help with resilient white dust in Cabra al vino?

[quantumcheese]

Hi :)

This is my first Cabra al vino (I used raw cow milk) after 10 days in the cave at 13C. 4-5 days ago, this fine white dust started appearing and it is very difficult to remove. I have tried brushing it off (cannot brush too hard though, otherwise part of the wine coating is also brushed away) and wiping with cloth and brine. Both seem to work but, after the cheese dries out (only about half an hour later), the dust is back. I was not worried at the beginning, but now it's growing more and more everyday. Does anyone know what it is? should I get rid of it, and if so, how?

Other options that I am contemplating are soaking in wine again or just vacuum pack it, but I am not sure either will work.

Thanks for the help!!

[mikekchar]

I've got literally 2 minutes to type this, so excuse the brevity :-)  Very likely it is geotrichum candidum (a yeast that grows on cheese).  Generally it's good for a natural rind.  You can't really age a natural rind with nothing on it -- things grow on cheese.  If you want it basically clean, you need to oil the rind.  Hopefully that will give you some place to start :-)

[quantumcheese]

Thanks for the help!

I also suspect Geotrichum but I am not really sure. Usually when I wipe geo out with brine and cloth it takes at least a night to grow back. This one comes back after about 30min, as soon as the surface is dry. Looks almost like some chemical on the surface.

Someone has suggested to me that it could be a byproduct of the wine coating, possibly cream of tartar.

Maybe I will stop trying to brush it off and see how it evolves ...

[Bantams]

My guess is also that you're seeing some component from the wine. Doesn't sound like Geo.

[bansidhe]

It does like the bloom on grapes, a yeast.