Tomme Cheese Making Recipe

[ArnaudForestier]

Bit of a bump, I know, but as it's more of a general question on air exchange for corynebacteria development in these cheeses, thought it might be useful.  I know Francois talked about the importance of "airing out" washed rind and bloomy-rind cheeses, if in a small cooler (as I have).  Yet I believe it's also important to try to maintain temp (ideally, RH as well), and not submit the wheels to a warming period of any kind.  Francois, or Pav - if trying to stage a later linens or related development, how effective is merely opening and closing the cooler say, twice a day, in providing adequate O2, when the red smear isn't the primary component? 

On the other hand, if wanting to do a true, red smear cheese (maybe this is for another thread; if so, I'll move it), is it almost imperative to provide some sort of continuing air exchange, or an episodic blast of air, when opening the door and turning the wheels?  Maybe, a small air pump and line, cooled first through the (unused) freezer compartment, into the refrigerator/cave, and a small outlet hose?

[iratherfly]

Sorry for replying a day too late ArnaudForestier but your description sound EXACTLY like cellulose. It appears at 4-6 weeks and it is neon yellowish or neon greenish color. Not a mold; just some nutritional goodness.  Where did you get the milk? The next time you are in a cheese shop, look for Tomme Crayeuse and carefully examine the rind. It may have neon spotting like the one you described. If it indeed looks the same - this is cellulose

I second Linuxboy here on the UV light. This is how you stabilize cheese to stop the rind from working. Don't so that unless your cheese is done aging already!

[ArnaudForestier]

Iratherfly, thanks.  Unfortunately, I can't know, because I cut them away.  I'll check the crayeuse out, next time I can find some locally. 

On the blacklight use, again, not sure whether this maker was suggesting it for detecting, or killing. 

[linuxboy]

Hard to tell exactly, but to me, cellulose comes up in greater frequency in the rind, more of a mottled kind of appearance. I also have not seen it frequently in US cow's milk. And the color, although bright yellow, doesn't have that full neon kind of "glow"... it's more of a matte look when the light hits it. Might be, though. Thanks, irather.

[linuxboy]

how effective is merely opening and closing the cooler say, twice a day, in providing adequate O2, when the red smear isn't the primary component? 

Moderately effective. It needs more, but without a large, controlled environment, we do the best we can. Growth will be slower on candidum and b linens without enough oxygen. And, you may develop off-flavors because the bacteria/molds are stressed. I would say in an enclosed space like a plastic tub, the humidity is high enough, so opening/closing the lid should be ok.

[ArnaudForestier]

Growth will be slower on candidum and b linens without enough oxygen. And, you may develop off-flavors because the bacteria/molds are stressed

The thought of stressing my friends stresses me out.  If not air exchange, at least the notion of a fresh air supply - an aquarium pump driving filtered air, into the chamber?  What do you think?

[linuxboy]

fresh air supply achieves same effect as air exchange. Point is that old air out, new air in. In a cave, you do this by venting the heavy ammoniated air from the bottom, and by using convection to spread new air around.

If you use a pump, you need to equalize the temp and humidity ASAP because chances are that pump will be pushing in dry, warmer air. Also no good. And you also need to slow the air down because you can't have rapid air movement, cheese will not age properly, and rind will not develop properly.

You should be OK opening up a few times/day. I've done that before, and many other people do, too.

[iratherfly]

You need to focus on circulating the air rather than bringing new filtered air. You will deplete the amount of microorganisms in your cave and reduce moisture. That being said you will still need some new fresher air. I let the Tommes out of the cave for 30 min once every 2-3 days. They get to breath. Then I put them into the cave that is still abundant with the microorganisms.

Back to cellulose for a second, regarding what Pav wrote:  my understanding is that it depends on the feed and cow breed as well as aging conditions. You see it a lot in Savoie region cheese and especially in cheese that was aged in volcanic caves and feed of vegetation common to these areas

[ArnaudForestier]

I guess I was talking of the corynebacteria need for O2, which I didn't imagine they're getting in any appreciable way with the limited opening daily.  As to air "exchange," if the door is closed and only had a small-gauge inlet in, I presumed I wasn't doing much in the way of true exchange (and not driving an NH3 out), because there isn't a good outlet; more, just to bring O2 to the linens and co. 

The other issue I'm concerned about is that I'm leaving town, and I will only have a sitter to turn the cheeses once, likely, over the course of  week.  That will leave the wheels unturned, and door closed, for 3 1/2 days.  So I was thinking that at least the intro of air would mitigate the issue, but I hear you both, inviting more harm than it would help, if it would help at all.

Interesting on the cellulose, Iratherfly, really fascinating.  I use simply Sassy Cow, a homogenized, but well-done regional milk.  I use it for everything, just to gain my proficiency.  (taking stock, seems almost nuts that I've only made 5 wheels of hard cheese so far...learned so much here, with every wheel). 

I do recall seeing some colorfully mottled rinds, but would need to see it up close, to compare - these 2, 3 spots were really neon in character, like a chartreuse-yellow-bright highlighter, something like this. 

[iratherfly]

Hmmm.... if your milk is homogenized there is less chance for the acute appearance of cellulose because all the butterfat have been crushed. I suggest to ALWAYS use non-homogenized (AKA "creamline") milk. It is so much better, you will see the difference right away.  It's the closest you can get to raw milk - especially if the milk is still organic, from grass-fed cows and goes through a standard pasteurization rather than HTST process.

I always suggest to check on the feed of the animal (ask the farmer or email the company. Explain that you are making cheese and you need to choose the best cheese for their milk so you would like to know what is the current feed. As long as it doesn't sound judgmental they will probably be excited to help. Only ask for the current feed because this changes seasonally and they need to know you understand it).

