Trying to follow the guidelines in the video, I targeted 42 days for my date to cut. That's today. Of the four wheels of cheese, I had wrapped two in my older, larger
white perforated cheese paper and two in some newer, smaller cheese paper. I wanted to compare the two papers.
The target weight for this cheese is 450 grams (1 pound). With varying success I achieved that goal.
There didn't seem to be a lot of difference between the two papers. The condition of the rind appeared virtually identical for both cheeses. At the cooler refrigerator temperature (39F/48%RH) both of the sampled cheeses were unripe. Although the paste just under the rind was ripening, the innermost part of the paste tended towards chalky. It was a creamy chalky, but just not ripe. The taste of the cool cheese wedge was promising and offered a glimpse of what could be a very special cheese in another month.
I have to wonder what the ripening temperature is for those cheeses to ripen in 42 days.
Comparing with my
Reblochon #3, which I really like (still have an uncut wheel):
Reblochon #3
- Milk: 2.5 gallons raw whole
- Cultures: 2 cubes Kazu & 2 cubes MA4001
- Rind treatment: PLA
- pH at brining: 4.92
- Washed with 3% brine; developed Geo & linens rind
- Weight: 300 grams
- Cut at 40 days. Texture, flavor, salt level...quality all good.
Reblochon #4
- Milk: 1 gallon raw whole, 2 gallons creamline whole, 16 oz. pasteurized whipping cream
- Cultures: MM100, TA61, LH100
- Rind treatment: Geo13, SR3, KL71
- pH at brining: 5.36
- Washed with 6% brine & PLA; developed mostly Geo rind
- Weight: 450 grams
- Cut at 42 days. Unripe, but salt level is good.
Yes, there are a lot of differences between the two makes. This is a preliminary posting. Until this cheese is ripe, I can't know whether this is a good path to take, but at this point I'm leaning towards dropping the whipping cream. There is enough richness in the raw and creamline milk that I use to produce a very nice Reblochon. I added it here to see what an ultra-rich Reblochon would be like. At the very least, it no doubt slowed the ripening.
The milk, culture mix, and make process for Reb #3 makes it a breeze to produce. The makeup of Reb #4 is slightly more complicated.
-Boofer-