My First Stilton--Opened at Last!

[Brie]

I truly love this experimentation. I am wondering about piercing prior to brining, as brining produces the rind, which would impede the blue from entering the cheese, might just stagnate in the rind. I am interested to hear your results. All of your additions are enticing and should be no problem with Gouda--keep them inside the rind, which you already know.

[Sailor Con Queso]

My chessemaker friend makes Blue Goudas (and many other cheeses) for a living so I trust his judgement. Gouda is pressed and has a much more closed texture than a Stilton. He says that if you pierce it like a blue, the holes will just close back in immediately. Brining after piercing prevents that. The thin rind that is formed in the holes can still pass oxygen into the body of the cheese. I add my blue with starter, so there is no problem with it "entering the cheese".

As far as my other "additives" like blueberries, I have tried this on other cheeses and the fruit just fermented. They seem to work just fine with cheeses that are salted before pressing - Stilton for example. Cheddar would probably work, but I don't like thought of the combination.

[BigCheese]

Sailor,

I am planning to make a blue Gouda tomorrow by adding 1/4t P. Roqueforti to 8 gal milk. My question is regarding aging. Normally, I let the rind dry and then cream wax one coat and vacuum seal. Will waxing and or vac sealing prevent the mold from having the time to grow? Do I need to keep the cheeses out for 2-3 weeks as opposed to the normal 4-7 days?

Thanks in advance.

[Sailor Con Queso]

If you are going to do a blue gouda you have to go natural rind for at least three weeks. Waxing or vac bagging will cut off the oxygen and the mold will just die.

With a Gouda, you pierce after pressing and THEN brine. That keeps the holes open enough for oxygen transfer. The cheese needs high humidity for the blue mold to do well.

[BigCheese]

Got it, sounds good! It can go into the 55F cave after a little while though, right?

One last thing, I have two piercing options: sterile toothpick or a thermometer probe. I feel like in between would be ideal, but which do you think would be better? For my recent Stiltons I used toothpick and have re-pierced the holes once since then.

[Sailor Con Queso]

I like a bigger hole. Go with the probe. Keep the cheese at room temp until the blue takes hold and then move to your cave. If the cheese dries out the blue will crash early so use a ripenning box or keep the humidity way up.

[MrsMarbles]

Well drat.  My Blue Goudas were looking good, until I realized that I was supposed to poke BEFORE brining.  Then I went straight for big holes, using a temp probe, and the rinds cracked a bit.  Guess I should have started with toothpick sized holes and moved up, since the rind was kind of tough after brining.

I was using the recipe in "Artisan cheese", which referred me back to the regular Gouda recipe, and I forgot to return to the Blue recipe for when to pierce.  For some reason I was thinking I should wait a week, but no... Well, now I have it in my notebook, so I'll work from there instead of getting myself confused while flipping between recipes.

Hopefully these will still taste good, though they're not so pretty anymore. 

My Gorgonzola isn't very pretty either, because I didn't get enough of the second day curds around the sides.  So the top and bottom are smooth, but on the sides it has a chunky more open texture. 

Oh well.  I'll eat the evidence and try again.

[Sailor Con Queso]

"Eat the evidence". I love it. Sounds like a great T-shirt.