instructions say to "smear every 20-30 days" on a blue cheese. ???

[Penny C. Liam]

I made a blue and the instructions read to

" scrape and smear every 20-30 days" in Ricki's book.

I can't seem to find what "smearing" is .  I suppose it is taking a wet cloth with brine and rubbing the rind but I don't know. 

Thanks anyone for opinions or advice.

[OzzieCheese]

Hi Penny,
Yes that was confusing to me as well - and quite frankly put me off for a white.

Well having only made one and not yet tasted, I suppose the Only thing is to ask what sort of rind you would like on your cheese.  If you want a clean rind then keeping the mold under control with a cloth dipped in a Brine wash - don't make the cloth too wet as you want to control the mold not bathe the cheese.  To be honest of all the blues in these pages - and there's a lot of them -  I haven't seen any that need scaping.  Or maybe I haven't seen them. The link is to the one I'm making now - it looks more gruesome than it is

http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,13675.0.html

-- Mal