Opening day at the cheese factory!
Three months in and time to taste the cheese. I cut this, my Tilsit #1, and an Austrian Tilsit. I asked my wife to join me in tasting and comparing these three cheeses. I rely upon her olfactory senses because mine are not quite as optimal as hers. Yesterday while I was rubbing them and inspecting for today's opening, I asked her to smell them. She characterized them both as "clean" (I would guess...meaning "fresh".), but added that the Tomme smelled like freshly-dug earth (I would guess that meant "mushroomy".)
Today, after tasting all three of these candidates, she said she liked the Tomme best out of all three. She did say she wasn't too fond of the rind and she removed it to increase her tasting pleasure. She even said that if I served it, not to serve it with the rind. I found that the rind was edible but it did contribute to the earthiness of the cheese.
I would say that this was a definite improvement in my Tomme lineup. After cutting a portion for my son and his family, I vacuum-sealed the remainder and will continue to age it.
-Boofer-