Chèvre Discoloration in Curd

[ChiefYogi]

Hey everyone. Brand new here and a beginning cheese maker in search of some advice. I tried finding this problem in the forums but didn't come across it. Anyway, I'm making chèvre/goat cheese and after letting it sit, the top layer of curd was a little brownish/yellowish/reddish. Attached is a picture of the curds draining in cheesecloth where you can see some splotches of color. So some questions: Is this a contamination? If so, is it it throw it out bad or is it salvageable? Any advice would be appreciated.

[ChiefYogi]

Here's a better pic as more of the whet has drained out.

[Gregore]

How old are they ? If more than a week or 2 then it could be B linens which is perfectly safe to eat .

Just so you know dangerous molds generally do not grow on cheese , the molds that do grow how ever can have some effect on the flavor for good or bad .

[awakephd]

Sounds like these are still just in the first day or two of the make? If so, a couple of possibilities that come to mind. One is, you might have a spot of higher fat content. My understanding is that goat's milk doesn't tend to separate the way cow's milk does, but if this were cow's milk, I'd think you had a bit of a blob of butter fat there.

The other possibility, depending on how it was made, is that you might have a patch that has dried differently than the rest around it. Not sure how convinced I would be of that explanation, but ...

In any case, I would say go forward, and then taste carefully. My guess is you will be fine.

[ChiefYogi]

Thanks for the replies. I'm using the recipe from the DIY book from American Test Kitchen fwiw. I let the whey separate from the curd for about 20 hours. The first pic is immediately after placing the curd in a cheesecloth-lined colander and the second is a few hours later. It tastes normal (which means delicious) so I think I'm ok and your replies put me at ease. This is my 4th or 5th time making it and I havn't seen anything like that before. We have a Christmas party tomorrow and I would hate to get anyone sick.

[Gregore]

From pasteurized milk it seems highly unlikely that you grew something dangerous in such a short time.  Almost everything  good or bad takes a week or more.

I agree with awakephd   It is something like fat  or possibly you touched it with something that left some color.