After some encouragement from fellow forum members, I'm in the process of raising my first Cam. The father of 3 boys with a girl on the way, I'm concerned that this is a kind of foreshadowing of what it will be like to raise the girl. Where the other cheeses have required very little post creation attention and seem to be turning out well, this Cam seems to require constant attention, and I can't tell if it's turning out well. Let me tell you about the birth story:
I tried to follow Yoav's instruction, linked
here for your review.
I used only MM110 and FD because that's what I had, as well as PC-Neige--though I reduced the amount I put in because I understand that it is more aggressive than PC-ABL (not sure if that's the right way to approach the aggressive nature of Neige). Other than those differences, I followed the instructions pretty closely.
I had some serious sticking to the draining mats prior to the first flip--the first flip tore the cheese in half, in fact. I put cheesecloth between the mats and cheese so that it wouldn't happen again, and that seemed to work, though the childr...cheeses have some scarring.
The Cams have been aging at 52F (I couldn't get the cave warmer without more effort than I'm willing to put in at the moment) and a relatively constant relative humidity of 92-94%, with a single short-lived foray up to 99%.
I first observed mold growth on day 5. I have been diligent at flipping daily as well as rubbing down the cheeses with every flipped. I've washed my hands each time I've handled them (though I don't have any cool blue gloves...).
Tonight, however, I observed what appears to be a very faint reddish color below the white, possibly mixing with the more yellow color (the geo, right?). I've posted a picture (the last one), though I don't think you can see any of that color. I'm not sure what it is and not sure if I should be concerned about it. To paraphrase, I have been wondering, "What more could I have done for my Cams?"
Also, what does, "fully bloomed" mean--white fuzz everywhere? Thanks! Enjoy the pics.