my first gouda (4th cheese)

[fredthecat]

Hi i followed jeff hamm's instructions on his i think 3rd gouda thread. I used 3.8 litres of pasteurized milk and ended up with my first serious size/pressing weight cheese. Its been in the cave for about 3 weeks now. I just got back from a trip (i couldnt turn it for 4 days) and found two tiny spots of green, one on each side. What should i do to get them?

[awakephd]

In my experience, getting spots of mold is par for the course. You can rub off the mold with a paper towel or cheesecloth moistened with white wine or with a combination of vinegar and non-iodized salt. Once the mold starts, expect to see more of it, probably every day. Just keep an eye on it and keep wiping it off; eventually the rind will harden enough that mold becomes much less frequent. Alternately, assuming the rind is dry to the touch (which it should be after 3 weeks!), you can wax or vacuum bag to avoid any future mold. Naturally, first wipe off any existing mold and allow the rind to dry again.

For some cheeses, you can also just let the mold develop, brushing it down to keep it from getting too far out of hand; this mold will impart additional flavor to the cheese, but most people don't like the moldy rind itself and cut it off when eating the cheese. I don't know if this style of rind is often (or ever?) done with Goudas, but quite common with tommes ...

[fredthecat]

Thanks, i tried wiping it off using whiskey (i have cheap home flavoured whiskey around-41% alc) and after a few days the mold has increased from maybe 1% of the cheese' surface to 3 or 4%... i guess im just going to watch it and see what happens

[Schnecken Slayer]

As Andy said, vinegar and non-iodised salt works very well. I would be doing that before anything else.

[Kern]

For some cheeses, you can also just let the mold develop, brushing it down to keep it from getting too far out of hand; this mold will impart additional flavor to the cheese, but most people don't like the moldy rind itself and cut it off when eating the cheese. I don't know if this style of rind is often (or ever?) done with Goudas, but quite common with tommes ...

The photo below shows the mold development on my 6 pound Caerphilly made two weeks ago.  https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,14584.0.html  I added mycodore to purposely make mold on this cheese.  I will start brushing it in a couple of days to keep it under control.

[fredthecat]

thanks for the comparable photograph, mine looks a bit less advanced than that but is growing quickly. i'll try vinegar with salt added, i tend to have lots of alcohol on hand so i thought that could work.