Processed

Thermophilic

S tier

Thermophilic starters—Streptococcus thermophilus with Lactobacillus helveticus or L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus—work in the 37–45 °C vat used for mozzarella, grana, emmental scalds, and yoghurt-adjacent pasta filata. They survive a cook that would kill a mesophile, build the stretch in a filata curd, and leave the sweet-nutty peptidase notes of a long-aged grana. Pitch them into a room-temperature chèvre vat and they will sulk. They are also the backbone of many yoghurt cultures, but a cheese thermophilic blend is chosen for curd behaviour, not for a breakfast pot. Keep pellets frozen; a warm courier trip is a dead cooker.