The taste of tomme

[AnnDee]

Hi Sprocket,
Thanks for the tip, I am using your dry cloth method on my caerphilly, cantal and manchego/hispanico. It works really well on spreading the molds all over the cheese.
I love colourful rind!

[sprocket]

Great!  I'll post some pictures of our Tommes as well - they're just approaching 3 months or so (I usually like to take them to 5-6, and 12 for the large ones), and they're beautiful!

Would love to see some pics of your tomme, when you have a chance!

Hi Sprocket,
Thanks for the tip, I am using your dry cloth method on my caerphilly, cantal and manchego/hispanico. It works really well on spreading the molds all over the cheese.
I love colourful rind!

[AnnDee]

I have made 2 more tommes since the first one, bigger wheels 3.5 kilos of cheese. We like this type of cheese in our house. Here is a pic of the last tomme.

[Andrew Marshallsay]

That's a lovely looking rind and well worth a cheese.
Don't be afraid of BL. BL is your friend.
Alright, you don't want BL on every cheese. My understanding is that BL only flourishes at very high humidity. At lower humidities it can't compete with the other various moulds, yeasts etc.

[AnnDee]

I am becoming more and more brave towards BL nowadays, I don't have panic attack everytime I see pinkiness on my cheese anymore 
I think 1 of my cave now has a nice variety of microflora and most of the cheese I put in there turn out colourfull.
If I wash and clean the cave (it is due for a thorough cleaning), do you think the floras will come back?

[Gregore]

You got some pretty impressive natural flora going on , my guess would be that they come back if you have enough cheeses to put back in .  The more mass  with flora that goes back in the better .

 I think you might want to invest in some wood shelves even if it is just 1 or 2  to allow you wash your cave when ever needed with out setting your flora back to far .

One other thought is that if this all came naturally with out any  purchased packets  then it should all come back again , given enough time as some of it might be a seasonal thing out side your cave .

[AnnDee]

I think you might want to invest in some wood shelves even if it is just 1 or 2  to allow you wash your cave when ever needed with out setting your flora back to far .

I'm glad you point this out to me, because to think of it, my cave turned this way after I made few episodes of washed rind cheeses, including a vacherin type. I put all my washed rind cheeses on top of paulownia or teak wood planks or chopping boards. Can I just save the wood and stick it back in the washed and cleaned cave to get the flora going again?

[sprocket]

I'm glad you point this out to me, because to think of it, my cave turned this way after I made few episodes of washed rind cheeses, including a vacherin type. I put all my washed rind cheeses on top of paulownia or teak wood planks or chopping boards. Can I just save the wood and stick it back in the washed and cleaned cave to get the flora going again?

I usually take the reverse approach, where I do not thoroughly wash and sanitize the cave (save for washing the floors), but clean and sanitize the boards.  The wooden boards remain with a batch of cheese until it is ready for sale, then is pulled out of the aging room, cleaned, sanitized, and left to dry, before being replaced.

After a while (and "a while" might be years) your aging room should develop a stable environment of yeasts, mold, and bacteria that will appear naturally on your cheeses without needing much introduction.  (That said, if I wanted a cheese to be heavy on a particular flora (ie. Geo), I will add it during the make.)

[sprocket]

Here're a couple photos of our most recent batches of tomme.  Both were made in early/mid-March.  We sell the smaller ones at about 2-3 months old, when the paste is still relatively mild, and hold the larger ones back until 5-6 months when the flavours really start to develop.

Both are made from raw goats milk.

[AnnDee]

Wow Sprocket! Those are nice cheese! How do you sell your cheese and where? Do you have a website?

Unfortunately I don't have an aging room but I hope soonest we are settled into our own house in our home country I will have a cellar.
Now I am using 2 wine fridges, I am using 1 for waxed and sealed cheese which I don't have to worry about humidity control and I am using the other for natural rind cheese which humidity ranges between 80-98%. The latter fridge is the one I am thinking of washing.