When I do a first cut on my cheese I've been in the habit of cutting it in half, then cutting one half in half (end up with one half and two quarter-rounds). We eat one quarter, vacuum bag one quarter (for smoking later or storage) and put the remaining half back into the cave. The reasoning for this is I like to see how the taste progresses over time (don't we all
?). The problem is of course protecting the exposed paste. I've been experimenting with coconut oil on the paste with pretty good results. The first picture is of cheeses I cut about a month ago and put two coats of oil just on the exposed paste. Coconut oil works best when it is liquefied (above 78F) and the cheese is cold to get a good coating. Mold had grown on top of the oil but most of it could be dry-brushed off. I then cut off about 1/8" of the coated side and took the 2nd picture. There was one exception - a cheddar that had developed surface cracks (top and bottom) early on. I had covered the cracks with coconut oil that that "looked" like it worked well until I cut the cheese and saw a large swatch of grey mold corresponding where one of the cracks were
. I had to cut another 3/4" to get rid of it. It made me remember a discussion of cracks and how to deal with them and I think it was Sailor that recommended a brine solution followed by oil which I will do from now on.
One thing that is encouraging is that there is no sign that the surface of the paste is drying out or cracking. I do keep my cave at 85 to 90% so that helps. I'm satisfied with the effectiveness of the coconut oil (as long as any volunteer mold is put to rest first) but has anyone used Paracoat or the like on exposed paste?
