Mother Noella Marcellino | |
|---|---|
| Born | Martha A. Marcellino June 30, 1951 |
| Citizenship | American |
| Alma mater | University of Connecticut |
| Known for | Microbiology |
| Awards | Fulbright Scholarship French Fellowship French Food Spirit Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Microbiology Molecular biology Cellular biology |
| Institutions | Abbey of Regina Laudis |
Mother Noella Marcellino, O.S.B. , (born Martha A. Marcellino; June 30, 1951) [1] is an American Benedictine nun who has earned a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Connecticut. Studying fungi in France on a Fulbright Scholarship, [2] she concentrated on the positive effects of decay and putrefaction as well as the odors and flavors of cheese. [3]
Marcellino dropped out of Sarah Lawrence College. [4] The Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, gave permission for members of the cloistered community of Benedictine nuns of Abbey of Regina Laudis to embark on a pilgrimage for higher education. [5] In December 1986, Marcellino and three other nuns applied and were accepted into courses for Agricultural Science at the University of Connecticut. [5]
In 1987 the group began a program in scholarship that resulted in all receiving doctoral degrees; Marcellino's was in molecular and cell biology/microbiology. [5] She began with introductory sciences courses at The University of Connecticut's campus in Waterbury, but it was during a visit by UCONN organic chemistry professor Nina Stein to the abbey's cheese cellar, that the professor suggested that she focus her research on the microbiology of cheese ripening. [5]
She won a Fulbright scholarship [6] to France to collect and examine native strains of fungi, with an emphasis on Geotrichum candidum , [7] from traditional cheese caves and stayed an additional three years, analyzing the samples on a grant from the French government. [5]
Mother Noella used to not be able to eat cheese, except for the occasional chunk of smoked cheddar and had been making cheese in a wooden whiskey barrel since 1977. [8]
She is a member of the Abbey of Regina Laudis. [9] She now frequently advises the United States cheese industry and she is a speaker and judge at competitions.
Her brother is John "Jocko" Marcellino, founding member and drummer with Sha Na Na.
She was praised by Rémy Grappin, the late Director of Research at France's National Institute of Agricultural Research, who said that she had studied the biodiversity of raw-milk cheese fungi and no one else was fighting harder to preserve it in a world of standardization and pasteurization. She was named the official cheese maker of Abbey of Regina Laudis and she is part of an ancient order of cheese makers. [10] She won a French Food Spirit Award and the organizers for the award said that she was an international expert of cheese. [8]
Marcellino was the subject of a PBS documentary called The Cheese Nun, [11] but she said that she does not like being called a cheese nun. She was filmed while she traveled though the French countryside collecting information from cheese-making experts. [10] Mother Dolores Hart advised her to go with "The Cheese Nun", because cheese is more appealing than fungi. She was also featured in the Netflix limited Series "Cooked". She appeared on the episode "Earth".
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A mold or mould is one of the structures that certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi. Not all fungi form molds. Some fungi form mushrooms; others grow as single cells and are called microfungi.
Bethlehem is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 3,385 at the 2020 census, down from 3,607 at the 2010 census. The town is part of the Naugatuck Valley Planning Region. The town center is a historic district and a census-designated place (CDP).
Penicillium is a genus of ascomycetous fungi that is part of the mycobiome of many species and is of major importance in the natural environment, in food spoilage, and in food and drug production.
Dolores Hart, O.S.B. is an American Roman Catholic Benedictine nun and former actress. Following her movie debut with Elvis Presley in Loving You (1957), she made 10 films in five years, including Wild Is the Wind (1957), King Creole (1958), and Where the Boys Are (1960).
The Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis was founded in 1947 by Mother Benedict Duss, O.S.B. and Mother Mary Aline Trilles de Warren, O.S.B. in Bethlehem, Connecticut. This monastic foundation was one of the first houses of contemplative Benedictine nuns in the United States. Mother Benedict and Mother Mary were both nuns of the Benedictine Abbey of Notre Dame de Jouarre in France. Mother Benedict had grown up in Paris and studied medicine at the Sorbonne. Until the monastery of Regina Laudis gained abbatial status, it was a dependent priory of Jouarre Abbey, a 7th-century monastery northeast of Paris, France.
Coulommiers is a soft ripened cheese from Coulommiers, Seine-et-Marne, France. It is made from cow's milk, and is usually in the shape of a disc with white, bloomy, edible Penicillium candidum rind. When produced as an artisanal or "farmhouse" cheese from unpasteurized milk, it has some reddish blush in parts of the rind. The period of ripening when made of pasteurised whole milk is about four to six weeks. The fat content is 40 per cent.
Geotrichum candidum is a fungus which is a member of the human microbiome, notably associated with skin, sputum, and faeces where it occurs in 25–30% of specimens. It is common in soil and has been isolated from soil collected around the world, in all continents.
There are many different types of cheese. Cheeses can be grouped or classified according to criteria such as length of fermentation, texture, methods of production, fat content, animal milk, and country or region of origin. The method most commonly and traditionally used is based on moisture content, which is then further narrowed down by fat content and curing or ripening methods. The criteria may either be used singly or in combination, with no single method being universally used.
Patricia Thompson was a Paris-based American television producer and documentary filmmaker.
Jouarre Abbey is a Benedictine abbey in Jouarre in the département of Seine-et-Marne.
Swiss-type cheeses, also known as Alpine cheeses, are a group of hard or semi-hard cheeses with a distinct character, whose origins lie in the Alps of Europe, although they are now eaten and imitated in most cheesemaking parts of the world. Their distinct character arose from the requirements of cheese made in the summer on high Alpine grasslands, and then transported with the cows down to the valleys in the winter, in the historic culture of Alpine transhumance. Traditionally the cheeses were made in large rounds or "wheels" with a hard rind, and were robust enough for both keeping and transporting.
John Fair "Jocko" Marcellino is an American musician best known as one of the founders of the rock and roll group Sha Na Na, where he performed drums and vocals. He performed with Sha Na Na at the original Woodstock Festival, in the movie Grease and on their eponymous syndicated TV show.
Penicillium nalgiovense is an anamorph species of the genus Penicillium with lipolytic and proteolytic activity, which was first isolated from ellischau cheese. This species produces dichlorodiaportin, diaportinol, and diaportinic acid Penicillium nalgiovense is used for the maturation of certain fermented salami varieties and ham. In this process it protects the meat from colonization by other molds and bacteria
Marcellino is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
Ann Lucille Matarese is an American lawyer, politician and Roman Catholic Benedictine nun.
Frances Washington Delehanty was an American artist and illustrator, and a noted designer of bookplates, posters, and toy theatres. Later in life she helped to establish the Abbey of Regina Laudis on her property in Connecticut.
Vera Duss, better known in her adult work as Mother Benedict Duss, O.S.B., was an American-born French medical doctor and Roman Catholic nun, founder and head of the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut from 1947 until 1995.
Melanie von Nagel, known as Muska Nagel and in religion Mother Jerome von Nagel Mussayassul O.S.B., was a German-born baroness, literary translator, poet, and Roman Catholic nun at the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut.
