Now there's a title that should get people's attention
DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH
A shocking proposal:
Bacterium Linens ..... in the wild. That's what I'm hunting.
I've read that bacterium linens is the same bacteria that makes your socks smell bad, and your pits stink. It grows in the moist salty sweaty environment found in those places, and it also grows on wash rind cheeses, and gives them their distinct odors and flavors.
I'm making cheeses, a new endeavor for me. My latest batch was split between feta and brie, and innoculated with my long running kefir supply, which supposedly has geotrichum candidum, and to which I've added some rind from brie.... as a side culture. It'll go into the "cave" tonight.
I'd like to try some washed rind cheese, of no particular specific type, using a moderately salty brine wash, for a moderate flavor. My plan is to wipe my sweaty arm pits with the brine soaked cloth, and use the same cloth to wash the rind of the cheeses.
Is this absolutely insane? I don't think so. I'm not so squeamish that I haven't done cunnilingus or licked drops of sweat from my lover's body in the heat of passion, and you know something? It never made me sick. I even know of a beer innoculated from vaginal yeast. Are you sick and disgusted yet
B linens is present in the environment as a wild bacteria, and naturally thrives in warm moist environments. The arm pit of a person such as myself who bathes frequently and doesn't douse himself with chemicals is not an unsanitary environment any more than my jar of kombucha, or the kefir jars I virtually never wash, but just add milk and grains, and continue. I see little reason NOT to try this, and no more danger than simply wiping with a moist slightly salty cloth.
When you are done puking, think about this and give me some well considered thoughts and comments not based on our inherently squeamish tendencies. The word "pathogens" will no doubt come to mind, but obviously pathogens are everywhere, and while they may be on our skin, they also constantly enter our bodies via our mouths and cuts on our skin, nor are they microbes that generally will turn a cheese "toxic". The geotrichium and pennicilium in the cheese culture will also suppress many if not all of those. The traditional washed rind cheeses are exposed to the same things during their aging. They are not kept in a sterile cave with hepa filters and handled by sterile robotic arms.
Owly