Author Topic: Tomme advice - should I wash? should I brush?  (Read 2072 times)

xyztal

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Tomme advice - should I wash? should I brush?
« on: March 04, 2013, 05:40:55 PM »
Seeking for some advice here...

So about 3 weeks ago I made another tomme - I followed the 'raw milk tomme' recipe (mostly) in the '200 easy homemade cheese recipes' book.  It's been in the aging container for about 2 weeks now.  I started out washing the cheese with a 5% brine, once a week.  Towards the past weekend there came many, many little spots...

Should I start washing it more regularly now?  Or should I start brushing?

Thanks for your help!  :) :)

WovenMeadows

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Re: Tomme advice - should I wash? should I brush?
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2013, 06:47:23 PM »
I'd say:
If you want more of a b.linens, reddish-orange type rind, keep washing. On this tomme, which probably is a bit moister than many "hard" cheeses, this may lead to some softening of the paste in the long run.
If you want more of a brownish to beige type of rind from other molds and yeasts, let the rind dry out a touch more and begin to brush.
I'm not versed enough yet in molds though to tell if the spots you have growing now are an ideal type to work with or not.

Offline Boofer

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Re: Tomme advice - should I wash? should I brush?
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2013, 01:15:39 AM »
Looks like your curds didn't knit very tightly, opening up lots of crevices, nooks, and crannies for whatever wanted to come in. A quick check shows some blue starting to make a home (blue circles), among other foreign critters.

I think if I were trying to save this cheese and protect it further, I'd get some white vinegar dosed with a little salt and use a light brushing to knock down some of these bad boys. For the circles, I'd use a clean toothpick and gently work the vinegar & salt in there until I dislodged the blue.

Once you've cleaned it up sufficiently, you want to then implant your own rind cultures. Check the attached docs from linuxboy and Alp for how to wash and what to wash with.

HTH.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

xyztal

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Re: Tomme advice - should I wash? should I brush?
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2013, 02:53:44 AM »
BOOFER - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!  I started to worry when my hubby looked at my cheese over the weekend and said he was a bit concerned with those ' blue dots'.  I really should have listened to him and done something (lesson learned: sometimes hubby might be right)

I just went out did exactly what you said.  I will continue to do the cleaning every day and see how things go... wish me luck.

I also realized that I got a much better knit on one side compared to the other.  I remember flipping cheese as I was pressing it - but not sure why there is such an inconsistency...?

Offline Boofer

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Re: Tomme advice - should I wash? should I brush?
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2013, 02:24:29 PM »
wish me luck.

I also realized that I got a much better knit on one side compared to the other.  I remember flipping cheese as I was pressing it - but not sure why there is such an inconsistency...?
Here, have some luck. ;)

Note to self: remember to keep curds warm during initial pressing/knitting.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.