Making my First Romano

[cheezwhizz]

 Jeff,  Ive made a few whole milk Romanos exactly the same size as yours. 3 ht x 6.5 dia.. Aged them with an oiled rind for 4 months, then vac sealed after that. They come out great.  The rind is a scant 1/8 inch thick at cutting and the cheese is in no way too dry. I think the driving factor here is the RH. If you need to get the humidity up, you can cover the cheeses loosly with an inverted bowl to keep in moistire. ...Go for the natural rind dude...wax on a Ramano is sacrilege   

[JeffHamm]

Hi pliezar,

I don't have a vaccuum bagger.  Wax is my only option.  I found a recipe for cheese wax on the web that combined bee's wax and vegetable shortening.  I posted it here on one of the boards (equipment?).  I've got notes on it somewhere, so if I can find it I'll post it here again.  I bought some wax already, so I've not tried it myself, so I can't vouch for it.

I can try and increase the humidity in the chilly bin; just add a cup of water or two, and see how it goes I guess.  I'm going to try a natural rind for awhile, and see how it goes.  It's not wax, it's ... uh ... bee cheese!    Anyway, will see how it goes.  The make just went so well I would hate to drop the ball on the final leg of the journey (even if time wise it is the longest leg).

- Jeff

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

I tracked down the bee's wax -> cheese wax recipe:

CHEESE WAX (Ounces by weight):
13.5 ounces beeswax
2.5 ounces vegetable shortening

Heat the ingredients in an oven at 200 degrees F. until combined. Remove the wax from the oven and wait for it to reach 160-180 degrees F. Dip the cheese and remove it with one quick, smooth motion. Repeat this step until the wax is about 1/16th of an inch thick.

Again, not sure how good this is as I found it after buying some cheese wax, so I've not used it myself.

- Jeff

[JeffHamm]

Well, this one is still wax-free.  I've given it a few brine rub downs, and the other day it got a wipe with EVOO.  As my wife has given me a wine cooler for a cheese cave (so we can put food in the freezer rather than my ice jugs for the chilly bin; oh, and I have a birthday this year! ) I've moved it into there.  The new "cave" is much drier than the chilly bin, and I've put a bunch of bowls of water in it to try and keep the humidity up.  Two days ago, I put the cheese in a plastic bag (just a shopping bag) and that, I think, is working really well.  A few drops of moister were forming today inside the bag, so I've just opened it up and placed it over the cheese like a hood (bottom open) to see how that goes.  If I can keep the humidity levels in a happy place, I should be able to let this one develope a natural rind.  Nice.

- Jeff

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

Thought I would post a photo update.  It's weighed in today at 1272g (just shy of 2.8 lbs), and still natural rind and clean as a whistle.  Smells great too.  Still a long way to go, but should be good when it's time.

- Jeff

[Tea]

I have only tried a parm a couple of times.  The first I waxed and for the life of me, I couldn't stop the mould growing. For the second one, Wayne advised to rub with oil, then in two weeks rub with salt, then two weeks later rub with oil, and keep alternating.  The cheese is only about 6x2.5 and is almost 1 year old.  I oiled and salted every fortnight for about 4 mths, then found I could drop back to once every month.  Absolutely no mold.  So fingers crossed that when I open this in another couple of months it will be good.