And now for something completely different...My Esrom #2

[Brie]

I bet it will taste awesome--the aroma is always more offensive than the taste in b.linen washed rind cheeses.

[Boofer]

It's amazing how time flies. Here I almost forgot about this cheese. I had moved it to the big fridge for slower, long-term storage.

Opening the paper I was actually surprised to see that the whole thing wasn't engulfed in mold. When I cut slices they held together well. There was some black mold that had come through the rind in places but not too bad. After I sliced off the rind I had some decent cheese samples to taste.

It wasn't overpowering either in smell, saltiness, or off-flavors. It was actually quite nice...maybe a bit salty. I see that in a lot of the cheeses I have been making. I've tried to address that in some of my latest efforts. There's not much pleasure in eating cheese that's overly salted. It may be okay to incorporate in cooking or baking, but even that may strain a recipe.

I wouldn't consider this a true example of an Esrom. I have actually only tasted one Real Esrom (pictured) and it too was salty but a lot more moist and stinky. I experienced some difficulties in this make. I might try a third time somewhere down the road, but there a few other cheese styles I want to address first as well as concentrate on refining my Goutaler and Beaufort styles.

-Boofer-

[Tomer1]

Yours perhaps seem less moist? or maybe its just the open texture giving that apearance.

The rind is not edible? or did the black mold turn you off?

[Boofer]

Not moist as the real one was. Maybe as salty which wasn't appealing for either one.

No, the rind was pockmarked with lots of tiny (and not-so-tiny) pits from when I was pressing it in the pot and the temp got a little too high with the seed mat. I may try a portion of the rind later that doesn't have the black mold on it. Otherwise, no, I wouldn't consider this rind edible.

I have tried to do Esrom twice now and each effort has turned out very differently from the benchmark cheese (the real one). I think my first effort was actually closer to the mark.

-Boofer-

[Tomer1]

It seems like this cheese all about managing it post make, wouldnt you say?

Did you ripen\age it in a fridge?

[Boofer]

No, as I said, I had problems in the early make. If that's wrong, anything that follows has a lesser chance of succeeding. I believe my washing/ripening went as well as I could expect. The overall result would have been improved with two factors: better control early on and lower salt uptake throughout.

Yes, I ripened it as do with all my cheeses...in a minicave (ripening box) inside my cave. As with all my cheese efforts, that permits me to control the RH fairly effectively. My controller is set to 48F-55F. My second (newer cave) has a digital controller which I can set for a target temp and then set swing range. Right now that one is set for 51F with an allowable swing of one degree. And it displays the current temp. Much better piece of equipment.

-Boofer-

[Boofer]

It has been a while since this cheese saw the light of day, so I decided to check in on it.

Looks pretty decent under the cheese paper. I trimmed off any rind that had black mold. It is a salty cheese as I may have said before, but it nonetheless has a pleasant, creamy character that shines through. I sampled it with grapes and they helped to deflect the salty overtone.

You can see the cheese drying a little more and hardening up a bit more, but it is still offering a bit of a taste excursion months after it was made.

I heated a bit of it in the microwave oven to check on the melting qualities. I actually liked it better in the melted form. I wrapped a bit of it around grapes several times and that was pretty tasty.

I would really like to try this cheese again and not repeat the same mistakes I made with this make. I think it could be a real sweetheart of a cheese.

-Boofer-