is this okay or dangerous???

[jmorton.ioh]

I know this has been asked a lot, but I don't see any pictures that match what my cheese looks like.  My wife is getting scared, and I think I am too now.  I started the aging in a cold basement but the mold wasn't progressing at the rate I read about.   So it's been back up to normal room temp for a month now.  It's a little soft in the middle when I press, but still hard around the edges.  Moldy smell, but not ammonia any more...not blue cheese smell either.  I didn't start with pure culture, but used the cloning method from the blue cheese I bought.   It started off looking promising with an open texture and filling in with blue but now I'm thinking it's not looking so good.  Thanks for any comments/advice!  p.s. it is about 2months old now

[Helen]

I am not an expert on mold identification and I am known to eat some nasty looking cheese.

One thing I keep in mind in my edible craft (beer, cheese, meat, etc) is that it is not a sin to bin. Better safe than sorry.

That said, again, it might be perfectly fine and one of the forum experts will let you know.

[linuxboy]

There is no way to tell, for any cheese, produced in any setting, if it is safe or not... unless it tests negative for pathogens. That said, humans have been eating all sorts of stuff for years with not many ill effects.

Some practices and mold species do help to ensure a minimization of risk vectors. It's hard to say what has happened here because we do not have detailed records.

[jmorton.ioh]

I guess I'm not really asking whether or not it is dangerous (that was a joke....sort of ).  what i really want to know is if I should leave it be, cut into it, or re-pierce it (the recipe i followed had the piercing early on).

thanks!

[smilingcalico]

DISCLAIMER: I can not be held responsible for any negative effects or death.
I advise against re-piercing as you risk introducing unwanted molds into the cheese.  I'd cut it open and see what you've got inside.  If there's any color other than blue in the veining, I'd personally scrap it.  Cut away the rind, let it air out a bit, if it smells like cheese, give it a taste.  The rest is up to you.  Godspeed.

[linuxboy]

Your blue is not like any traditional approach (read:proven over time by tradition) I have seen. Here are the key differences:
- For curd salted blue, the bacterial progression goes yeast>roqueforti, with the roqueforti dying, a moisture gradient forming, which creates a protective rind. Your cheese is exhibiting mixed species and the penicillium appears to be growing on a mismatched Aw rind.
- For salted curd blues, crucial to smooth the surface, yours has openings.
- For rind salted blues, the rind progression is very different, primarily supporting the growth of halotolerant yeasts and bacteria. It would not achieve that rind. It would not be surface smoothed, but would still have a good smooth rind.

So with your different approach, the best bet is to treat it like a blend between a high Aw tomme and a blue, and let the rind die down or scrape it off and see if the inside is edible.

[jmorton.ioh]

Well I cut it open and......it looked like blue cheese.  We all tried it and and my wife even said that she liked it better than the store-bought blue we had in the frig.  Said it tasted more like the strong Stilton her father always had when she was growing up in the UK.   We saved a little from innermost parts of the cheese and put the rest in the bin.  It certainly had some intersting aromas

Thanks for the advice.  I'll have to read through some posts here and hopefully next time will be a more attractive cheese!

[DeejayDebi]

Well it looks goood on the inside but was sort of scary looking on the outside! If we see you post in a few days I guess we'll all now eh?

[FRANCOIS]

I make a blue that uses local mould and it can vary like that, from white to blue to black.  That cheese looks totally fine.  I suspect if you make it again and, after bloom, vacuum seal it and put it at 40F it will take on a very sweet, fruity flavour.  The sharp blue notes will go away.