Camembert #1

[tashad]

this was made on Nov 26th, following the directions in 200 Easy Cheese. I cut it in half because I only have 2 molds.  The white mold started to show a week after salting.

[Danbo]

They look very nice!

[Andrew Marshallsay]

Looking very good.
What is the plan from here?

[Al Lewis]

Very nice cheeses!  Are you going to cold age them or do them in your cave?  AC4U for excellent Camemberts.

[tashad]

Thanks!  I'm not entirely sure what the plan is from here.  Yesterday they didn't look completely covered, today they basically do, but it's not the same completely white coverage I've seen in pics and in purchased cam/brie.  Any advice on whether I should wrap them now, or give them another day or two? 

As I've been reading some thread on other folk's makes, I see that a lot of people move them to the cold fridge to age (and it sounds like that's the preferred way), but I think I might leave them in the cave.  I'm hoping to be able to eat them when the family is together for the holidays, and that's only until New Years. In retrospect I'm probably pushing my luck making them so late and hoping to eat it by the end of the month, but I followed the recipe in 200 Easy Cheese recipes, and it said 3-4 weeks, so it seemed like there was time enough.

[Al Lewis]

That's 3 to 4 weeks in the cave.  The fridge will take 6.

[tashad]

That's what I thought, the book said 3-4 weeks, but doesn't mention putting it into the fridge until 4 weeks.  So if I want to share it with the fam, I'll have to keep them in the cave.  Next batch I'll try aging them in the fridge and see if I like that better. 

I really hope these are good.  My mother swears up and down that she doesn't like camembert or brie, but I know the kinds of things that she likes, and brie/cam fit the bill perfectly.  I think that she's only ever had the nasty packaged brie type 'spread' that came in a gift basket.  But she's pretty willing to give all my cheeses a chance, even if she thinks they're weird or freaky.  Or they smell bad. 

[Andrew Marshallsay]

You can wrap them if you want to or you can just leave them in the aging box until they are ready to eat.

[tashad]

In the end, I didn't wrap them, and moved them to the cold fridge just before Christmas. There hasn't been anyone around to try it with me, so I've been waiting. But tonight I decided enough is enough and it's time. Possibly past time actually. I've had supermarket brie before, but never camembert. This one is runner than I'm used to, and has a stronger mushroomy flavor. There's a hint of ammonia that I didn't notice right off, but it became apparent after a few bites.

[Al Lewis]

Beautiful result Tasha!  AC4U!

[awakephd]

Yes, well done. Another cheese for you!

[tashad]

Thanks for the cheeses! 

Is camembert typically that oozy?  I let it come up to room temp before I cut into it, so I don't know how it would be cold, but at room temp, there's no way I could take a slice of it.  Does that mean it's overripe?

[Andrew Marshallsay]

... and a cheese from me too. Looks great!
Overripe? That depends. If you like it then it is not overripe.
That said, it probably would go downhill from here.

[Boofer]

Does that mean it's overripe?

A little different process, but virtually the same result.

Any scent of ammonia?

-Boofer-

[AeonSam]

Tashad,

I've repeatedly aged my cams/Brie at 3 -4 weeks at 54F and it's usually way more oozey and has a slight ammonia smell to it but when I age it colder and slower, I'm usually able to avoid this.

I have two wheels of brie in the fridge right now and by now, the ammonia would have already shown up and it would be much softer than it is. The smell is perfect and I believe it's because I'm aging it colder, plus the pc I'm using is not highly aggressive.

Here's a quote from a pro on Cams named Yoav or iratherfly:

You need some good geo growth before the PC is taking over and that should take about 4-5 days (appears as cream color velvety slippery coating before the PC blooms). If your PC took over the cheese by day 6 I suspect it was too aggressive. Ideally this should happen between 7-9 days. You need to take your time with these cheeses if you want them to ripen nicely and produce that supple quality and even texture distribution.
- humidity in cave environment must be spot-on. If you can't get it as high as you need, use an aging container which traps the moisture in and allows the cheese to mature without moisture/drought oscillations. . Have you used boxes before to age cheese in a cave? It makes life easier.
- Once wrapped they should never go back to the cave. After wrapping they must go to refrigeration
Switch to a more comfortable traditional strain of PC such as PC-ABL or PC-VS. You may consider changing Geo or dosage of the Geo vs. the PC.
- Wrap much later. The cheese doesn't mind being wrapped even at day 12 if you allow the rind to grow slowly. It will still be ready on time. Heck, you don't even need to wrap them, just move the aging box from cave to fridge, then turn and rub the cheeses daily to keep the PC thin and dense. Wrap when they are ready to sell. That's totally acceptable
- test other wrapping materials.  I use Crystal paper and it does incredible job. Micro-perforated cellophane is also great. Many of the wrapping papers suffocates the rind and cause ammonia. They are designed to wrap the cheese as it goes into a poplar or cardboard box, or for a cheesemonger to wrap an individual wedge of cheese for a customer. They may not fit your cheese production conditions.

Overall, Camembert is a bit finicky and it takes a lot of practice to get right on a consistent basis. This is one of those cheese where aging practices can really make or break it. It's not difficult, it just takes practice. Before selling, I would practice more batches and different conditions -until it's consistently, repeatedly perfect.