My Fourme d'Ambert first attempt

[OzzieCheese]

The Blue strain I get is usually pretty virulent but, I will wait it out and see what happens.   I think that next time I'll salt it when I remove them from the moulds.  Or internally salt like a Stilton.

But I'll wait for now.

Mal

[Gregore]

Yah, like I am going to give the great Mal cheese making advice .

The only thing I have to say is blue will always bloom and given a chance will win every race against every other culture .

[OzzieCheese]

Hey Gregore, I'm hardly an expert but I'm smiling that you think so.  Maybe I've made more mistakes than most.   Well, as you did state "Blues will win every race"... You are correct as there are finally tiny little pockets of blue appearing after 8 days.  I'm thinking that I'm still going to end up with 'a' cheese, just not 'the' cheese I was hoping for.
If there was no growth soon it was going into the bin and start again but, now, I don't have to.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. 

Mal

[Al Lewis]

A cheese for your cheese!  Patience will win out every time!

[DoctorCheese]

Pix or it didn't happen

[OzzieCheese]

Oh alright.  First blue appearances both top and bottom.  Time to pierce.

The too dry a rind has limited the blue externally and so I'm piercing them now and when they get a little further advanced in a couple of weeks I'll Cheese foil wrap them. 

Yes... pics as well 

Mal

[Al Lewis]

Looking good!!

[OzzieCheese]

It is nearly 2 weeks now since the make and I'm seeing a darker shadow just under the harder rind.  It almost looks like the rind was way too dry for the PC to start but just under the surface - in the little caves inside - there is a better environment.  I'll add photos this evening but it does look like something happening. My concern now is whether or not the Brining was sufficient to get some salt into the cheese.  It's very interesting either way.

Mal

[Gregore]

Yes they look a little dry on the outside , but the piercer pulled out curd , so I suspect the inside is moist enough as a dry inside would not come out so readily .

Nothing wrong with upping the humidity a little

[OzzieCheese]

Hi Gregore,  Yep I've taken your advice and increased it to 90-95%. I've also made the decision to foil wrap them both in an attempt to create a slightly more favourable environment for the next 3 months.  The foil has cheese paper on the inside and foil on the outside - including micro-holes for any gas exchange an oxygen for the blue while keeping as much moisture as possible within the cheese.

The photos show the slight increase in Blue activity in the crevasses but almost nothing on the rind extremities.

 
 

[OzzieCheese]

So !! ... Verdict is.....  Well not very impressive if one is to be frank.  This one turned out very dry and had a slightly powdery mouth fell about it. It also was very bland due to external salting when there was hardly any moisture as I let it continue to form in my Kitchen before putting it into the 'Cave' (85-90% RH)

The internal caves that make this a distinctive cheese were not there nor very much blue- probably due to the lack of internal salt.  Salt and lack of blue contributed to bland taste.

This little caves near the rind surface had a good amount of blue and salt but for the small form, it was way too dry and not very nice.

BTW the real Forme D'Ambert is not a strong blue cheese and does have distinctive 'cave' and a mild taste with little salt. 

The back story here is that I followed Jim Wallaces' make and there are a couple of things here that after tasting the original I would do differently.
1. Externally salt well before the rind gets dry.
2. Texture the curds way longer than the recipe calls for as you can see from the image even the small cheese consolidated into  single mass without leaving and of the distinctive cave.
3. Bigger, taller cheese  - you can see that in the other make the following week where I carried out these changes.

Looks good but, a learning experience and not a very nice cheese and was consigned to the recycling bin.

--Mal

[OzzieCheese]

I still have the large one in this make and I'll open it in a couple of weeks.

--Mal

[DoctorCheese]

Well it looks like you had no shortage of blue mold at least

[OzzieCheese]

The PR finally got established.  I think PR would colonise on Mars.... but I'm pretty sure because of the dryness and lack of salt, it didn't have much to work with.  I did open it just to have look.  Though, if the other is anything like this one, it too will be relegated to the compost.  I have higher hopes for the larger one I made the next week.

--Mal

[John@PC]

Hi Mal.  Your post made me think of a quote I heard that went something like "one road to disaster is to not follow instructions exactly; the other road to disaster is to follow instructions exactly ".*   There's always something unexpected that happens it seems to try to muck things up.  On a lighter note: am I crazy or does your second picture look like a Lego man talking to a Lego lady .