Why am I suppose to scrape the blue

[Dorchestercheese]

I'm trying to understand the point of scrapping a blue at 30 and 60 days post?
I scrapped one today and left the other un-scrapped.
Thanks

[H-K-J]

my only experience with blues are in the Stilton-esque style, and you don't scrape them,
you smooth them after they come out of the hoop.
I am not sure, yet I am thinking that if you scrape them you are supposed to wrap them in a special foil.
not to sure about that either.
I have read recipes that do instruct you to scrape, I'm just a smoothie (or smoother )

[Boofer]

I don't make a lot of blues, but when I do...I just gently rub them all over when I turn them. Kinda like patting down the white "fluff" (PC or GC).

-Boofer-

[Gregore]

I do not believe blues are supposed to be scrapped .  And I can not think of 1 reason why one would want to

If you  r your guests do not like the taste of the rind , better to cut it off as you eat it

[awakephd]

I too cannot scrape up a reason to, err, scrape. I think you should just scrap this scraping idea. I think the results may be a crap shoot - but maybe I'm just giving this a bad rap.

Okay, apparently I did not get enough sleep last night. I'm done now. But don't worry - I'm sure I'll have more scintillating puns and word play to share at some point in the future ...

[Dorchestercheese]

As a true scientist I'm doing a side by side comparison.  We shall see in a few months.

[Al Lewis]

I have heard that one of the blue recipes on New England Cheesemaking calls for scraping the outside.  If you did this and the cultures are good you would not have a cheese left when you finished.  Think about that one.  Do NOT scrape blues.

[Dorchestercheese]

Yes this was my concern.  There must be logic of some sort

[Gregore]

Sometmes there is no reason why a recipe asks for something crazy. Other than it is wrong .

It could be  an attempt to stop the blue growth for storage , but one only needs to seal it in tin foil and that will do the same thing with no effort .

[Schnecken Slayer]

Sometimes there is no reason why a recipe asks for something crazy. Other than it is wrong .

It could be  an attempt to stop the blue growth for storage , but one only needs to seal it in tin foil and that will do the same thing with no effort .

Maybe it is to fill in the gaps so the blue doesn't overpower the cheese (stop the supply of oxygen). Or prevent others from taking over! e.g. B Linens...

If you did this and the cultures are good you would not have a cheese left when you finished.  Think about that one.  Do NOT scrape blues.

Not sure if this is accurate?
Scraping, or smoothing, is to fill in the cracks that may encourage undesirable molds to take up residence.

[Gregore]

Smoothing in my opinion is very different than scrapping .

Smoothing is used as in a Stilton to slow down the growth of blue on or near the surface so that it does not become too soft before the inside has had a chance to catch up .

Stiltons are big cheeses so they need the help  as it is a long way to the center , a small thinner cheese probably does not need it .

Smoothing also takes place very soon after the cheese is out of the mold.  The scrapping recipes seem to call for it after many weeks of rind growth .

Could be the original creator of the recipe really did not much like the blue flavor and was trying to control it , and or as I mentioned earlier they were trying to let it age with out more blue growth , this is sort of a mellowing stage and my understanding is that foil is used to slow the blue way down . It seems like all the bigger blue makers are doing this now .  Though it certainly is something new as they never had foil in the past .

I think it is also not regular foil as it may have micro holes in it to allow some blue growth.

Either way 1 of your blues is now scrapped so you will certainly see if there is a difference .

[Gregore]

How big are these cheeses , I just noticed that they are 60 days already and you are talking about another few months of aging ?

That seems way to long to me

Blue is very quick and aggressive  at breaking down the curd

I think a Stilton is aged 3 or 4 months and that is a massive cheese  usually 20 pounds or so , but with very soft curd so a little quicker than say a Roquefort which I think has a dryer curd

My last cambazola took 7 weeks or so  ,  2 inches thick and 5 across

It might be time to pull a plug and taste it

[Schnecken Slayer]

Smoothing in my opinion is very different than scrapping .

Smoothing is used as in a Stilton to slow down the growth of blue on or near the surface so that it does not become too soft before the inside has had a chance to catch up .

Stiltons are big cheeses so they need the help  as it is a long way to the center , a small thinner cheese probably does not need it .

Smoothing also takes place very soon after the cheese is out of the mold.  The scrapping recipes seem to call for it after many weeks of rind growth .

Could be the original creator of the recipe really did not much like the blue flavor and was trying to control it , and or as I mentioned earlier they were trying to let it age with out more blue growth , this is sort of a mellowing stage and my understanding is that foil is used to slow the blue way down . It seems like all the bigger blue makers are doing this now .  Though it certainly is something new as they never had foil in the past .

I think it is also not regular foil as it may have micro holes in it to allow some blue growth.

Either way 1 of your blues is now scrapped so you will certainly see if there is a difference .

That makes sense. Thanks Gregore.

[Dorchestercheese]

Thank you.
It makes sense that you would want to stop quick softening of the cheese just below the surface where the inside may still be not quite there.  All about balance through the cheese.  Then slow it down completely at 90 days by dropping the temp.

[Duntov]

Modern Roquefort is scraped just before being wrapped in foil at twenty days.  It was also scraped in the old days.  Here is a historical video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DpnGtbJF0c&t=317s

And here is a video of modern production.  It doesn't show the actual scraping but you can see exterior mold on the cheeses in the aging cave but it is gone when it comes time to wrap.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWM_R2tDOfA&t=4s