I think this could be useful to others as well. Two cheeses are at stake - one started as Colby, other as Asiago with peppercorns. Who knows what will they turn into in the end. I am annoyed with this aggressive, blackish fungus. Hard to remove, leaves stains and comes back quickly. I am pretty sure it is this stuff called mildew. I still don't quite grasp its behaviour and circumstances around its appearance in the world of cheese, but I am quite familiar with its relatives in the world of plants and walls. It starts in early stages, few days in the drying phase, forms a circular, but irregular black, sometimes brownish spots. It looks as they don't form colonies in the sense that they don't connect but live separately, every spot for itself, in a manner of speaking. Salt/vinegar doesn't do much. I avoid vinegar because it causes cracks (cheese doesn't have a rind yet so the acid disturbs PH and shocks the surface making it crack all around). Strong alcohol like brandy kept it at bay, but only for a few days. It is too early for oil and vacuum sealing as there is still some moisture. So the cheese is basically left at its mercy. I could try aging Colby in a vacuum bag, though I fear it will turn sour, but Asiago needs to form a natural rind, as clean as possible. Probably the curds were (still) too moist. I say still because this time I cooked curds longer and harder, especially for Asiago, curd were quite dry in the end, as I was having this black fungus on my mind, mostly because of the peppercorns (first time I used peppercorns in a small caciotta it was full of these mildew crap and stains, even though the cheese was acidic as hell, so I think acidity won`t do much to deter it, only completely dry surface makes the difference). So this time I did everything I could to prepare the curds and prevent forming a suitable environment and conditions, for example no peppercorns are poking out of the surface. I even did a fairly strong boil of the peppercorns (15 min) and then rolled them in salt before the curds were ready to be formed. Cheeses were probably infected while drying in the pantry, the one with peppercorns showing to be more prone to this "black plague of moisture", even though it was far drier before pressing than Colby which is a cold water washed curd. Maybe my pantry is saturated with its spores, combined with still moist surface and higher temps even for the drying phase so I decided to continue drying them in the fridge, but obviously it was too late. If its airborne, I cant do much about it except nursing them with scraping and washing until they eventually form some kind of rind. If its "wallborne" I could air dry them next time directly in the fridge, not in the pantry. And disinfect fridge in the meantime. The rinds on both Colby and Asiago weren't formed as closed as I would like after pressing, I really didn't want to press too hard so it could properly release moisture and not let it be trapped and consequently sour the cheese too much. So after unsuccessfully trying to prevent and eradicate this black stuff with salt, dry rubbed and brine washed, I decided to try washing with pharmacy bought not-foodgrade 3% hydrogen peroxide. Not diluted, but sparingly, to see if there is any positive development until the rind forms. They now sit in the fridge being treated every other day. Hydrogen smells slightly, but H2O2 is rapid in its decomposition. Still, I am little concerned that it will penetrate the surface as these cheeses are made just recently and there is still no hard rind on them. Did someone tried using hydrogen is same/similar manner? Is there a risk of hydrogen significantly affecting a cheese, smell and tastewise?
