Eating my "tomme" fresh

[River Bottom Farm]

That rind looks very nice AC4U!

[mikekchar]

I thought I would add a quick summary of how tomme #4 turned out.  Very much like my non-Chimay/Reblochon misguided effort ( :-) ) it was very bitter after cutting it.  I didn't like it.  My wife, however, loved it.  After it was cut for a few days, I think some of the ammonia left and the taste was a little better.  A couple of weeks later and it's actually quite good -- although *very* strong.

So I think there are a couple of things here.  First, after the b. linens took hold I aged it for too long.  There wasn't anything to be done, though -- I was off to the UK for a month and we just couldn't eat that much cheese.  But I think there are a couple of other issues which can be resolved.  First, I think the salt level was just a tad low.  Also, I probably should have washed/rubbed the geotrichum off the rind at some point.  Looking at Boofer's bitterness links, I notice that letting geo go too far is potential cause of bitterness.  But I think, similar to my intentially washed rind, it's just a matter of controlling the degradation of proteins.  Linuxboy mentioned that beta casein can break down into very bitter peptides and I think this is likely the cause of my problem in this cheese -- given that the bitterness is now almost gone.  Possibly a little higher salt content would have helped.  I'm starting to wonder if moving the cheese in and out of my normal fridge is causing part of this problem.    The temp swings may have prevented the enzymes from breaking down the proteins in an orderly fashion.  I've decided since my "cave" is a picnic cooler, I'll take it to my mother in law's when I go and visit and luckily I don't have any travel planned (at the moment) until mid October.  But maybe I'll need to get a cheese fridge...

[Susan38]

What a dedicated cheese maker you are, to consider bringing your cheese with you when you travel, LOL!

I do think you would be happier with a cheese frig...I did the picnic cooler thing for just under a year, because I wasn't sure if I'd be truly hooked on cheese making and did not want to spend a lot of money on equipment that until I was. ( I don't think that is an issue with you, you seem like you've been hooked for awhile now, no?)

Now that I have a frig, it's amazing how much "time" I have on my hands, not switching out ice, or having to have a mental timer clicking in my head, to be checking on it twice a day.  I do check my thermostat regularly, but since it's stabilized I don't have to fuss with it at all.