Hey all
This forum is a cheese-saver!
Anyone got any idea what type of orange mould this is on my cams and if it is ok to eat? I can't pick it off or wipe it off as it seems to be all over the cams. I think it might be b. linens, which makes it ok to eat right? This make was a little wet during drying (every time I dry salt the cheese ends up wetter than when I brine). I've got another set of cams in the cheese fridge too which got a tiny bit of orange but I was able to pick that off easily. I've got another lot in the normal fridge right now aging, no problem.
I didn't have any geo so just went with a straight pc innoculation. It's my first couple of batches of pc only and the mould grows quite funny compared to when geo is added. The ones in the cold fridge now have a lovely "normal" white covering so i'm not overly worried about the current white mould look (although if anyone has any experience with using pc only i'm all ears). I'm guessing this is why the orange mould has had an easier time of it as it hasn't had to compete with the geo.
Humidity is around 90%. Temp ranges from 11-12 degrees. Cams were left out at 15-16 degrees for 3 days to dry them after 13 hours of draining then salting (based on pH readings of my latest cams I don't think the pH was low enough at 13 hours so I could have some ammonia issues down the track). I think the curd was a little soft during the make. They were stirred 15 mins x2 with 10 min breaks in between. I didn't track the pH on these ones as I did the latest batch.
Pic #1 you can sort of see the orange mould centre right ("1700").
Pic #2 you can see the orange mould dotted between the dots of white pc mould. It def looks orange and not red or pink.
Any advice will be welcomed!