Camembert - Openings In Paste With Bloomed Penicillium candidum Mold & Brown Paste Near Rind

[medomak]

Anyone know what this is about?  Cams been going for about 8 weeks.  I cut into them last night.  The paste was beautiful, with one exception.  I noticed that there were pockets of the white mold growing inside. Are those just mechanical holes that allowed the mold to develop?  I'm guessing that is possible since I inoculated the milk prior to renneting rather than spraying with mold.

Also, you might be able to see in the second picture that the cheese was starting to turn brown (rot?) near the edge, but from within the interior. 

Any ideas what both of those might be about?

Thanks, cheese friends.

[linuxboy]

Brown is excess dehydration + slight mold death. Mold inside is due to large openings + oxygen penetration that enabled the mold to bloom and enter sporulation. Congrats, you have accidentally accomplished an extremely difficult task, as achieving this level of openness is tough in bloomies. I wouldn't call it a fault . If you want to correct it, press a few times on the curds when they are draining to help compress them and eliminate openings.

[medomak]

Thank you!