Author Topic: Parmesan - help please!  (Read 1824 times)

Kirkbybil

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Parmesan - help please!
« on: May 16, 2013, 09:19:10 PM »
Hi,

I made a 3lb parmesan just under a month ago. It's in my cave, all looked good and it had developed a good rind.

However, as the rind has dried hard there are some tiny pits and few small cracks appeared (humidity has always been above 85%) and blue mould has taken hold in these cracks.  I have managed to scrape most off with a tiny bit of digging where they are only an eighth or so deep on the top and bottom and scrubbed with brine/vinegar solution. However, there are some bigger ones around the perimeter as you can see in the side view pic.

The biggest is around half an inch long and 1/4" or so deep.  I have a couple of blues in my cave so I assume that it is cross-contamination.

Can anyone advise what I should do?  I was going to start oiling in a couple of weeks so do I dig them out and oil now or leave it and hope it wont grow down into the cheese or soak it in brine again. Please help, it's my first Parm and I don't want to lose it.

Thanks,

Kirkbybil

Offline scasnerkay

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Re: Parmesan - help please!
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2013, 10:46:30 PM »
I do not feel very qualified to answer, but at a Peter Dixon class recently, he mentioned that the best thing to get rid of blues growing is plain water. If you salt it, the blue likes the salt. No harm in trying to rub it down with damp toweling. If the blue is deep you could cut it out trying to minimize the damage to the rind I think. But also, I see no harm in oiling the rind now. My romanos are usually oiled after a few weeks. I then vacuum it so there is less rind because my cheeses are only 2 #.
Susan

bbracken677

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Re: Parmesan - help please!
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2013, 12:49:07 AM »
It looks like maybe there wasnt evnough pressure during pressing.

I would wipe it down with a bit of vinegar and then let dry, follow that up with some oil. I am hardly an expert at this though.
 
I have used salt as an abrasive with mine when they occasionally sprouted some growth, but that was basically 2 small spots and no cracks.

Once you oil it you should have fewer problems.