Cheese smells like mushrooms

[Tedybar]

A few weeks ago I made a canestrato cheese based off the recipe and Q&A on NEC, then a few days ago I was brushing mold of the rind, which was nice and dry, and I noticed a dark hairy mold that I now think was Mucor, but at the time I freaked a bit and cut the spot out of the cheese and vacuum packed it prior to returning it to the cheese fridge.  Thing is, I smelled the cheese prior to doing the vac packing and it smelled of mushrooms.  No normal cheese smell.  Is the cheese safe to eat, or is something else going on...

[mikekchar]

"Mushrooms" is a good smell for cheese :-) But, yeah, it was probably either from the mucor or very probably wild geotrichum (mine smells like shimeji mushrooms).  Personally, I would not be worried at all.  Natural rind cheeses smell very different when they are aging than when you cut them and eat them -- though that mushroom aroma is often prized in many natural rind cheeses.

[Aris]

Mike is right. What you don't want is a musty or moldy smell then again British clothbound cheddars are musty and others seems to like that musty smell.

[Tedybar]

Thanks so much.  I'm just moving past waxing all my cheeses.  It is a learning process for sure...