Delicious Taleggio Success

[Lancer99]

See my previous post, "Delicious Taleggio Failure," for what happened before.

The recipe from cheesemaking.com recommends a maximum of eight or so weeks of aging, but mine was slow, kept on the south side of 48-52 degrees.  After the initial wipings with brine and B. linens, I kept the rind moist. The color developed quite nicely, but I expected that, like a Limburger, eventually the rind would start producing its own moisture. So I kept on going . . .

Finally around week nine it started to develop a "tacky" rind, but I sort of lost track of that "eight week" recommendation. Here it is at week 12:

(top)


(bottom)


As you can see, not only did it start to develop white mold (not a problem, as I found out later), but the rind started to crack:


The rind itself is a lovely salmony-orange color:



Cutting into it, the paste was fairly dense, with only a few small holes (what looks like larger holes is just the result of my poor cutting!).





But, you ask, how did it taste?

I gotta say, delicious. Semi-firm paste with a buttery, tangy, complex flavor. The recipe describes this cheese as 'mild,' but I'd call it closer to medium, probably due to the longer aging. Just soft enough to spread on a cracker. I'm not sure whether you're meant to eat the rind (probably not), and the rind on my "Failure" wasn't nice, but it was thin enough (if a bit dense) and just added to the complexity of the flavor.



I have been coming to some sort of detente with my Limburgers, quite enjoying them now, still unsure about the washed-rind cheeses, but I'll definitely make this one again.

L

[mikekchar]

AC4U!  I'm now really looking forward to my reblochon which has been aging at low temps.  I got some more blue mold again today, which is super weird.  I can smell the b. linens and while the rind isn't pink, it is getting a deep yellow.  Oh well.  I'm sure it will be good :-)

[Lancer99]

Mike, which version of B. linens do you have?  I have FR22, which gives the nice salmony/ pink color, but I know other strains give different colors.

-L

[mikekchar]

Mine is wild :-)  It tends to be very orange.