First Bel Paese

[coopermm8]

Hi all. I'm relatively new to cheesemaking, and I just made my first wheel in the style of a Bel Paese. I used liquid buttermilk as the culture and raw milk from grass fed cows, which I pasturized at home. I used cheese wax as the rind treatment, and aged in a refrigerator at 37 degrees for four weeks.

I noticed that when I first tried the cheese it had a distincly grassy and funky note to it. Now that it has been open for a week, that taste is gone and it is much milder, almost like an extra soft havarti. Although it was still enjoyable at first, a handful of tasters agreed that the milder, less grassy flavor at the second tasting one week later was preferable.

I'm thinking the change in flavor might be related to 1) further aging in the fridge 2) removal of the wax influencing the flavor of the cheese 3)uneven aging somehow resulted in different flavors in different parts of the wheel.

Could one of these, or possibly something else have resulted in the change in flavor for the better?

Thanks for your help!

[john H]

Welcome to the form coopermm8, Cheese is much like wine the longer you age it the more the flavours develop. The length of time depends on the type of cheese you are making of course. Also like wine cheese needs to breath when first opened there will usually be a dramatic change in the flavour profile.

P.S. Nice bread as well, is it a sour dough?

John

[coopermm8]

It is a sourdough! Made by a good friend for the grand un-wheeling of the cheese.

Thanks for the help, John!