Advice for First Aged Cheese: Stilton-ish

[lbzlittle1]

I live in Switzerland, so it's not hard to buy good cheese. Good Stilton, however, isn't so easy to get, so I threw caution to the wind and tried to make one. The only other cheeses I've ever made are mozzarella and tofu So, I'm pretty out of my league, but so far it smells great after 2 weeks. I only used a gallon of milk, and it was raw. Up to aging @10C, I mostly followed https://cheesemaking.com/collections/recipes/products/stilton-cheese-making-recipe, because my ultimate target Stilton would be https://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk/products/colston-bassett-stilton and their method seems pretty old school https://www.insider.com/how-traditional-english-stilton-blue-cheese-is-made-2019-12. I liked the idea of making a starter from Stilton, so I followed David Fankhauser's tutorial for culturing with a blue cheese slurry https://fankhauserblog.wordpress.com/tag/blue-cheese/. For aging, I consulted https://sites.google.com/site/cheeseres/stilton which links to several great posts on this forum.

I realize one newbie blue mistake I made was not packing the mold with more pressure. Though I realized 4 gals was recommended to get enough curd mass to compact the curds naturally, this was like a "proof of concept" for me, so I wasn't expecting perfect results. But, the fear of inhibiting blue mold growth from too much packing made me skip putting a weight on the mold for moderate pressure. In addition, I ripened for 5 days @20C, so as you see in the photo, I had robust mold growth before rubbing and starting the aging process. The rubbing seems to have helped retard blue growth, which I now understand is essential for taste development of the cheese itself.  I am not measuring humidity, but the aging box (cardboard) that I fashioned for my experiment seems to be working well. The cheese isn't weeping, but it doesn't seem to be drying out either.

My questions are: should I wait 7 weeks to pierce? Should I shorten overall aging time, since it is such a small wheel? Thanks again for your continuing help! 

[Aris]

With that size, it is better to shorten the time when to pierce and maturation time. If you do follow the exact aging time (84 days), the cheese will lose a lot of moisture and has a big chance of becoming ammoniated.  Maybe halve the piercing time and aging time. I've made Stilton style cheeses before using 4-5 liters of milk and I never aged over 50 days. Aging it in a short amount of time allows you to assess the cheese much earlier and learn from it.

[lbzlittle1]

Thanks for your advice. I am piercing now and will look to finish at 5 or 6 weeks (1/2 the time for the 4 gal recipe).

[Aris]

Don't forget to re-pierce it after 7-10 days to ensure proper blue veining. When the time has come you want to eat it. Eat one half and save the other half by wrapping it in plastic or foil and let it age further if you want. It will continue to age especially if you have good blue veining because the mold will keep releasing enzymes to break down the cheese.

[lbzlittle1]

Ok! Will do. Thanks again.

[lbzlittle1]

So, here it is after 7 weeks. I assume it’s doing okay, but I have no idea! Any comments are welcome and appreciated.

[bansidhe]

Looks nice to me!  But I am no expert.  . I guess the real test will be when you cut into it, if there is a nice mottling of blue inside.That said, I'll bet no matter what it will be cheese! :-). AC4U

[Aris]

Looking good. For me it looks it can be aged longer. When are you going to try it?

[lbzlittle1]

Thanks for the feedback! As it is a small cheese, I halved the 12 week aging time. I’m figuring another 2-3 weeks.

[broombank]

Yours is looking almost exactly like my second attempt at Stilton. My first was a disaster  for the reasons outlined by Aris - too long a maturation and the unwanted addition of geotrichum which the recipe specified. it became too soft and too ammoniacal. I agree with your comments about pressure - A little pressure deems desirable with a very small cheese ( 1kg) I am optimistic about my second attempt - please post how it turned out when you cut it.

[lbzlittle1]

Thanks for your input. I will definitely follow up. After some feedback on Reddit, I thought I'd halve the aging time to 6 weeks, but now I am not sure. I think I will go another week. Keeping my fingers crossed!

[broombank]

Use a trier to test it ( and your nose !)

[lbzlittle1]

Took your advice and used a “trier” It was a extra wide plastic straw. The smell has been good throughout, so I wasn’t sure how to judge matureness that way. In any event, after hesitating for a few extra weeks, I cut it and am happy to say it is probably better than I deserve!

[OzzieCheese]

I think for a small form factor cheese it has turned out very well. ACFU! What does it taste like? I like to foil wrap my blues after the first piercing. I only can do 10 litre cheeses (approx 1.4 kg) due to my limited pot arrangements. Looking at increasing that capacity in the near future.

[Aris]

Looks good but a bit dry. You should consider aging blue cheese in aluminum foil to prevent it from drying out. I usually wrap my blue cheeses in aluminum foil after over a month when they had enough time to develop blue mold internally. It can be aged a lot longer without losing moisture.