Camemberts

[ancksunamun]

Made these lovelies last night. This is my second attempt at Camembert. My first went pretty well using a VERY basic recipe but when it came time to eat it I panicked with the slight amonia smell (or was it?) and ended up throwing a lot of it out. What I did eat tasted good though!

I left these to shape and drain last night and have had them at room temperature today draining some more (out of their molds) and have salted them tonight.

I have a few questions which I hope might fill the gaps in my VERY basic recipe:

1) How long can I let these keep draining and do I need to keep wiping away the moisture?
2) When do I move them to my cave?
3) When do I add humidity?

I think I have the last bit sussed once the bloom has grown (remove wrap and age at a lower temp?) but the steps in between are lacking on this recipe and I would like a much better guide to follow to ensure succes.

Your help is appreciated.

PS: Bought 6 containers with these pickle baskets in them for $2.99 NZD and the baskets worked perfectly as Cam baskets! Very pleased with this purchase. Sure, they put some funky grooves on the cheeses but I don't mind that and they are reducing as the curds drain.

[Oberhasli]

Hi Anck, I keep draining and flipping and wiping away moisture until there isn't any more.  It will usually take about 4-6 days or so.  I keep them in the box, flipping every day until they get a really nice coat of white bloom, which may take a week to ten days.  Depending on the temperature of my basement I may leave them in the box for another 4 or 5 days to mature  before I put them in the fridge (colder cave) to keep maturing more slowly.  You can put them right into your cave after they get their nice white bloom if you want to experiment with the taste of young cam's and let others age more in the fridge. 

You will get some ammonia smell as the bloom forms, but as you flip your cheese, air out the box a bit.  When I put them in the fridge, I wrap them in cheese wrap and let them continue to age more slowly.  I don't add humidity.  I leave my cheeses out in my fridge on a mat and they seem to get plenty of humidity in my fridge to keep them from aging too fast or getting too much of an ammonia smell.  But, that is my preference. 

I like the look of your cam moulds.  Nice pattern on the cheeses. :-)

Bonnie

[ancksunamun]

Thanks Bonnie

So do you keep them at room temperature while you are draining and flipping?

[Oberhasli]

Well, I keep them in my basement which is cooler than the upstairs.  But, if your house if pretty warm where they are draining, they may grow the white bloom more quickly.  The recipe I use says to transfer cheeses to a ripening room at 10-12 degrees Celsius (50-54 degrees Fahrenheit) and the white mold should begin in 5-7 days.  So, my basement fits that bill, but I have had them ripen faster when it is warmer.  It then says to wrap them after the bloom and transfer to the fridge (4-5 degrees Celsius, 40-45 degrees F) or continue in the ripening room.  You will just have to keep an eye on them to decide when to move to the fridge.  This is from "The Cheesemakers Manual", by Margaret Morris. 

I would put them in the coolest place you have in your house (not the fridge unless it is your devoted "cave" and you can adjust the temp) until the white bloom starts. 

Maybe check some of the older posts on cams and see what the others have done?

[iratherfly]

- Drain them, flipping every 6-12 hours for up to 36 hours in room temp. If they are still not relatively dry by then, keep draining them in your cave to prevent over-development too quickly.
- Put a paper towel under your draining platform to absorb the humidity and trap it. Wipe and replace as needed.
- Make sure your cheese is not draining directly on this surface. This isn't loose/airy enough and about 50% of the surface is swimming in its own whey, very bad. This will cause a skin slip later. Put a sushi mat on top of it, or plastic net of some sort.
- Once 24-36 hours have passed, salt them (if you haven't done so yet). Use 2% to 3% of their body weight in salt. I know it seems very salty but the salt will start extracting lots of why out and with it, it will get diluted by much.
- Immediately after salting, cover and put in your cave. Initially the cheese will continue to drain a lot and you will have water beads all over your aging container. You only need 85%-90% humidity so these heavy water beads mean you are at 100%. Wipe them off. Control the humidity by closing the lid partially in the first few days and as the beads disapear, close it more and more to keep humidity up. Wipe the beads at least once a day and change the paper towel on bottom when it becomes moist. The most important are the beads on the lid because they fall onto your cheese and can create skin slip or contamination.
- When fully bloomed (depands on you cultures you used, can take from 3-7 days), move the aging container to a refrigerator's top shelf (bottom may be too cold). Age for 10-14 more days until a bit softer and smells right.
- Ammonia smell during aging is certainly normal and doesn't mean the cheese is bad. Ammonia smell once you opened the cheese is bad... it will usually be related to extremely runny cheese or skin slip.
- I no longer wrap my cheese unless they need to be packed away for a while in the colder part of the fridge. I find that the wrap too often kills the bloom and the bacteria recedes. Moist cheese will develop slip skin under it too. I see a lot of others who also don't do that. The French often turn the cheese during aging and tap the top, bottom and sides of it to transfer bacteria and to press the skin and flatten the mold. If you wrap, make sure you have excellent quality wrapping paper. I suggest to do half batch with and half without wrap to see which works out better for you and then you decide how to go about it next time
- Turn the cheese evening and morning if you can. It will help the mold grow evenly and also move minerals in the cheese all over it, equalizing the form, texture and flavor all around.

