Advice for First Aged Cheese: Stilton-ish

[lbzlittle1]

Thank you for your comments! I will try the foil aging. Perhaps it is a little drier than Stilton that I buy, but I've tasted drier aged blues too. I like the flavor. It has cheddary notes with blue overtones. It has some depth and complexity which is nice. Next time though, I hope to bring the blue tastes more to the foreground. For this, I think a 16 or 20 liter version would make things easier. I could then pierce with a thicker skewer for example. The small form made this hard. I was always afraid of cracking the wheel. It could also then age longer without drying too much... At least these are my thoughts. Here is another picture showing the rind. A month or so in, I got afraid of infection and rubbed/brushed off growth on the rind. I think this lead to b. linens taking over on the rind. I appreciate any more insights for the next try! Thanks again!!

[bansidhe]

Hi,  You uploaded image is empty.  :-(

[lbzlittle1]

Oops!

[bansidhe]

It looks wonderful, I think!  Congratulations!  I do see what looks like a pink hue in parts ..  what could that be from?

[Aris]

B. linens eventually grow on the rind of my blue cheeses. I am not bothered by it, I actually welcome it because it adds complexity. Even some commercial blue cheeses tends to have B. linens on the rind from my experience. Roquefort has an orange pigmentation on the rind. It is closely related to B. linens. I've seen this in Roqeufort Carles and Papillon. Carles actually scrape off the orange slime on the rind before packaging for sale. Another example is Queso Cabrales which is washed with water/brine during aging. It is orange in color and very slimy. The pink hue is most likely B. linens.  I also had that in one of my blue cheeses.

[bansidhe]

Ahhh...  Yes...  I do recall seeing such a thing on some blues.  Good to know.