If it were me, I would cut this cheese into quarters, cutting out the cracked portion, and wax or lard and bandage the cheese. Use salt and vinegar to "sand" off the mold first.
I'm really wondering if this cheese didn't have a lot of moisture trapped inside. How did you press it (weight/psi) and for how long? Did you flip it a couple of times during the press?
Don't be discouraged by this one cheese and it's challenges. This time of year it is difficult to balance out humidity in regions where we need to heat our homes.
Thanks for the help.
I used a cheese press I bought on ebay (first mistake) that claims to press to 50lbs.
After reading too many recipes I pressed this way:
1. One hour at about 10-15lbs
2. Flipped Cheese and pressed 3 hours at about 25lbs
3. Flipped Cheese and pressed 24 hours at about 50 lbs.
When pressing at 50 lbs (full spring compression) I cranked down the press a little past the '50 lbs' setting and any time I saw the spring begin to open up (from the cheese shrinking away from the follower I guessed) I pressed it back.
After pressing I put the cheese in my fridge meat drawer on a plate with paper towel under it. (biggest mistake).
I hadn't realized the need for high humidity until after the cracking started and I began to ask questions.
Typically our house runs about 33% (now that I can check it) so when the cheese was in the fridge (over 4 days) it was way too dry. Even now at about 79% humidity in the mini cave the cheese doesn't seem to want to repair.
Also, when pressing I didn't get a lot of whey out of it. I used 3/4's 2% milk and 1/4 homogenized 3% (it's what I had).
I'm planning another attempt tomorrow -- but this time no messing around! 3% milk and mini cave all the way.
So, here is my next question: If I can cut away the cracks leaving a fairly solid block of cheese and I wax that don't I then need to store it at 55 degrees or less? (The mini cave sits around 60-65 degrees most of the time with lower then desirable humidity from what I've heard).
