I began my cheesemaking odyssey in January 2009. My first cheese was a Farmhouse Cheddar taken from Ricki Carroll's book. I made a lot of mistakes, waxed my first cheese, and held out hope that I'd have something edible in the not-too-distant future.
After a couple months I cut the cheese
into quarters, rewaxed three of them, and left one quarter out to sample. It was acidic, crumbly, and... not so great.
Over the next several months I tried two of the other quarters and had the same reaction...not so great.
Today, as I was throwing out a Gouda that had turned to something like Brie, I was going to throw out the last quarter of the Farmhouse Cheddar. I paused and decided to peel the wax back and sample it before I tossed it.
My first impression on removing the wax was the almost tablespoonful of moisture under the wax. No mold or other sign of contamination. The cheese was firm, not mushy,
not crumbly. Okay. When I sliced it, the slice came away cleanly and didn't just crumble away. The taste was slightly sharp and that was to be expected because it was 15 months old. I tasted it with Triscuit crackers, then decided a glass of raspberry wine would be good with it. Yes. My wife said the cracker was good with dried apricot. I looked at the cracker with the cheese on it and said "Why not?". The next thing I knew I was tasting the cracker & cheese with a slice of dried apricot on it. Very nice. And a little sip of wine. Excellent!
So it would appear that the wax permitted moisture to be retained within the cheese and to transform it from a crumbly, acidic cheese to one with a smoother texture and more agreeable flavor.
Moral of the story: don't be hasty when tossing disagreeable cheeses. Wax does have its place.
-Boofer-
