Sick Tomme?

[Danbo]

Hi,

I made a Tomme (from Caldwell's book) December 4th 2014.

I'm washing it in brine every third day or so. Now I have started to use a lighter saltwater solution (about 5%).

I have noticed some neon yellow spots on the rind and I'm worrying if it is OK that they are there...

My cave has 12,5 degrees Celcius and rel. humidity on 80-85%.

I really hope to get some answers. :-)

:-) Danbo

[scasnerkay]

It looks great to me!! Do you still need to use brine, or could you just brush it with a dry brush now?

[Stinky]

They show up every so often on mine. Try decreasing the humidity a little. They don't hurt the flavor too much, although they don't taste that good.

[Danbo]

Thanks to both of you for the advice! :-) I'm happy to hear that it is normal...

I'm not sure if I can just drybrush the cheese now. I have used boiled salt water until now (5 weeks). I don't think that I'm experienced enough to tell...

Can you perhaps give me some more advice on how to proceed with the rind care?

:-) Danbo

[Stinky]

This is what usually goes on in my cave.

I make the cheese, maybe four days later it has mold growing.

I brush that lightly, all good. If it's geo or actually a lot of mold, the brush won't remove it, just keep it from blooming much. And then I do that every day until mold basically stops growing, which is usually a few weeks later. You might have to brush it again once in a while, but not necessarily every day.

[Danbo]

Hi Stinky,

I really want to try to keep the rind nice and clean - but maybe I should stop being afraid of things growing on my cheeses...

:-) Danbo

[Stinky]

Hi Stinky,

I really want to try to keep the rind nice and clean - but maybe I should stop being afraid of things growing on my cheeses...

:-) Danbo

I've had some really gnarly looking cheeses that still tasted great. When I started, I wanted everything to look nice. But take a look at JeffHamm's cheeses. They turn out fine. If you really need clean cheeses, do washed-rind, wax, or vacuum-seal. And even then there's no guarantee.

The attached photo is of a Gruyere.

[Danbo]

Looks nice! :-)

[Mermaid]

Beautiful tomme! I'm made this cheese with caldwells recipe last week. My aging space is rather chilly right now so no mold growth- but I have had those lovely yellow molds before. A cheesemonger from nyc told me she thinks the yellow is a good thing. Don't fear a colorful rind- it sets it apart from those in the supermarket !

[Danbo]

Thanks! :-)

[John@PC]

I really want to try to keep the rind nice and clean - but maybe I should stop being afraid of things growing on my cheeses...
:-) Danbo

If it's surface mold you can always give a light scraping of the rind to eliminate or reduce it to where your happy.  I'm pretty tolerant of surface mold but if it has an off-odor to it when "sniffing" I'll take off the top 10 mils or so.  I use a cabinet scraper which does well for med to hard rinds.  I know it's not "orthodox" but it works. :)

[Danbo]

Thanks for the advice, John - I'll try that if it gets worse...

:-) Danbo

[Mermaid]

John, I have done that method with a few cheeses - wondering if you re brined after scraping or left it alone.

[John@PC]

John, I have done that method with a few cheeses - wondering if you re brined after scraping or left it alone.

I have done a brine "wash" but not a full immersion.  If you did I would think it would only need a short "soak" for residual surface mold??