively impact the quality. Some contain toxins we don’t want to eat. While some types of mold are safe to eat and, of course, essential for producing many kinds of cheese, it’s not a good idea to consume unidentified, uninvited molds. A group of hyphae is called a “mycelium,” which is considered the body of the mold.) (Quick science lesson: Those threads are the mold’s hyphae. Mold, on the other hand, would feel “soft and thready.” If you were to touch it, it would feel gritty, Martin said. If it’s mold growth and you scrape it, it’s going to kind of collapse on itself.”Ĭalcium lactate might look like powdery smudges on the surface of the cheese. Those filaments don’t hold up to any kind of scraping. ![]() With the fungi, it will just sort of disintegrate. “It would be hard, sort of crystalline or feel like a salt. “With calcium lactate you should be able to take a knife or something and scrape some off,” she said. If you’re still not sure, Nicole suggests assessing the texture. (Don’t mind the black bits - those are truffles deliberately added to the cheese.) “If you see anything stick up from the surface, then it’s more likely to be mold.” The slightly thready look of the powdery-looking stuff on this cheese suggests that it’s mold. “Calcium lactate tends to accumulate in moisture on the surface, but it’s generally pretty flat,” said Martin, associate director of the Milk Quality Improvement Program at Cornell University. What’s a hopeful cheese eater to do? I asked food scientist Nicole Martin for help telling the difference between unwanted cheese mold and calcium lactate.įirst, she advised, inspect patches of white stuff for anything resembling threads or fuzz. They may look faint, but on close inspection, it’s clear they are mold. The whitish patches, on the other hand, are an uninvited fungus. Like this one: This truffle cheddar cheese is supposed to have black specks (that’s the truffles!). Both are fine to eat, and, in certain types of cheeses are even used as a mark of quality.īuuuuuuuut… the smeary white coating that calcium lactate leaves on cheese can be tough to distinguish from a faint white mold. Previously, we wrote about calcium lactate and tyrosine, two types of harmless white crystals that can form in cheese. If it’s widespread, the cheese is probably beyond saving. (If it’s gritty, it may be harmless crystals.) Read on for more on telling the difference.Įat or toss: If you determine the substance is mold and it’s only on one portion of the cheese, you can cut it out. What it is: If it’s soft and you can spot “filaments,” it’s mold. What you see: White stuff on your cheese.
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