Raw Milk Stilton

[Al Lewis]

Looking great!  Thanks for the accolades John H. Pretty sure the blue king is H-K-J although is has been a group effort involving lots of people on here and the list is growing.  Kern, although these things seem to appear horrible I find that the ugliness is only skin deep and that skin is very thin.  If mine start to crack a bit I just leave them in the cave for a week or so without airing them and they seem to pick up the moisture and heal up.

[john H]

AC4Y Kern, that is a beautiful cheese. If I had to guess I would have to say between you and Al that Washington state is the blue capital this side of the pond.

Let's not forget the contributions that H-K-J and Boofer have made to world of blues!   Thanks for the cheese.

Opppsss not enough room in my mouth for the other foot.   

[Kern]

Oh wow, that cheese looks really cool like an asteroid rock in space. Do you age this one separately from all the other cheese? I am contemplating another make after my holiday, stilton or reblochon. My cave is almost full.

I am following Al's advice and aging it wrapped in butter muslin on the bottom shelf of my converted freezer cheese cave.  I'll be watching the other wheels ready to wash with the brine/acetic acid (vinegar) solution if I see even the tiniest spot of blue showing up elsewhere.

[Kern]

Time for an update:  Following my March 26 post above I waited two weeks and used my trusty trier to see what the effect of the first piercing was.  There were strong hints of some internal bluing so I decided on a second piercing on April 8.  I pierced it again and stuck in back into the cheese cave (55F/85RH) for two more weeks.  Today I removed another sample (see below).  The bluing looks good so the cheese was wrapped in foil backed paper and placed in the cold fridge for aging.  Stay tuned.