Author Topic: Rindless Blue?? Coastal Blue??  (Read 2156 times)

Offline scasnerkay

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Rindless Blue?? Coastal Blue??
« on: January 23, 2015, 09:05:23 PM »
I think these are both failures. Makes were about 2 months along, so I cut them open and tasted a wee bit. Waiting to see if it makes my stomach upset...
The taste was not horrid but not what I was planning on. In both cases sort of cheddary but with a blue flavor that is not piquant, just sort of moldy.
These were a try at the Caldwell Rindless Blue,  and the Karlin Coastal Blue, using a slurry made from Point Reyes Blue. The curd ended up too firm and dry, especially in the Rindless Blue, and the blue did not seem to grow properly. I am not sure if the fault lies in trying to use a slurry instead of buying blue starter, or if the makes were just poor, or some combination. The other problem was they both got too dry in my small old cave which ran about 75 to 80% humidity, although water drips from the top requiring protection for the cheeses. The cave is also a bit cold at about 48 degrees. I would like to try again with proper innoculant, but I am afraid to put blue cheese in the main cave with my other babies. So I may need to get some proper aging boxes to keep the humidity up and the drips off.
Any suggestions out there? Think it would be safe to try eating a bit more?
Susan

Offline scasnerkay

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Re: Rindless Blue?? Coastal Blue??
« Reply #1 on: January 23, 2015, 09:06:49 PM »
The initial posting did not want to go with photos attached so they are separate....
Susan

LoftyNotions

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Re: Rindless Blue?? Coastal Blue??
« Reply #2 on: January 23, 2015, 11:41:22 PM »
Hi Susan,

I don't see anything there that would keep me from eating either cheese. :)

My guess is that your problem is primarily temperature and humidity. Is the bottom cheese dried out around the piercing channels? That's what it looks like in the pictures.

At 48°F, you'd probably need to age your blues longer than 2 months. The problem is, they're already too dry from lack of humidity. I'd try to get humidity at least up into the low to mid 90s. I got some Sterilite boxes I bought at Wally World that seem to do a good job of keeping things humid.

How would you characterize the blue flavor compared to the blue you got the inoculant from? The mold strain in that cheese might not be "blue" enough for you. Other than that, there's nothing wrong with harvesting mold that way.

Hopefully that will give you a starting point until someone who knows something comes along. ;)

Larry

Offline Al Lewis

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Re: Rindless Blue?? Coastal Blue??
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2015, 12:37:17 AM »
Yeah, I'd eat that but I agree that the exterior shouldn't be that dry.  Isn't it supposed to be "rindless"?
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Offline scasnerkay

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Re: Rindless Blue?? Coastal Blue??
« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2015, 03:05:01 AM »
The smaller cheese I ended up chucking. First time I ever just threw one away. But I just did not like it. The second one I decided I actually rather like! It is a bit like a young cheddar with blue. My 90 year old father approved and took half of it. Husband not such a fan of the cheese because what he wanted was something like Pt Reyes blue. But this will not go in the trash!!
Susan

Offline Danbo

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Re: Rindless Blue?? Coastal Blue??
« Reply #5 on: January 30, 2015, 05:17:02 AM »
That's the spirit. :-) You should have seen my last blues. I let them age really long and I was actually afraid to eat them - but my mother still eats them with great pleasure...

Almost everything actually worked in your cheeses - keep that in mind. :-)

John@PC

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Re: Rindless Blue?? Coastal Blue??
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2015, 11:07:24 PM »
Susan, I agree with the others about temperature and humidity.  Lofty Notions I think especially nailed it.  Use a mini-cave (preferably with a humidity sensor, but eventually you will be able to judge by amount of condensation) and moderate your temps (that will help keep humidity up in your cave with the compressor running less frequetly).