On the Sassy Cow web site there is a photo of imprisoned cows eating grain (though for their organic milk they had a photo of free grazing cows in the pastures) hmmm....  Try using milk fro grass-fed cows whenever possible. Some cows need the grain for extra energy in the cold winter but feeds like silage may cause them to get bloated with gas; this action continues to develop in your cheese (I've had a cheddar batch exploding on me at month 3 due to poor cow feed once!)  If I would have known that, I would have used that milk for something more fitting like a chaource.

[ArnaudForestier]

Just another data point on the fuligo.  Firstly, the rinds are quite hard by now, so without knowing more about cellulose, it just seems intuitively odd to me that a milk cellulose would find itself resting on top of this (hard) rind, at this point, unless it's something the rind itself expresses - Irather, you mention it shows up after 4-6 weeks.  Do you have any background on how this works - how it would be expressed through a paste and (hard) rind? 

Secondly, additional "spots" have returned, same treatment given.  It just looks a slightly raised patch, neon, etc., and seems like something "foreign."  But again, I'm not familiar enough with either cellulose, what it looks like in this context, or fuligo to confirm. 

Irather:  yes, I value grazing, too.  In fact, I was recently part of a grazing conference, stretching over several days, here in the Midwest U.S.  Again, at this juncture, I've made a total of 5 wheels for aging, and until I feel I've got the technical chops down, I'm choosing a milk that works (at less than half the cost) of creamline milks.  The Sassy Cow has performed very well, in my opinion, and in fact cheeses made from it have won many awards, in our country.  Anyway, yep, grazing's good.

Beyond that, my first tomme was a creamline milk, and there were substantial issues with fat globules never solubilizing.  Can't find the post (Pav, if reading this, can confirm whether I've remembered correctly), but yes, agreed, raw or creamline is obviously preferred - so long as it's truly fresh.  If not, then it seems this issue of fat globules being immiscible can come up.

[FRANCOIS]

In industry any recipe that uses P:F ratios of 1 or less (high fat milks) will homogonise the milk, otherwise too much fat is lost in the whey.

[ArnaudForestier]

Well, I know I'm being impatient...but it's my first wheel, man!



45 days.  I know, I know; but given the odd make, and expected weird aging profile, I didn't expect this to be a long-aging cheese.  Creamy, and I'm really surprised by this, as I expected a really crumbly paste.  Very flavorful.  To my taste, a bit too much salt, and slightly tipped to a taint of cave mold - too much of the mycodore?; would have wanted more mushroom and nuttiness.  But a first effort, and overall, can't complain.  Thanks, Pav. And Francois.  And Iratherfly, and everyone else who contributed to my knowledge and learning.

[OudeKaas]

Wow, AF, that looks quite impressive!

I find that apparent size can be deceiving in these close-up shots - just how big is this cheese. A two-pounder? Larger?

Curious also about the exterior - what can you tell us about it? Is it mostly white mold like G. Candidum with some natural areas of rind showing through, or are there other things going on? I am intrigued by the contrast between the rough, varied surface and the apparently smooth paste which appears to be mostly free of mechanical openings.

When you say a touch of 'cave mold' in the taste, do you mean in the paste itself or the rind? Are you eating the rind? Any more detail you can provide on texture and flavor nuances would be welcome.

Very inspiring, you are really tempting me to cut into one of my own in-progress cheeses too . . .

[ArnaudForestier]

Thanks, Brandnetel.  This was a really weird make - if my (original) pH meter was anything close, the pH was way off, way too acidic too early, and I did expect a really dry, crumbly paste. 

The rind is fairly russet in color, with orange overtone, I guess I'd call it, though there's some white (geo?) in the mechanical openings in the rind.  Pretty thin, but I expected this, as it's young, and I have been trying the cheese over the last week or so. 

The rind is what smelled quite a bit of cave mould - but then, I don't know if this is "normal" given the mycodore component, or other moulds (edited to say, "smelled," as even this is evanescing over the last hour or two...weird).  Oddly, I'm getting more of this mould characteristic today, than I did a week ago - and the other wheels still smell richly of more mushroom, than any mould. 

When I first sliced it, I felt the paste, too, had the aroma, but weirdly enough, after sitting on the plate for awhile, this evanesced quite a bit.  The knife passing through the rind mould, when I sectioned the cheese into wedges? 

It's flawed, for a tomme, in my opinion; it's missing some of the gentle nuttiness and mushroom that I would hope for.  There is a savoriness to it, which I find really nice, a kind of umami effect, but at least on the original tasting, this was followed fairly quickly by this cave impression. More acid on the tongue (gives me a faint impression of cheddar, though nothing of cheddar texture), just a very tiny bit too much salt, by my taste, though my wife feels it's spot on.

A decent cheese, nonetheless, taste surprised me by its richness and length (something that came, too, with its first try a week or so ago), for so young a cheese; and I do like the texture very much.  All else aside, I'm so much more pleased than anything I expected going in, given that it was my first wheel, and so much seemed to go wrong.  As Pav has said, tommes are apparently forgiving, and I think his recipe must really be so, because I really do think by all rights, this should have been a disaster. 

It's not - I'm taking it up for my wife's grandma's 90th, and having the courage to pass it around to in-laws.

Very inspiring, you are really tempting me to cut into one of my own in-progress cheeses too . . .

Noooooooooo!  Let 'em go, let 'em grow!   

Edit:  Sorry, forgot to indicate, this was 4#, 11 oz.