Cheese mites

[Lancer99]

I started getting them about five months in, attacking all of my cheddar types and longer-aging cheeses.





After brushing an Appenzeller, I found holes in the rind:



But here is the best proof:



I know this isn't the end of the world, and that indeed cheese mites are encouraged in some cheeses, like Mimolette, but I don't like them.

There doesn't seem to be much information about cheese mites on the net, so I'm following the suggestions in Caldwell's book.

She suggests as one possible remedy diatomaceous earth. I'm familiar with this because it's part of my "standard" potting mix for my cacti and other succulents. This is what I use, sold as oil absorbent by Napa Auto Parts:



<didactic mode="on">

As the name implies, it's made up of diatoms, wee beasties with silica (glass, sand) skeletons, like this one:




Not only does it have excellent moisture retention/release properties, but also the sharp ground-up bits of their skeletons get between insects' exoskeleton plates, causing them to dry up and die. That means I haven't had any problems with insect pests, notably mealy bugs (otherwise almost impossible to eradicate without noxious chemicals), for years.

Diatomaceous earth needs to be rinsed before use, just as you would with rice before cooking it. So my thought is that the rinse liquid should be loaded with tiny sharp bits of silica, and I could dunk my cheeses in it for a while.

But that's obviously not food-safe, so I've followed Caldwell's other recommendation, ozone. I bought this one:



. . . which at $27, seems like a good compromise between the cheapy (and probably useless) versions, and the higher-end "industrial" units, which start at about $80. It puts out 50 mg/hr, which seems like it should be sufficient.

If that doesn't work (and I won't know for a month or so . . . ) I'll go for the diatomaceous earth.

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
-L

[Lancer99]

Here it is in action:



After a day, I cranked it up to the max, and a day later, think I smell a bit of ozone, but less than I would have expected.

After we started getting temps in the 60's, I moved my cheeses into a disused fridge, and can keep the temp around 52-55 degrees, just swapping out a frozen 1 liter pop bottle in the morning.  They are on their sides to absorb more of the ozone.



Wish me luck!

-R

[MacGruff]

Good luck.

Fingers crossed.

[mikekchar]

Ah brilliant!  I just realised.  You see, my friend gave me an unused wine fridge. I didn't really realise it at the time (and *thought* I'd checked the model online), but it seems to be a peltier fridge -- which means it can basically only reduce the temperature about 5-10 degrees below ambient temperature (which won't be any use to me once it hits 35 C in my apartment).  However, I can put frozen pop bottles in the fridge rather than using my cooler.  Not sure why I didn't think of it....

[Lancer99]

I used multiple coolers, and had all the problems trying to keep them at a consistent temperatures, then had the "ahah" moment and remembered the dead fridge.  Much easier!

-L

[Togekiss]

Brilliant! I will do that as well