Lacto-shroomy Pub Cheese

A tip of the hat to Forager Chef Alan Bergo. This is Bergo's forager pub cheese recipe, adapted to lacto-fermented mushroom juice. Check out his website at www.foragerchef.com, and consider buying his book, The Forager Chef's Book of Flora: Recipes and Techniques for Edible Plants from Garden, Field And Forest. It's a keeper.

As an artisan baker, I am also, always, a sucker for a good schmear. This most definitely qualifies.

Pub cheese and friends

4 oz. cream cheese, softened.
8 oz grated sharp cheddar or other cheese of your liking.
2 small or one large minced garlic clove
1/2 cup sour cream
a splash of hot sauce
2 tablespoons lactofermented suillus or bolete juice

OK, so put the cream cheese and cheddar in your food processor and wizz it up. You will need to scrape down the sides a time or two. Add the sour cream, garlic, hot sauce and mushroom juice. Process until it is a smooth and homogeneous spread.

The juice contributes a flavor that is only background in shroominess, and yet gives a strong umami boost to the finished spread.

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