Raw Milk Formed Cheese - Naturally Yellow/Orange?

[Linda]

Good evening all..

Fabulous forum!!

I made cheese for the first time a few weeks ago, a Camembert which is looking fabulous with a wonderful white bloom which seems to be happily aging away in my little cave.


On Jan 10th  I made a blue cheese from a kit (same place i got the Camembert kit from) and followed the directions to the letter.  I used fresh raw milk.  The cheeses were flipped in the molds for 3 days before being placed in an airtight container.  Temp is 55 - 58 degrees f and RH is around 51%, which i think may be too low for blue mould to grow?

Anyway, the cheese is looking very yellow/orange.  It doesn't look like mould at all, and isn't dry nor wet.  There's no offensive smell.  Is this ok?  is it because I made it with raw milk?  I haven't been able to find anything about this in my searches.  Please see picture below:



I would appreciate any help with this.  Just wondering if somthing has gone wrong?

Regards,

Linda

[Cheese Head]

Hi Linda, welcome to the forum!

Looking back at the three blue's I've made (thus others here are better able to respond), I got mold growth starting 6-8 days depending on humidity. The P roqueforti is a mold and thus does like very high humidity and does not like "it's feet to be in water" but I see that you have it raised from any draining whey so you should be good there. 51% is indeed too low a humidity, I tend not to trust gauges that much at very high RH, if condensation in box/lid then probably OK, if not then probably relative humidity is too low. Lastly, if humidity correct and no bluing in a few days then the mold package me have been no good.

If your picture is accurate then yes your cheese is very yellow, did you add Annatto or is it from the cow's feed and high butterfat?

Lastly, I see another cheese is your ripening container, blue's are notorious at jumping to other ripening cheeses, except Camembert type cheeses where the P candidum is stronger.

[mtncheesemaker]

Hi Linda,
Did you put the mold in the milk when you made the cheese?
Hard to tell from the photo but I'd guess the milk color is normal.
Maybe you could put a little water in the bottom of the box but not touching the cheese. (Sailor has a great example of a box he made for his blues somewhere in the forum.)
Good luck,
Pam

[Linda]

Thank you both for your replies.

John, I didn't put Annatto in the cheese - I'm assuming because it's made from raw milk it must be because of the feed/butterfat.  The other cheese in the box is blue also, but looks exactly the same as the one pictured.  There was condensation on the lid in the beginning but hasn't been for a while.  I did wipe it off as I was concerned about it dripping onto the cheese.  I have been very careful to ensure the cheeses haven't been touching any whey in the bottom of the container. 

Pam, I did put the mold in with the milk, and thanks for the info about the box for blues.  I'll do a search for that.

I did get this kit quite some time ago, so perhaps the P. roquefortii pack wasn't any good.  I'll try to increase the humidity to see if anything happens in the next week or so, if not I'll start over.  It's been a great learning process whatever the outcome! 

Again, thanks both for your input, it's much appreciated.


Linda

[iratherfly]

Since you are buying raw milk I assume you have direct line to your farmer... It is always a good practice to ask them first what's the feed for the current batch.

Cow's diet changes with season and so will your cheese. If you are logging your cheesemaking attempts, you should write down in your log the type of feed too, so that you can trace it back later to success/failure of each cheese. This way, you will know what milk to buy from which farmer for which cheese and at what time of the year.

A yellow color often tracks back to a diet rich in beta carotene. Though I have to say this one seems a bit strong, almost like french Mimolette cheese.

[FarmerJd]

I get that color frequently without annatto when my cows are giving a high fat content, especially in the rind. The type of cow is also another factor in addition to what "iratherfly" said.  Each cow processes beta carotene differently. Jerseys typically give yellower milk than holstiens, and gueurnseys top them both. It really shows in the cheese. I am curious what kind of cows they are milking.

[Linda]

FarmerJD, the milk is from a raw milk dairy not far from where I live.  They have 3 lovely jersey cows who are able to wander about in the fields to eat whatever takes their fancy.  I will ask what the majority of their grazing consists of as iratherfly suggests.

This has also been a good lesson in wordy note-taking.  I did make notes but nothing as detailed as I think I should have, so that will be a goal for the next batch. 

Thank you for your replies all...

Linda

[iratherfly]

Funny FarmerJd, I began suspecting that it make sense that different breeds of cows produce different milk contents so beta carotene and other components would be different too. Totally makes sense. Thanks for confirming!  I wonder if an experienced affineur can look at a cheese and trace it back to a cow's breed by its color.

[FarmerJd]

I am not sure about cheese but with butter it is a dead giveaway. When I was a kid my dad would say that guernsey butter would 'hurt your eyes' it was so yellow.   His generation had the greatest sayings and quips. My granddad would brag that he could milk a cow so fast it would make her gasp for breath. I still laugh about those 2 quotes.

[Linda]

So...

The cheese has been sitting in a covered container on my kitchen table for the past week.  I put some wet paper towel in the container to try to increase the humidity.  Lo and Behold - there is blue mold starting to grow on it.  The cheese looks a bit wet, but smells quite "blue cheesey".  I had given up on it and was about to throw it out.  The temperature in the house is around 70f.

Now I'm scared!  Should I let this keep aging and then taste it, or would it be bad now?  I'll take a few pics later to post.

Linda

[Cheese Head]

Linda, so it sounds like the cause of your delayed blue mold bloom was the low humidity, good news.

From old turn of the 18th century Stilton recipe and directions: Blue mold should be bloomed at 50-55F and then aged/ripened at 50-60F. Ripening can be done at 65F or a little higher if you want it to ripen quicker, but then it will not keep as well after cut as those ripened slower/more naturally.

As your cheese is only 1 week old it is definitely not ready to be cut. Once surface mold is good you will need to pierce your cheese, lots of info on that in the Blue Mold Board.

Have fun!

[Linda]

Thanks for your reply John.

My husband is leery of this and says it should be thrown out because it's been sitting at 68 degrees for a week.  What do you think about this?  Would it be off?  It doesn't smell off, it just smells like blue cheese!  I guess when it comes down to it, I can have a taste while he watches and if I end up in the emergency room he can tell me he told me so

Again, thank you and I'll check out the blue mold board as you suggest.

Linda

[Cheese Head]

Linda, I don't know your ingredients and process but I'd could/should be OK, but nose and taste are always the best indicator!

Have fun piercing it when ready!

[DeejayDebi]

I use Jersy milk most of the time and it's fairly yellow When I have to switch to Holstein it looses the nice yellow color but it's still much darker than store bought milk.

[Sailor Con Queso]

If you're going to pitch it, just send it to me.

68F is nothing. It will be fine.