Author Topic: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?  (Read 8321 times)

Baby Chee

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #15 on: January 02, 2010, 02:22:27 PM »
You can get them for under a buck at Michaels.  Knitting grids in circle form.

vogironface

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #16 on: January 02, 2010, 04:45:41 PM »
Thanks Chee.  I think what you are seeing is poor color in the photo but when I open them for a peak I will check for lime mold.

Missy, I agree they are great.  I got them at walmart.  They are those plastic mesh things that folks sew yarn through.  In their craft section they have several shapes pre-cut in little packages.  The round disks are about 5 inches round.  They cost about a dollar a package and I think there are 5 in a pack.  The quality of the molding of the plastic is a bit hit and miss but they are inexpensive. 

vogironface

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #17 on: January 04, 2010, 06:47:21 AM »
Chee,
do the mats from michales have those same problems with some sections not having holes but instead a thin film of plastic from poor molding?


Also, open to discussion for all.  Below is a photo of my now 14 day old cams.  I have spent so much time trying to figure out how to get them here that I now realize I do not really know how to tell when they are ready other than cutting them open.  I think that that is the only way and once a system is developed for my local enviroment it will be fairly close each time.  Any thoughts on this or their current state are appreciated.  Oh, and chee, no lime green mold thankfully.

Alex

  • Guest
Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #18 on: January 04, 2010, 07:37:19 AM »
Ben, your Cam looks perfectly professional.

To check for readiness, you may press the middle of the wheel between your thumb and index finger. The feeling should be like when pressing your eyeball.

iratherfly

  • Guest
Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #19 on: January 04, 2010, 07:42:18 AM »
Looks fantastic but about a week too early. Hard to judge without touching and smelling.

My rule of thumb with these: If they are wrapped and refregirated at proper temperature, do not cut open before 21 days have passed since the day you wrapped them. If they happen to be ready before that it usually means that you matured them at improper temperature or humidity and you can expect slip skin and lactation outside with a soapy unripe core.

There is this popular YouTube video of the frommagier at Fairway Market in NYC explaining how to check:
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Baby Chee

  • Guest
Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #20 on: January 04, 2010, 01:20:14 PM »
BEN--I haven't noticed any with slight film.  They seem perfectly formed!  You should go and look through them sometime.  I purchased 10 in different shapes and never had troubles with quality.

mtncheesemaker

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #21 on: January 04, 2010, 03:01:11 PM »
Ben, that is a beautiful cheese!
I would wait at least another couple of weeks, depends on your ripening temps too. When I open one I usually put it on a plate under a glass cheese dome (or bowl) for 8-24 hours. We like our cheese fairly ripe at my house.
Congratulations.
Pam

Baby Chee

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #22 on: January 04, 2010, 08:21:47 PM »
I just checked on my 4 Cams, all 7 weeks old now.

GOOD STUFF!  The outsides are just like store bought, but the sides are still funny because the packing wasn't tight on the sides.
They are a little colder than recommended, though, so I hope they are maturing well enough.
The ammonia smell isn't there yet.
I'll open them in the first days of February.

This thread is making me enthused for Camembert.

vogironface

  • Guest
Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #23 on: January 05, 2010, 02:42:18 AM »
Chee,
I don't think mine will make it to 7 weeks.  What size are your cams and at what temp are you aging them.  There are times when I feel these will be ready  by 20-30 days so I am interested in the conditions yours are aging in.  Mine are just under 4 inches diameter and just over 1 inch thick.  I am ripening at 42 Fahrenheit.

iratherfly, Great video, that helps a lot.  Thank you.

Alex, Thank you.  That is high praise coming from an accomplished cheese head like you.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #24 on: January 05, 2010, 02:46:54 AM »
Ben that looks wonderful! I applaud you - you have done a great job!

Baby Chee

  • Guest
Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #25 on: January 05, 2010, 11:39:43 AM »
I have the same: 4" PVC molded, about an inch high.  My cave was in the high 50's for the first stage, then I took them out of the cave into the room which was then kept in the 40's, but recently dipped into the high 30's for a couple weeks.

On another section of the forums I asked about possible problems of too-cold aging.  They never froze, so I assume there is dormancy perhaps, but nothing bad.

I'd like to have mine a little saggy in the meat of the cheese.  The first cam I made went 11 weeks and was nice, but still firm.  It had quite an ammonia smell in the shell, though.  Not a bad cheese, aside from too much salt (reapplied outside due to cat's hair): great texture, proper shell, proper odor, just too salty-what was behind the salt was good.  My second batch of cam was swamped by a lime green monster mold, and those turned into stinky crap (the mold was from too much moisture in the cave).  This, my third try, looks right, so I'll let them slide through to very ripe condition... if I can.

FRANCOIS

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #26 on: January 05, 2010, 08:14:26 PM »
Freezing will cause, at a minimum, texture problems, but more than likely will cause disintegration of the cheese once the fat disassociates.  Freezing anything but high mosture cheeses is bad, with a few exceptions.  I have used 500# blocks of cheddar that were frozen for shipment but they had to be vacuum sealed and thawed in progressively warmer freezers then refrigerated rooms.  Even then they weren't that great on texture.

Tea

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #27 on: January 05, 2010, 08:44:16 PM »
Ben just gotta say, that cheese looks wonderful.  Well done.

Peralta

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #28 on: January 21, 2010, 04:26:25 AM »
While making my own camemberts, I came to appreciate the use of plastic molds. I think there are other shapes which are fun to experiment with.  I hope they can also mold other shapes like cartoon characters so I can urge my children to taste them. Injection Molding Indiana
« Last Edit: February 01, 2010, 07:03:44 AM by Peralta »

vogironface

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Re: Are these camemberts ready to wrap?
« Reply #29 on: January 21, 2010, 06:00:32 AM »
Well, today I opened the second cam.  I have modified the original post with make notes and photos.  Some observations and some questions follow.

1)  No slip skin.  This is good.  Rind not quite rubbery but nearly so.  Also somewhat dry.
2)  Very slight ammonia smell.  This was my cue to open it.  Was this wrong?  Should I have left it longer?  There is an ammonia aftertaste in the cheese, though slight.
3)  What can be done to age the center of the cheese more like the outer portion?
4)  Any thoughts/ suggestions on this batch for improvement?
5)  My ph meter went out on this batch so sorry, no ph notes but I believe it was about 6.47 at 3 hours 30 min  into the process when the meter went out.

Your thoughts are appreciated.  Thanks for your help everyone.  The second batch has been molding for 10 days now and I will probably wrap them in 2 more.  The adventure continues.  :)