Bandage Wrapping Formed Cheese - How to?

[humble_servant7]

I've looked over all the past threads discussing this, and there doesnt see to be a general agreement on how exactly one does these and in what steps.

Does anyone have any info they can drop or a link that goes into detail HOW exactly one should apply oil/lard/bandages, when to do it and the general routine of keeping up the maintaining of these cheeses and making sure they are par on course for their ripening?

Thanks.

[DeejayDebi]

There's some pretty good pictures here:

http://thecheesepress.blogspot.com/2008/07/bandaging-cheddar.html

[MrsKK]

I don't oil cheeses and have only bandaged a couple.  I lard most of my cheeses now.  I lard them at the same time as anyone would wax a cheese - when it is staying dry to the touch after being turned over for a day.

I use a cake frosting spatula and slather it on.  Not really thick, but enough to coat the entire cheese thinly.  I use the spatula to force the lard down into any cracks or other imperfections in the surface of the cheese.  I keep the larded wheel on a paper plate, with another on the top of the cheese, so that it is easier to turn without making a huge mess.

When I bandaged cheeses, I coated them more thickly with lard, then wrapped muslin around the cheese, the muslin being about an inch and a half wider than the wheel of cheese was tall.  Then I used circles of muslin to put on the top and bottom of the wheel.  Another coating of lard to seal the muslin down, then another wrapping around the sides of the wheel, with a thin coating of lard on that layer of muslin.

I really have seen no difference in the results with bandaging over larding, except that the muslin can get moldy.  If a larded cheese develops mold, I just scrape off the lard, sand off the mold with canning salt, then re-lard the wheel.

I never found directions for doing this, either, just had to make it up.  I hope this helps.