Cooking soft cheeses with white mold is technologically considered easier than, for example, hard or semi-hard varieties of the product. No additional pressing, prolonged salting and other manipulations. Another distinguishing feature of such cheeses is the rarity of adding extraneous ingredients to them, while spices, nuts, berries and more are put in the same "Gouda".
The technology for making traditional soft cheese with mold includes two varieties of mold culture - Penisillium candidum and Geotrichum candidum. One of them forms a characteristic fluff on the surface of the cheese, the second makes its inner part soft and creamy, and also has a disinfecting effect, protecting the product from contamination by unfavorable moldy crops.
It would seem that you can enhance the nutty-mushroom flavor of Camembert and Brie by adding hazelnuts, almonds or other nuts, as well as pieces of champignons or even valuable truffles to the milk at the cooking stage. But why, even in Europe, with its cheese-making traditions, are such intricate varieties of cheese so rare? This is due to the very rare purity of such ingredients.
When you buy a bag of nuts or not even a bag, but, for example, a loose product on the market, you cannot see foreign microorganisms that have chosen such a nutrient medium as their home. The same goes for mushrooms. Moreover, the latter are usually sold even with pieces of land left after cultivation. It is almost impossible to completely peel mushrooms and make them literally sterile for adding to cheese at home without resorting to the help of special equipment.
You may decide to do a similar experiment by making soft, white-mold cheese at home. Try it, but in this case, try to make a small head of cheese, so that later you will not be offended for wasted raw materials.
