Author Topic: Natural rind gouda mold ??  (Read 1885 times)

Online B e n

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Natural rind gouda mold ??
« on: February 13, 2023, 02:31:45 PM »
I am working on my first natural rind, recipe is warm washed curd from Caldwell's book. Everything seems to be going well, good coating of yeast on all surfaces. I am a little concerned about some grey fuzzies that have shown up (Mucor?). Shall I just brush and let it go about it's business, or do I need a more aggressive response?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n3OEjeiI8tVIWxgphO1Z35f26mjDRBLe/view?usp=share_link
« Last Edit: February 13, 2023, 02:56:59 PM by B e n »

Offline mikekchar

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Re: Natural rind gouda mold ??
« Reply #1 on: February 14, 2023, 01:33:19 AM »
The google drive approach for images won't work because you have to grant permission to view it.  Most of us put our images on Imgur instead.

Basically, you want to brush the rind.  For a natural rind gouda, traditionally you would actually let b. linens grow similarly to an alpine cheese.  Very little will grow on b. linens.  But natural rinds are all about culturing the right things to fight for you.

If it's white, leave it on.  If it's blue or black, your temperature is maybe a bit too low and your humidity is too high.  If it's turning red or pink, then it's way to wet (unless you are OK with a washed rind).

Grey and fuzzy may be mucor if it's a stubborn fur like growth, but it may other things.  For a gouda, it's absolutely fine.  Let it grow.  You may want to take measures to isolate it from bloomy rinds, though.

Some things to avoid for natural rinds: Do not add salt.  Do not cut anything off the rind.  Do not wash with a brine greater than 3% (3 grams of salt in 100 ml of water).  Do not wash with vinegar.  Do not wash with alcohol unless you know what you are doing.  If you don't want a washed rind, do not wash with anything past about week 2, even then only wash once.  Do not oil the rind before about 4 weeks in (yeast will grow into the rind and deform it).

For things to do: Always flip and inspect your cheeses every day for at least the first 4-5 weeks.  Wipe out any maturation boxes ect so they are bone dry every day.  Ensure that the rind is always dry to the touch.  If it gets a bit greasy, that's fine as long as it blooms white.  If not, dry it off until it does (leave it out at room temp for a few hours every day until it's dry to the touch.  If you need to decrease humidity, you can do it by increasing temp.  If you need to increase humidity you can do ti by decreasing temp.  Brush off mold if it seems uneven , patchy or otherwise too thick.  The older the cheese gets the more vigorous you can brush it.  Don't mark the rind, but feel free to go at it as hard as you want otherwise.

Online B e n

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Re: Natural rind gouda mold ??
« Reply #2 on: February 14, 2023, 03:20:05 AM »
This link should work: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n3OEjeiI8tVIWxgphO1Z35f26mjDRBLe/view?usp=share_link I forgot to modify the permission.

Thanks for the advice!

Offline mikekchar

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Re: Natural rind gouda mold ??
« Reply #3 on: February 14, 2023, 11:06:34 AM »
Well... You've cloth banded it, as far as I can tell.  At this point you do absolutely nothing and pray to the gods that it doesn't go bad.  But basically, you can just brush the mold as it gets too fluffy for your taste.

I'm a bit tired to write my usual rant about cloth banding :-).  Really, you shouldn't do it unless you understand *why* you are doing it.  It makes aging your cheese *harder*,  not easier.  It means that mold can get in under the cloth and you won't see it or be able to do anything about it.  If you have moisture problems with the cheese, then you will have problems and you won't notice until you take the cloth off -- which will be way to late to do anything about it.  Cloth banding is something you can do if you have got everything else perfect already.  The main reason to cloth band something is because you are aging it for more than a year and otherwise the rind will get too thick.

But you can see how it goes.  I recommend just growing a normal rind on your next one, though.

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Re: Natural rind gouda mold ??
« Reply #4 on: February 14, 2023, 04:23:21 PM »
It's not cloth banded, just looks like it, I am not good enough at pressing to consistently get things smooth after the initial press.  The geo or yeast or whatever the powdery white fluff on the outside is has popped the texture from the cheesecloth used in pressing. It looked a lot smoother before the stuff started to grow on it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gJVqCqwRCla5wGrmEISglHL_T3vsGP7E/view?usp=share_link
« Last Edit: February 14, 2023, 04:36:37 PM by B e n »

Offline mikekchar

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Re: Natural rind gouda mold ??
« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2023, 12:01:53 AM »
Well, in that case, it looks great :-)  I don't know what the grey is.  I occasionally get a bit, but wiping it off seems to work. The geo usually wins.  If that's just geo in the photo, then everything is going very well, indeed.  Just let it go.