Hi,
I have goat's milk geotrichum/penicilium ash coated molded cheeses, and mixed cow/goat robiola style geotrichum molded wheels in my wine fridge. Recently I've noticed that the fridge, and some of the wheels (mostly the robiola) have a mild but distinct vegetal, artichoke'y smell to them. It's not entirely unpleasant but it's definitely new, and not a smell i would normally expect or associate with the cheeses I'm making. Is this a known defect, and is there something I might be doing/not doing that could be causing it? I have made these recipes in the past with good results and no occurrence of this particular smell.
The environment is a 16 bottle wine refrigerator, with racks up top for cheese and bottom shelves for trays of water (frequently cleaned and changed), temp at around 52-54ºF, 80-85% humidity (I'm trying to get humidity above 90% but that's proven challenging).
thanks,
Matt