Waxing - Can You Rewax?

[mcfly]

Hi,
I have a gouda that I made 3 months ago which tastes ok but as I'm new to cheesemaking, I want to rewax and taste it in 2 months to see how the flavour develops. I didn't take the wax completely off the whole cheese, I just chopped about 1/3 lengthways off the cheese so rewaxing will be pretty straight forward.

Is it safe to rewax or should I use another method. Maybe once its been cut it will not carry on its maturing process?

Thanks!

Steve

[Alex]

I would peel all the wax and do the job again. The reason for it is the chance of catching some contamination and air trapped between the wax and the cheese, as I am sure the wax has separated from the cheese where you cut it.

[mcfly]

Thanks Alex
There wasn't any gap between the wax and the cheese as it was still a little soft. It's a goat cheese gouda recipe so I'm not sure if this made much difference to the consistency of the cheese compared to cow's milk? I was expecting it to be a little firmer to be honest which is why I want to give it another 2 months. I see you point regarding contamination though.
 

[Gina]

I've rewaxed a few cheeses after 'needing' to sample or check, and dont think it's a problem. People who use vacuum sealers open and re-seal their cheeses, so why not waxers? Like Alex, I would tend to want to rewax the entire thing, but if the seal seems good on the edges, perhaps that's not necessary. Just keep watch for possible contamination.

For me, in the beginning of cheese making, I tended to wax as the recipes suggested (after a couple days of drying) and that has proven to be too soon. Now, as others here have suggested, after a couple days of drying at room temp, I'll move them into the cheese cave and continue drying for another couple weeks or longer before waxing. Sometimes however, I will want to taste and have found when I do, cracks will develop on the cut surface. My solution for that now is to just dip the cut surface into hot cheese wax so only that one surface is sealed and drying/aging can continue.

The photo is of a recently made butter cheese/butterkrase from 200 easy cheeses that has been sampled twice already , and each cut side sealed in wax.  It may be difficult to see, but most of the cheese is unwaxed.

[Alex]

Steve : You may recycle the peeled wax, I always do it.

Gina: Drying the cheese more weeks in the cave is unnecessary. You have to choose between a waxed rind cheese or a treated rind cheese.

[mcfly]

Ah great, many thanks Gina.. Ill get waxing!

Thank you for letting me know regarding recycling wax Alex, its something I have always wondered.. It will save me some money

[Gina]

Gina: Drying the cheese more weeks in the cave is unnecessary.

That is probably true for most circumstances and is what I've read and seen in videos, but this winter/spring/summer has been very humid here and things have not been drying as fast as usual. I find that when I do dry them in the cave longer alla Debi and Sailor (IIRC), I'm getting a drier product that I prefer. I also like to experiment.

You have to choose between a waxed rind cheese or a treated rind cheese.

That's true for cheeses that require a long aging period, but the butter cheese in the photo above is said to be ready in 4 weeks, which will be next week. I may never get around to waxing it - which had been my intent. It's very pleasing right now so it may not last long. Actually, I should probably wax half of it just to see what happens in another month.