Second Take on First Blue

[Lancer99]

This is the first blue cheese I made, following an on-line recipe that I’ve since learned is a bit out of the mainstream.

You were meant to keep it a room temperature, so here it is after a week or so:



And over the course of several months, scrape off the ever-increasingly interesting molds that grew on its surface, monthly (sorry, no pics).

After four months, it was okay, but nothing special, so I wrapped it and put it in the fridge.

After a year, it’s pretty special.



I learned that wax paper is not a good idea for long aging, it sticks!:



But, you ask, how did it taste?

INTENSE. I love sharp blues, but honestly, this pushed my boundaries. Adds credence to my theory that the “blueness” is more due to aging than the actual amount of visible blueness. So intensely “blue” that maybe I’m only imagining I could taste some of the lactic complexity of an aged cheese behind that.

Best enjoyed thusly, in 3/8″ cubes on crackers:



I took a couple of slices, which will do me for a week:



. . . the rest re-wrapped (not in wax paper!) and back in to the fridge.

-L

[MacGruff]

First of all AC4U for the internal fortitude to try that!      I am not a fan of blue cheeses, and those slices would have probably had me running away ... especially if they were ... "aromatic" ?  ....  shall we say?   

Would this be something you would repeat [sans wax paper?]

[John@PC]

Good job for your first blue and a cheese for the end result.  I've done about seven different blues and am trying to learn as much as I can to find the best combination of recipe and ageing that suits our taste.  What did you end up wrapping the cheese with? 

[Lancer99]

Thx 4 the cheeses!

I've made four or five blues since then, but they were all initially kept at cellar temps rather than at room temperature, some already eaten, some in the fridge.  I have some "specialty" cheese-wrapping papers, but plastic wrap + aluminum foil seems to work fine for blues.

"Aromatic?". A friend from the UK told me he could almost smell it from there

It looks more appetizing in person than what my cam does. 

-L