Abstract
In this study, we produced mold-ripened cheese using mushrooms instead of Penicillium sp. Mushrooms were cultivated on non-woven fabric and the mycelial mat was wrapped around cheese samples to promote ripening. The mycelial mats of five fungal strains, including Pleurotus ostreatus SKB019 and Pleurotus salmoneo-stramineus NBRC31859, were wrapped around green cheeses before ripening. The mycelia were attached to the surface of the cheese after ageing for two weeks. In addition, eight mushroom strains were reselected from mycelial growth on commercial sliced cheese and applied to cheese ripening. The mycelia of three of these fungi, Isaria cicadae NBRC33259, Cordyceps farinosa NBRC100743, and Cordyceps militaris NBRC100741, effectively covered the entire surface of the cheese samples tested. The soluble nitrogen and formol nitrogen contents of the produced mushroom-ripened cheeses were highest in the non-fat cheese ripened with I. cicadae NBRC33259 at 1.72 g/100 g and 0.570 g/100 g, respectively, which were comparable to those for commercially produced Camembert and blue cheeses.
