Montasio question

[BobE102330]

I made a Montasio generally following Rikki Carrol's recipe with culture reduced back in August.  I used 2 gallons of creamline milk with 1/8 tsp mild lipase, 1/4 tsp of MA011 and 1/8 tsp of TA061 ripened an hour which gave me a 13 minute floc time.  I forgot to record cutting time, but my temperature control was better than usual.

The result after almost 4 months at 55 degrees and ~80% RH is a very tasty cheese with a greasy, sticky mouth feel.  It coats the tongue like a spoonful of peanut butter, the feeling lasts a  lot longer than any other cheese I remember.  Previous Montasios made with P/H milk have been better for mouth feel, but not as tasty.  I've had other cheeses sharing the cave, so there is a bit of Geo, PC, PR and PLA floating around.  Surface growth has been brushed down regularly, at least weekly.

Living a long way from decent cheese suppliers, I was wondering whether this is normal and/or if I can expect further aging to change the feel.  It has a slightly granular texture., though nowhere near as granular as Dave's https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10500.0.html 

If this is not a normal outcome, what can I do to maintain the taste but improve mouth feel next time?  Santa is going to bring me a pH meter. 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[BobE102330]

Obligatory cheese picture (note ample cross contamination in my multiple variety cave.)



And, a big thank you to Dave for suggesting frico in his montasio thread.  This will consume a lot of cheese...

[bbracken677]

Looks good! A cheese for you!

[JeffHamm]

Sounds good.  I figure the taste is the most important thing, so you scored big on that.  Not sure about the mouth feel though.  The frico looks good.

- Jeff

[BobE102330]

Mouth feel is a bit better today compared to what it was on Thanksgiving, so I'm hoping a bit of aging will help the second wheel.  This one is frico. 

The next make will be 4 gallons.