Blue Cheshire but how to age?

[matnewman]

Having a couple of Stiltons on the go in my fridge I decided to tackle to problem of cross contamination head on and went for a blue hard cheese mix!  So I used the cheshire recepie but added p. Roqueforte with the rest of the cultures.  This seemed a better choice than a cheddar as the final milled curds are dry enough so that even when pressed there would be some gaps to allow room for the mould to grow. Anyway, now after four days I've got a nice blue growth all round the outside of the cheese and I've pierced it to let some air into the middle.

My only problem is I'm not quite sure how to age it from now on.  Normally I'd wax a hard cheese but I'm guessing with this one I just leave it as it is and mature 'naked'?  Any suggestions?

[fied]

You can either butter and bandage it and allow the blue (and other moulds) to form a crust on the bandage, or you can just allow the blue crust to form without bandaging, or you rub the rind with a 3% brine to kill the outside blue and just butter and age as is. I prefer the second.

Here's the bandaged blue crust:

http://www.joseph-heler.co.uk/about_us/news.php?news_start=10&page_number=2&id=55

[Tomer1]

Obviously with blue you need to keep your RH high so the blue is happy and the cheese doesnt dry out.

[matnewman]

That Joseph-Heler looks good...!  I'll try the second approach then and see what happens.  If it starts to go wrong I can always bandage it later I guess.

Good point Tomer - it was becoming a bit powdery on the surface so I'll see if I can increase RH a bit.

[anutcanfly]

Be sure to post the results!  I've been thinking about adding blue to some of the cheddar styles.

[matnewman]

The new blue cheshire is top left, next to a 2 month stilton-esqu attempt top right and 7-month old bandaged cheddar at the bottom.  The stilton is still moist to the touch - not sure how to get it "ready" for Christmas - suggestions welcome!

The cheshire is very powdery still, see picture of my hand after touching it.  I'm guessing this will die back soon and then I might wax it (still not decided whether to wax or just leave it).