Honey, I need help with my Honey Tomme

[Brie]

Trying to replicate a cheese made by Beehive Cheese named SeaHive, which is washed in Honey and Sea Salt. Made a washed-curd tomme, which was fine. Began washing with honey and sea salt after about a month. I believe this is where my problem began. It developed blue mold, which I then just washed over with the honey/salt mixture. Halfway through the aging I thought that perhaps I should have just used a sea salt brine with a tad of honey. The cheese looks great; yet it has this musty aroma and taste that I was not hoping for. Suggestions, anyone?

[smilingcalico]

I would guess that you needed to clean the blue off rather than just brushing over it.  Blue mold really seems to impart a lot of it's own flavor, which may have muted to that musty flavor with the washing.  I might have also started the washing sooner to help the honey get in a little better, then back off for the rind to develop. 

[kookookachoo]

Brie, obviously I can't offer any help or suggestions, as I'm new to all this..but I must say, I really admire your "experimentations"!  I have a feeling you will perfect this, or nearly so, to your liking. :D 

[smilingcalico]

Brie, any more luck? I did a honey walnut gouda.  I had been having trouble with the nuts getting moldy and rancid, but by simply rubbing the cheese once a week forthe first month totally eliminated my issue in addition to preventing all mold growth on the entire surface. I was also thinking how not all honey is created equal, that is, in terms of flavor. Did you use a quality local honey, or mass produced?

[Mateo]

with honey is very easy u get fungus , becose their love it.

is faster element mushroom growth. like panela. try to change that tech.

or think about it , too.

[Tomer1]

If its concentrated enough (real thick) the osmosis pressure will help against bacterial growth along with brine washing.

[elkato]

The Mayan indians have used bee honey as a anticeptic-antibiotic ointment for all kinds of open wounds for thousands of years, try it on any skin wound and it will not get infected, I guess that if you cover the whole cheese in honey nothing would grow on it not even the good stuff.

[Tomer1]

I reckon that if you put high fructose corn syrup on the wound it would also result in the same effect. 

[sominus]

I reckon that if you put high fructose corn syrup on the wound it would also result in the same effect.

Actually I suspect not...  Honey is naturally resistant to fungal and bacterial infection -- witness the millenia-old honey pulled out of the pyramids.  I've left honey in some pretty ugly conditions and nothing has touched it.

Corn syrup, on the other hand, can turn moldy in a week.  Bacteria and fungus go to town on it.

[Tomer1]

Im trying to make a point that the osmosic pressure is one of the main anti-bacterial "agents" to play a role here.

http://bio.waikato.ac.nz/honey/honey_intro.shtml#Osmotic

But apearently theres also hydrogen peroxide which is a strong oxidizer enzymatically produced and found in honey
so I was wrong and my point doesnt stand :)

[iratherfly]

Yes, I don't think Hydrogen Peroxide gets osmosis like salt. Salt is very quick and spreads throughout the paste rapidly. Oxidation effect is mainly a problem with fatty cheeses (rancidity to the fat) but Tomme are usually made lowfat

[Jessica_H]

I'm working on 2 gouda right now (curds setting as I type) that I want to do an interesting rind on.  The honey/sea salt might be nice with this mild cheese.  Did you actually make a brine of it?  I was thinking I'd make the cheese, let it brine, and let it dry.  Then just take a honey / sea salt slurry and rub it down and see if I could let that dry(ish) and then vacuum pack it.

Is that kind of what you had done?

[iratherfly]

Sounds interesting. Gouda is kind of a neutral rindless cheese that's all about the milk, but flavored version with cumin, caraway etc. I think this would be really nice to experiment with honey and sea salt. Sounds original and delicious.

[smilingcalico]

Jessica, not sure if I'm jumping in between you and Brie, but I'll tell you what I did. Brined, then simply smeared the honey on.  The honey I used was raw, I'm curious to try some crystallized, or white honey to see about differences.  At any rate, the raw did something odd, it seems the important stuff stayed on the surface/absorbed in, while the liquid content just ran down the side and pooled on the board.  In essence I'd say if you mixed salt and honey you might be able to skip the brine step and just get your salt content from the honey salt combo.

[Jessica_H]

Brined, then simply smeared the honey on.  The honey I used was raw

Interesting.  I've just put the cheese in the brine.  I'm actually not a huge fan of salt in general (just for my taste) so I think I'll do the brine and then honey and THEN as a final step add some crystalized sea salt on the outside more for look.  But I won't use much.  I'll see if I can't get a bit of a rind to form with a few thin coats of honey drying them for a week in between?

I really LOVE the tomme I did with a cyanne/olive oil rind.

One thing I'm finding (6-10 months after I started making cheese) is that I'm VERY good at making a VERY dry and VERY hard cheese :)  So I'm working to preserve more moisture content.  I struggled with wax in the beginning so I've invested in a vacuum sealer this christmas.  My goal is to seal these cheeses sooner rather than later.