Author Topic: A cave within a cave  (Read 2606 times)

Corina

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A cave within a cave
« on: March 23, 2011, 02:22:07 PM »
I am new here and reading everyting I could in a week-so many wise people here and so much informatin- I hava a question, please dontț laugh.
I have a huge cellar under the ground , made of river stone and completelly under the ground. However, the cellar cannot be cleaned perfectly as the walls are huge irregular stones with some mortar between, it is a very old house.
Because I think the temperature is perfect for aging , how can I build something to keep the unwanted fungus out and still cure the cheese there. Can I just put a large plastic box inside ind put the cheese in? Or the plastic will not allow the cheese to breathe, even if the box is large?

Tomer1

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Re: A cave within a cave
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2011, 02:49:00 PM »
Fungus are air born,
keeping the cheese in sealed plastic will take regular sanitation to keep it clean.

I'd say use the celler and just apply regular mold control and inspect your cheese regularlly.
Wax or vaccum seal the cheeses who can do without  a natural rind so you have less cheeses to treat.

zenith1

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Re: A cave within a cave
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2011, 03:47:02 PM »
Congratulations on having a real cheese cave! Do you have a read on the humidity level in the cave? It would help to determine where you go from here. You can certainly use this area(and I would if I were in your shoes). You can build some wood shelving in the area to place the wheels on. the temptation would be to use pressure treated but don't because of the treatment chemicals that ate in the wood. From there you can make some decisions based on the humidity in the area. Maybe place the wheels into large Rubbermaid/Tupperware containers that you perforated the lids to allow for air exchange and the proper humidity levels. If the humidity is too low in the cave,place some water in the containers with the cheese to bring the level up. I have used this method and drilled a series oh holes in the lid of the container and used tuck tape to regulate the amount of humidity in the box. certainly there are other options in the longer aging of your wheels as Tomer1 has indicated.

Corina

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Re: A cave within a cave
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2011, 04:07:56 PM »
I will put a humidity meter inside, I do not know about the temperature, but the cellar, being made of big stones in the old fashion way, with little mortar, has some high humidity as water sometimes makes way in form of very thin water dripings when it rains, in a corer.
I keep all my canned goods in there, and my pickles and a lot of apples.
I have a lot of shelves and I have free space on them, but as You both said, I think it is better to have some kind of special Rubbermaid container to place the cheese in , as it is easier to keep clean. I thought mabe some wire rack inside the container, but I wondered about leaving the container perfectly sealed or without the lid or with the lid with holes in it.
Thank you very much.

zenith1

  • Guest
Re: A cave within a cave
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2011, 04:41:49 PM »
I think Corina that you will have to have some more data concerning the humidity before you make that determination. Also you will want to keep the shelves clean and probably dedicated only to your wheels so you do not have contaminates. Watch for any mold from your apple crop that you are also storing in the cave. In the case of the containers you will want the wheel up of the bottom on some sort of draining rack/mat so that it stays dry all around the wheel.

Corina

  • Guest
Re: A cave within a cave
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2011, 05:27:10 PM »
I was thinking on putting the rubbermaid container on a small plastic table in the middle of the cellar, not to use the shelves that have been use for something else. I have a new plastic table not opened yet, , to place the container on it, put some  kind of new rack inside, to place the cheese on it, and then cover it  with a lid with holes. My apples are just some left, but they are ok, no mould.
However, the table and the large container I plann to be new, and very well disinffected, as I learned here that cleaniness ith the most important factor here.
On the other hand, I do not want to waste such a nice cellar and not use it for curing cheese.
Thank you for your patience it helps me sot my plan out.

zenith1

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Re: A cave within a cave
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2011, 06:51:15 PM »
Corina I would definitely use the space. You can always use the shelving that you have in place if you sanitize it first. The apples would be a concern of mine-hard to tell if they have  any unwanted molds. As you are probably aware a cheese cave will have it's own naturally occurring molds that for centuries have added to the cheese culture(no pun intended) of the world.They will populate your cheese if you let them-so if they are unwanted it's best to work to eliminate them from the start.

Corina

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Re: A cave within a cave
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2011, 08:15:59 PM »
Thank you again, now Ihave to work my hand on soft cheeses, begginer one,  ;D,but the wheels in my head are turning.
I will howeever finish my apples in two weeks or so, there are the last ones, and I will make a sanitation of the cellar and everything in it.
We have here some nice ave matured cheeses, made industrially, so that I know that caves are used very nicelly for ageing