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GENERAL CHEESE MAKING BOARDS (Specific Cheese Making in Boards above) => Problems - Questions - Problems - Questions? => Topic started by: mspieg on March 24, 2012, 10:55:10 PM
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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
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Give them and your fridge some fresh air.
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So you think it's an issue of air circulation? Is this a smell that you've encountered?
thanks!
m
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I've had a ripened cheese give off a distinctive cabbage smell. It dissipated with airing out. Someone (LB?) Said that it was associated with a particular strain of a ripening mold. (I'd have to search for it to remember the exact facts.) We ate the cheeses; it wasn't in the taste.
Pam
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Thanks Pam! Good to know. The smell is kind of cabbage-y come to think of it, kind of like cooked cabbage, or cooked artichoke. I'll give the cheese an airing and scrub out the wine fridge and see if that helps.
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Air is very important to these cheeses!
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@Deejay, yes indeed it is. There's a fan in the fridge and I hadn't seen this issue previously, so I was hoping circulation was adequate, I make sure to not crowd the cheeses, and keep air circulation open as much as possible, I used to have solid shelves but found that limited air flow, so replaced them with wire racks. I may have to look for ways to increase it further now.
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Just open the door everyday for a few minutes to air out the cheeses with lids open. I even do that with my sausages. The more you have in there the more they need air. Mold cheese really need air!