Instead of posting day by day stuff that quiet frankly would be boring as... However, one of the Malembert container was starting to exhibit an ammonia smell and decided to sacrifice one for science. The image is of the remaining quarter of the first cheese in the batch. This is at 4 and a half weeks. I think it quite nicely show the three things that I look at during the maturing phase. In a good Malembert the rind has to be thin and even and not separating from the paste. The paste has to be consistent all the way through. So, at 4.5 weeks it still has a ways to go. The taste is also affected - not badly - but different. The outside of the paste has a nice mushroomy taste that one would expect but the center hasn't softened to the same as the outside as has a sharper taste - it's still very nice. The image shows how the ripening process migrates from the outside to the inside.
The others are ripening quite nicely with no whiffs of ammonia so this time next week they should be ready to share. The threat of slipskin seems to have been avoided by moving them very early on into the colder fridge.
