Made a Caerphilly last night, and when i prepared the cheese for the last period of pressing i thought - hey, why not go naked? I've seen other members of the board do this with various cheeses from time to time, and it seems to give nice clean edges and of course no imprints from the cheese cloth. What i did not consider last night was the abundance of little knobs on the cheese, formed as it tries to escape through the draining holes in the hoop. Although it looks kind of funny, it will make proper rind treatment a nightmare. What do one do about those knobs? Cut them of right away? Seems troublesome. Will they come of easier after a few days drying?
Re drying - it seems that the cheese will dry out faster with the knobs present, as the surface area is enlarged quite a bit?
(I don't think i will press cheeses without cheesecloth again.)