My First Blue

[Tiarella]

Love your wit!   :D  Ummm, Gianaclis just says lots of salt runs off so she puts extra.  Forget what page she talks about it on but maybe in the front where it talks about steps of cheesemaking?  I brined some Humboldt Fog insprired cheeses today and was surprised they didn't dissolve but actually firmed up nicely with only an hour of bringing.  That may have been too long a brine....
we'll see.

[mjr522]

Well, that's the approach I'm taking now, so let's hope it works!

[dirigoma]

Just wanted to jump on this thread and say THANK YOU to Boofer on the Blue tasting exercise, which I will read carefully.  I've made Ricki's plain "blue cheese"with flavor success, other than letting it get too dry ... then tried several "Castle Blues" from the 200 cheeses book, both of which failed. 

Same PV Roqueforte mold on each, but the Castle yielded a mostly Camembert/Geo like 'stinky' flavor and seemed to over ripen and turn ammonia-ish very quickly.  I can't describe the taste well (though friends loved it) but I don't care to replicate it in a blue.  So I've been gun-shy and am waiting on my Nubian does to freshen for more milk to experiment with ... making small Valencay batches in the meantime.

Tiarella and I will have to coordinate our blue mold decisions and do a tasting!

Dirigoma

[Tiarella]

Tiarella and I will have to coordinate our blue mold decisions and do a tasting!

Dirigoma

Yes, we will!!   :D. Think we can get away from our farms for long enough at the same time?  better be before kidding!  That means we have until April7th for my schedule.   :)

[mjr522]

The cheeses were transferred to the cave today.

I have heard that blues are aggressive.  How aggressive are they?  Can I put my blues in their own container in my cheese cave, but crack the lid or will I risk contaminating the other cheeses?

If I flip my blues, and then close the door without washing my hands, when I open the door the next day and flip my other cheeses, will the door contaminate my hands and the other cheeses?

[Schnecken Slayer]

I would expect contamination to happen.

I started getting blue appearing on one of my cheeses even though I handled the non-blues first.
The contamination stopped happening after I sterilised the door handle to the room and the door on the wine fridge.

[H-K-J]

I cut up a blue for bagging, washed and sterilized every thing after.
the next day I flipped a Swiss and a Caerphilly, by the end of that same day I had blue growing on both of them,
I stood there trying to think of what I had missed cleaning, I just shrugged it off, took my hands out of my pockets, the same pockets I had on when I cut the blue ::)
Aggressive you could say that about the blue molds :o

[mjr522]

Good stories--thanks.  I'm sure mine'll be contaminated soon, then.  From now on, though, I'll be quite a bit more vigilant.  I'll report later.  I kind of expect little blue fingerprints to show up on my jack and havarti soon.

[mjr522]

Because I mentioned the draining problem with the sink-vat on this thread, I thought I'd mention here that I have a potential solution on the way.  I ordered a sheet of perforated stainless steel that I will use to push the curds from one side of the vat over to the other side so I can pull the drain plug and let the whey out while limiting the loss of curds (I will probably rotate the sheet, only pushing the curds on the bottom...I'll post a picture when I actually do it...).  The holes in the sheet are 3/32" or 2.38 mm, so I don't think much curd will get through it.  About 25% of the area is open, so I hope it will drain well.

[mjr522]

Here's one of the cheeses this evening.  I'm a little concerned about the amount of blue growing on the outside (of my 'rindless' blue).  This is 9 days old.  I was under the impression that the blue shouldn't grow on the outside of this cheese for a while--it was dry salted, so the salt concentration on the outside should be too high for the blue to be growing--it's supposed to start from the inside and grow outward as the salt diffuses in.  Also, the cheese is a little tacky like it's got geo growing on it.  Thoughts?  Should I add more salt?  It's a little intimidating...

[H-K-J]

If these were Stiltons I would be going, alright here come's the blue, were as you are looking for rind-less, you may want to wipe it down with a salt brine.
then while it is still damp rub more salt on it.
I haven't made one like this so I am not to sure this would appropriate, someone who does this type of blue cheese I hope would bring more knowledgeable answers and experience. :-\   

[Tiarella]

Wow, that's quite a color blue!! :o   Sure you didn't handle it with blueberry flavored kool aid powder on your hands?   ;)

[mjr522]

H-K-J:  Thanks--I initially thought, "Cool, it's got blue stuff on it."  It was a few minutes later that I realized it might not be a good sign...I think I was just excited about it at first.  I think I will do what you've suggested unless someone who knows better than we do makes a recommendation.   

Tiarella:  Yeah, it doesn't really look that blue, the picture is much more vibrant than it is in real life.

[Al Lewis]

Great color!!

[Boofer]

Wow, that's quite a color blue!! :o   Sure you didn't handle it with blueberry flavored koi aid powder on your hands?   ;)

Agreed, pretty blue.

Um, what is koi aid powder? I raised Koi once upon a time. Is this like Lik-m-Aid or something? Way out there, I think. ;)

-Boofer-