Using store-bought cheese to innoculate

[NewbieInNewHampshire]

Hi all - I'm interested in using cheese rinds that I cut off cheese from the store to inoculate my cheese cave (the one I age tommes in). I'm hoping this will help balance out the flora that are in there now. I recently made my first 13-week-aged cheese and the first month was rough with respect to molds getting out of hand. I'm also thinking that if I add rinds from cheeses I love, it may start improving the flavor of the cheeses I make and help aging cheeses reach an equilibrium more quickly (maybe that's just wishful thinking?). Originally, I had planned to disinfect the heck out of that cave after this 13-weeker is finished to start fresh, but now I'm thinking store rinds might be the better idea. Do you agree, and if so, do I just cut off the rinds and stick them in there on a dish, or is there something special I need to do?
Thanks!!

[mikekchar]

It's a thing you can do *after* you figure out your aging technique.  It may or may not help.  I would actually just rub your commercial cheese with a cloth and then rub it on your actual cheese.  Then age that cheese.  I also use bamboo sushi mats for resting cheese on and they make *amazing* stores of flora.

However, it's not going to help at all with your problems now.  Your problems will be due mainly to humidity control and lack of consistent maintenance.  I'm afraid it's the same for everyone :-)  We basically all go through this period of learning how to work with our caves and cheeses.

The first 4-5 weeks are always tricky.  Well, normally the first week is uneventful (too much salt on the rind for anything to grow).  For a tomme, you'll want to get either geotrichum or mycodore (trichothesium) growing early on the rind.  If it's white, leave it alone.  If it's another color, brush it off.  If it goes crazy, you can wash it *once* with a 3% brine solution (3 grams of salt to 100 ml of water), but after that if you wash it again you will risk making a washed rind.  Even if it gets pretty blue in the 4th or 5th week, just brush it off and don't worry about it.  The succession molds will take over after that.  The rind will protect the cheese.  It's only really in week 1-3 that you have to be hyper vigilant.  Flip your cheeses once a day.  Wipe your maturation boxes out.  Even if you miss one day, the mold can really get a jump on you.

Or at least, that's how I do it.   YMMV.  Don't worry.  You'll absolutely get the hang of it.  I would *not* disinfect the cave or do anything else.  Just make and age lots of cheese.  It will work itself out.

[MacGruff]

I agree with Mikechar and I have basically adopted the same routine he has. See the Holiday party pics I posted elsewhere for the two Tommes I recently made and you can see what the rinds look like.

I used to brush off the molds from the rinds during weeks 2 through 4 and salt some more, but the salt makes it into the paste and makes the cheese too salty for my liking so I am no longer doing so. Just wiping the undesirable molds off works quite well.

[mikekchar]

Salting the rinds also favor blue mold because it has a higher tolerance for salt than other molds.  Another common mistake is applying vinegar.  This sets the rind back and keeps you perpetually in the "young rind" phase with things going crazy.  You really want the geotrichum (or similar) yeasts, etc getting established on the rind and bringing the pH up.  This creates a very unfavorable environment for the things you don't like.  The only problem is that if the humidity gets too high, the pH gets high enough that brevi bacterium linens will start growing.  So it's important to keep the humidity down and avoid washing the rind.

Brushing is the best method.  I use this brush: https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/home/personal-care/nail-brushes/10259-the-worlds-kindest-nail-brush  It's actually amazing.  An old shaving brush will work well too.  Traditionally horse hair brushes were used because horse hair has a kind of hook on the end that will clean the rind very easily, but it's super soft so it doesn't damage it.  I imagine a very soft toothbrush (like a baby's toothbrush) would be good too.  The main thing is not to scratch the rind if you can help it.  Once the rind toughens up, it's less of an issue (and you can really go to town by week 4 or 5).  If you can't get a soft brush, then a cloth/paper towel often works  fine (sometimes I prefer it early on).

[NewbieInNewHampshire]

I also use bamboo sushi mats for resting cheese on and they make *amazing* stores of flora.

I've seen several people mention this. Does this mean you do not boil them in between cheese batches?

[mikekchar]

That is correct.  Once for fun, I used one that was totally covered in blue from a blue cheese I was making.  It was tricky, but just by manipulating the environment I got a non-blue cheese out the end (and the bamboo mat was no longer covered in blue mold :-) ).  But they are fantastic for *starting you off* at the beginning.  I used to keep a few that were just early cheese mats that were covered in geotrichum.  It really helps start things quickly.  It works great for mycodore as well.

[Mike]

I started a Stilton blue cheese 8 weeks ago, but didn't have any Penicillium roqueforti on hand. So bought an imported Roquefort cheese, scraped out a teaspoon of the blue vein part, and blended it to a thin paste with some of the milk, and added it to the mix. It seemed to work, because blue mould started to form on Day 9, and by Day 14 most of the cheese was covered in blue mould.

I'm aware that there are many variants of Penicillium Roquefort, so not sure what the taste will be finally like; I may have made a French Stilton!

Mike in Borneo

P.S. The remainder of the original Roquefort cheese did not go to waste.

[Flound]

I’ve never used store bought cheeses for my cave, but definitely use them to inoculate cheeses, especially p. candidum cheeses.

60ml distilled waters around 30C , snip a bit of the rind off the store bought, mash into a liquid, add to the milk, and pretty soon Viola says you have a surface ripened fromage.

Like Mike, I’ve done blues, but much as I love a blue, they tend to really muck up a cheese cave. Until I can swing a second cave, not near my current cave, I’ll avoid the blues.