[ancksunamun]

Wow! Excellent information. Thank you iratherfly!

My Cams have stopped draining mostly now so I will move to the cave while still checking every day. I am a bit fanatic about checking and turning my cheeses so happy to do so with these Cams too.

Is there any point when I might need to ADD humidity? My cave is at 80% by default but these cheeses are in microwave fish poachers with racks that sit above trays at the bottom (and lids).

[iratherfly]

If you put them in aging containers (i.e your fish poachers with lids on) you won't need to add humidity. As a matter of fact, you may want to use some of the dryer conditions of your cave when partially opening the lid to reduce humidity in the box. In the beginning you will have excess moisture.  Another good thing to know is that cheese loves friends. If you can age all 6 of them in the same container you will get better results (of course they don't fit; don't stack them!)

But I would really watch for those draining platforms you are using, they leave your cheese touching too much whey. You really don't want to get toad skin or slip skin. Elevate it onto a sushi mat or some very loose and open plastic net

[ancksunamun]

I've got bloom! Yay!

My Cams went into my cave last night and already today they have a lovely white fuzz starting. It's grown literally overnight.

Now I just need it to keep growing and hope I don't get any other kind of fuzz.

[iratherfly]

Pretty good speed! Were they out where it was hot? Or did you just use a quick PC strain like Neige?

[ancksunamun]

They were at room temperature for 3 days. 36 hours in the molds then 36 hours draining/drying.

I then moved them into the cave (12c) in covered racks as shown.

This is what I have today, a week after making these cheeses.

I was planning to keep them at 12c until fully covered then wrap them and move them to the 9c part of the cave.

Good idea?

[9mmruger]

Wow, they look great.  I just got a couple of the poachers like yours and am anxious to make my first cam's.  Probably won't happen til I get back from vacation however.  Headed to northern Minnesota next week for 10 days.  Looking forward to that.

[iratherfly]

Yes, good idea. Just be careful with this thick mesh - you don't want to get skin slip.  Look at how I make them to prevent this (look at the sushi mat I am using atop an elevating plastic grid which is laid on a paper towel in the box. You don't want the surface of the cheese to get too wet being blocked by too much box plastic surface, you want it aired nicely from below) see photo...

[ancksunamun]

Unfortunately due to the height of my Camemberts I can't add sushi mats to the containers but I do have paper towel underneath the trays and I am flipping and checking for condensation morning and night (twice daily) as recommended.

I have a great coverage today but also have had a little bit of black mold which I have cut out and recovered with a bit of salt. Seems to be keeping on top of it.

I have been taking them out of the cave and leaving to air for an hour or two each day. This also seems to be helping the mold.

I would love these to work out as they are looking so lovely. Fingers crossed!!!

[iratherfly]

Sushi mat is actually quite thick. I now use plastic net on top of the plastic greed. It also prevents early contamination. Once you have coverage, if you don't wrap them you can put them on hay; this will give them awesome grassy aroma and will help the mold grow as well as wick out excess moisture.

You don't need to take them out of the cave; it would warm them up and may risk skin slip. You have about 2 weeks left to age them, the mold will grow just fine, I wouldn't worry. (If it doesn't that's usually a sign of curd acidity issue).

If your mold comes back, treat is with a drop of vinegar instead of salt.

[ancksunamun]

My Cams are still doing well with lots of great bloom. I have though noticed a couple of bald spots and there are a few spots where I have had to remove black mold.

Should I leave them to continue growing the mold in the 12c of my cave? Or is there some 'drop dead' date when the mold will stop blooming altogehter?

Once these few spots are covered I am ready to wrap a few and keep a few in their containers and move them all to the cooler part of the cave.

Just not sure if there is some cut off point when I am wasting my time hoping for the final few spots to cover? Otherwise they look great!