Camembert - White & Blue Surface Molds

[jo1973]

I recently made my first batch of four camemberts, and they were growing a lovely soft white mould on them, then suddenly they started developing blue spots of mould on them.  I scraped some off and in the process some of the rind came off, will it grow back or not?  Also, I have made my own "cheese cave" from a food cooler with an icebrick, it has been in there for 10 days now, and the rind hasn't grown back yet.  Is this cheese a lost cause, should I chuck it out and try again.  I would love to get a cheese fridge, but can't afford it at the moment, so is the cooler an ok idea?  Any suggestions or advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

[Bishop]

Hi Jo1973,
    I wouldn't chuck the cam, even if you decide your still not happy with the end product you will still learn a lot about the maturation process by letting the cheese run its full course, for me poking and proding my batches have taught me a great deal about what works and what to expect so I know a little more next time.

If you inoculated the milk with Penicilium Candidum before you added rennet you should get grow back, if you sprayed the PC on at the end you may need to re spray the area.

I personally use a 2nd hand wine fridge for the maturation process, I cant see why a cooler wouldn't work fine, you would just need to be checking the conditions in the cooler very regularly.

Good luck!

[smilingcalico]

Your cooler will be fine, but for your next make you'll want to really pay attention to sterilizing it, and all your making equipment. Of course blue mold is everywhere, but once you establish the PC and Geo molds as the dominant molds in the ageing container, you won't necessarily have to clean it all the time.  A good practice is to also limit the time the cheese is exposed, simply try to check in on it as little as possible each day.  Use this time to find out how the temp and humidity fluctuate, so you'll be more prepared next time and won't have to open the container more than is necessary.

[jo1973]

Thanks for the advice, will try everything you have suggested.  I will hopefully one day get a wine fridge.  I noticed today there is heaps more blue mould on the cheeses.  Would it still be ok to clean and ripen, and would it be ok to eat when ripened? 

[Tomer1]

You could poke them an end up with some veining perhaps.

[smilingcalico]

Tomer has a good suggestion. You might end up with a happy accident and make a halfway decent cambozola. They should be safe to eat, but keep your eyes open for other molds.

[jo1973]

Thanks everyone for the advice, i cleaned the cheeses as best as i could yesterday, and there is no more blue mould yet, the rind seems to be slowly growing back, but i am concerned about how slow it's growing, should the cheese still be in my cooler, or should i put it in the fridge?  Or maybe I should wrap it up and see what happens? 

[Tomer1]

Well if you move it to a warmer spot the surface will repair faster but the cheese will also ripen faster and produce stronger amonia odors.