Author Topic: Aging At Room Temperature?  (Read 6257 times)

Luvmygoats

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Aging At Room Temperature?
« on: September 19, 2009, 11:52:30 AM »
Howdy y'all!

I have read someplace that while most cheeses age in a cheese cave at cooler temps and fairly high humidity, some cheeses can mature at up to 77 deg. F. Is that true? Would this be a waxed rind to keep moisture in and air out? Or a washed rind that is rubbed off and checked/turned every day? What's a person to do who does not have a cheese cave or extra fridge, but a large walk-in pantry off the kitchen?

Luvmygoats


MrsKK

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Re: Aging At Room Temperature?
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2009, 10:01:24 PM »
During the summer months, my cheeses have to age in a spare refrigerator, as the room where my cheese cabinet resides gets over 70 degrees and I'm fighting a losing battle against mold.

Is there a particular type of cheese you are aware of that can be aged at 77*?

Luvmygoats

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Re: Aging At Room Temperature?
« Reply #2 on: September 20, 2009, 11:41:11 AM »
No, that is what I am trying to figure out.....I've read this in either a cheese book, or online someplace, a long time ago before my goats got into milk. I remember thinking "great....I'll get around buying another fridge". Of course now I don't recall where I saw that  :P

Waxed cheeses in general still have to be placed in a cool environment to age, right?

Luvmygoats

FRANCOIS

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Re: Aging At Room Temperature?
« Reply #3 on: September 20, 2009, 07:41:09 PM »
I have seen a few cheeses that are aged at those temps for short periods.  The one that really sticks out in my mind is one in Macedonia.  It's aged indoors in a cooler (although fairly warm) and the surface is allowed to get moldy and yeasty.  It's then scraped down and layed out side on a sunny day to toughen the rind.  Somewhere on my desk I has some notes etc., let me dig and get back to you.

FRANCOIS

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Re: Aging At Room Temperature?
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2009, 08:21:59 PM »
Kashkaval.  Excerpt from Peter Dixon's website:



Kashkaval is dry salted over a period of 20 days in the following manner:

1.Wheels are salted on both sides and placed on wooden shelves
2.After 2 days the wheels are wiped dry and salted again and stacked one on top of another. The process is repeated.
3.The process is repeated but the wheels are stacked 3 high during the next 4 days
4.Repeat the process but stack 4 high
5.Repeat the process but stack 5 high
6.The stacks of wheels are left 5 high for 20 more days without additional salting
7.The wheels are now taken from the stacks and cleaned and stacked again
8.This is repeated every week until the aging is complete

The cheese is aged for at least five months with a natural rind in a cool environment: 57-60° F with 80-85% RH.
During aging, Kaskkaval is periodically placed on boards in the sun when the temperature is 50-70° F to give it a rich yellow color. One Macedonian cheesemaker did this on the roof of the aging building. Other cheesemakers cleaned the cheese and only placed it in the sun to yellow for a day or two prior to sale.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Aging At Room Temperature?
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2009, 11:21:26 PM »
When I was researching information on Jarlsberg they mentioned it could be aged as follows:

Age at 66°F for 4 weeks.
Package in special foil for large eye formation cheese, or coating
Ripening:
Winter Cool Storage: 47 - 50°F for 10 - 12 days
Winter warm storage: 64°F for 4 weeks
Summer Cool Storage: 50 - 57°F for 7 - 10 days
Summer warm Storage: 68 - 72°F for 4 - 5 weeks

I thought the temperatures a bit high but hey they are the experts!