General creamy vs. Sharp blue question

[Dinerdish]

I haven't made a blue cheese yet. I am pretty comfortable with white mold ripened cheeses. I have looked at a number of blue recipes and I can't boil down the essential differences between, say, Gorgonzola and Maytag. I'm not aiming to reproduce a specific cheese. I just want to make a creamy, relatively mild blue cheese. I will be using raw Jersey milk. I don't want to add any cream and I have only one gallon of milk at a time, maybe I could get a second gallon but not for the next month or so, the farmers I get my milk from are pretty low on milk. So, any advice or recommendations? I suspect the first might be to wait until I can get at least two gallons of milk! by the way, I already plan to make some Cambozola, that shouldn't be too problematic...right?

Dinerdish

[linuxboy]

gorg:

- thermophilic culture
- drained on conveyor (commercially)
- warm room ripened (usually)
- strong blue strain, color tending toward green
- foil wrapped

maytag
- mesophilic culture
- mild blue strain
- no warm room period
- no foil wrap (optional)

[dttorun]

Linuxboy,
What is the function of foil? I wrap my blues in cellophane paper after around two weeks of ripening so they can breath in the fridge.
When is the time for wrapping in foil?
Thanks,
Tan

[linuxboy]

To allow for easy handling and storage. You put in foil after primary maturation is complete and you are ready to refrigerate the cheese. Can do it earlier, too. Really up to the cheesemaker and what the cheesemaker wants to do. Point of the foil is to have a rindless finish.

[dttorun]

This explains piercing marks on the foil. I guess they are wrapping with foil before blue takes over the rind but internal mold development continues.
Thanks,
Tan

[linuxboy]

correct on the internal mold development (need the gas exchange), except the surface blue never happens because gorg is surface salted, so the salt inhibits the growth of surface p. roqueforti.

[dttorun]

You mean brining to minimize surface p.roq? I always surface salt my blues after removing from the mold and start seeing surface p.roq the next day after piercing. I add or sprinkle p.roq in layers while filling the moulds, so it doesn't spread all over. What else does inhibit surface mold growth?
Thanks,
Tan

[Dinerdish]

Wait now, from the recipes I've looked at, 86 F is the temp to get to for both Gorgonzola  and Stilton, but for Stilton you use mesophilic cultures and for Gorgonzola you use thermophilic cultures?  I thought you used thermophilic with temps over 100 F. I think what I want to make is Gorgonzola dolce type cheese and I just need to follow a recipe and see how it goes. Experience is the best teacher. But still, how does a thermophilic culture work at 86 F?

Dinerdish