Author Topic: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?  (Read 8318 times)

iratherfly

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #30 on: January 21, 2010, 06:35:34 AM »
I have never done it with a pH meter Ben. I just got one and have no idea how to use it or what to look for in numbers. All my recipes are from traditional books that just say I should wait so many minutes or multiply inoculation times. Can you teach me what to do?

I just wrapped tonight 2 nice looking Camembert de Chévre. I find that 9 days is perfect for them when I start them off in a box at 95% RH in my wine fridge at 54F. I also salt them with just a little ash.  Today was bitter-sweet though as I had to throw away a batch that was made in unstable temp and ended up toad skin all over. What a bummer.

As for ripening the center, I believe that time is the best answer. Age it longer. This may be challenging once you opened the cheese already though. If you feel that the outside is ripening too quickly and the inside isn't at all - think of it like cooking a vegetable. Obviously if the outside is burning and the inside isn't cooked yet you are using too high of heat. You need to cook longer at lower temp. - Same goes for soft cheese that ages too quickly outside.

Baby Chee

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #31 on: January 21, 2010, 01:26:07 PM »
This makes me anxious to get my Cams and Limburger opened.

They're still lounging in tin foil in a (generally) 45ºF room.  They were sitting in the high 30's for a few weeks.  LOOK GREAT!  Have all the right stuff going on, all the right smells, etc.  It's 9 weeks now, and they will be 10.5 when opened.

The limburger is odd, but I'm not sure what I am looking for.  It looks fine, but it seems to be smelling oddly buttery... hm.

vogironface

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #32 on: January 29, 2010, 05:57:38 AM »
Chee,

Did you eat those cams yet?

I ate some of the cam I opened then noticed as it sat out the ammonia smell and flavor mellowed a bit.  This gave me 3 ideas.

1)  On my current batch every Sunday I will unwrap them for about an hour on the counter to breathe a bit.  Perhaps this will keep some of the ammonia at bay.

2)  I will also try aging a batch in the box and unwrapped.

3)  I stuck the 2 halves of this one back together and left it in the fridge for another week.  They ripened a bit more and while I would not call it an excellent taste or texture I did eat the whole thing.  It seemed to ripen a bit more in the process.  It was great on crackers.  Sooo, I think if I cut one and it is not ripe yet I will stick it back together before eating and see if it heals and finishes the ripening.


iratherfly

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #33 on: January 29, 2010, 06:53:43 AM »
Ben, the full flavor of Camembert does not come out until it has reached ambient room temperature and been opened anyway so this is a good practice even if you buy those at the store.
As for your other two - if they already show signs of Ammonia, I would take them out of the aging box (if they are still in it) and store them in the coldest part of the refrigerator. These are done aging or are getting pretty close to Affine. Since they are not stabilized like the store bought kind, they will continue to age, so you need to slow it down ASAP.

Baby Chee

  • Guest
Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #34 on: January 29, 2010, 12:19:48 PM »
I haven't tried my Cams yet.  Saw them yesterday in the aging room (it's 40ºF out there while it is -15ºF outside, so I rarely go out there), and they felt good and looked good.

Sunday my girlfriend arrives from Germany.  She helped me make these in November, and we'll eat them together Monday onward.  Oh man.... can't wait to see how these turned out.