My first cheese - Caerphilly

[Aragon]

Greetings!  I wanted to post some pictures of my first cheese, it's still in-progress.  I choose a Caerphilly mainly due to the shorter aging process for this Cheddar-ish cheese.  I do have a few questions for you cheese sages: 1)  Should I have removed the mold marks prior to brining?; 2) Is there a general consensus of whether to wax a Caerphilly or allow for a natural rind?  What are the pros/cons for each?

Any thoughts, suggestions or comments are welcome.  Thanks for this great repository of information.

[Aragon]

And the photo.

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

Welcome to the board Aragon!  Caerphilly has such a short aging time that it's not worth waxing.  Also, for the same reason, it's a good one to start honing your skills on rind maintenance.  Keep an eye on it, brush back any mould you see develope (I bought a nail brush for this) and wipe with brine and vinegar.  You need to leave it two or three weeks before waxing anyway, and by that time you can cut into caerphilly!

As for the nubs, I leave them.  Cutting them would just corrupt the rind I would think.  If they are very long, though, they become hard to clean.  Did you line your mould with cheesecloth when you pressed?  If not, next time try that as it may help reduce the tendancy for the curd to try to escape.

Anyway, well done.  It's a good looking wheel.

- Jeff

[Aragon]

Jeff,

Thanks for the info.  I am a bit confused.

Recipe says:
Waxed Cheese -  Coat cheese with wax and ripen at 50F to 54F for 3 weeks and enjoy.

Natural-rind Cheese - Place in ripening container at 50F to 54F with 85% for 2 weeks.  A whitish-gray mold will appear.  At 4 weeks cheese under crust will soften.  Use within 3 months.

So what you are prescribing is a combo of the two methods:  Wash the rind daily(or just when mold spots appear?) and leave it for 2 - 3 weeks.

One method says leave the mold, you are recommending cleaning the mold.  Why the difference and can you eat the whitish-gray mold or cut it off as part of the rind?
Yes I did use cheese cloth, but I only used a single layer.

[JeffHamm]

Hi,

You might get a dusty of white mould, which you can leave for a bit and brush back.  I've never had caerphilly "soften" as some of the books say it might.  You can age it, but personally, I prefer it in the 3 to 6 week zone.  If you want a cheese for slightly longer aging, go for a Lancashire or Dunlop, both of which are good at 2 to 2.5 months.  For even longer aging, gouda, cheddar, cheshire, and so forth.  I've been told that Dunlop ages well, and I did keep a piece for 4 months or so.  It was quite nice.  Haven't aged a whole cheese out though.

Also, ignore the books about waxing before 3 weeks. If the cheese is still moist it will just stay wet under the wax (as my 2nd Wensleydale die.

- Jeff