Which Wash?

[bansidhe]

So, I see people use a variety of things to wash their rinds.  What properties should the wash have or NOT have?
For example, if you use Mead..  does it have to be a dry mead or a sweet mead?  Does sugar content matter?
Does alcohol % matter?  Or can you use pretty much anything to wash your cheese?


Thanks!

[mikekchar]

There are 2 ways to do an alcohol wash.  One way is to make your cheese, salt it and then while the cheese is still completely rindless wash it once with alcohol.  Often it's washed with a fairly high strength alcohol (even brandy).  You only wash it the one time.  The other way to wash is to make the cheese, salt it, let it dry, etc and then wash it periodically with alcohol.  Most advice I've seen is to keep the alcohol down to 5% or so, and often people will dilute wine with water to get it that way.

The one time I washed with alcohol was the only time I've ever thrown a cheese away :-)  I want to do it again, but it can apparently be a bit tricky due to the breakdown of alcohol in the cheese.

[bansidhe]

ahhh.   I heard someone say they wanted to wash their cheese with Calvados.  I thought that sounded really good.  Then I started to think of wash with Poire Guillaume or some such thing.  And THEN I wondered about Drambuie. 

When one does the single wash with high alcohol...  do they only dampen the surface?  Ir really make it wet and then air dry for the alcohol to evaporate?

[Bantams]

I wash everything with diluted hard cider and 3% salt. Daily or every other day. 

[bansidhe]

Everything?  ;-)

[Bantams]

Everything that gets washed!
I make three different Alpine types and they all receive the cider washed treatment. Tomme gets a brushed natural rind.

[Boofer]

Check this, and this, and this.

The SEARCH function helps to answer a lot of questions which have been visited before.

-Boofer-

[bansidhe]

Point taken.

[Lancer99]

Mikekchar's comments are nonsense.  There are certainly more than two ways to do an alcohol wash.

Epoisses?

How about an Appenzeller rubbed daily with an infusion of herbs in 80 proof vodka?

Nonsense.

-L

[mikekchar]

Well, to be fair, I meant to say that there are two ways that I know about ;-)

Can you give a bit more details about these wash routines?  How does the 80 proof vodka every day not kill the b. linens?  I can't imagine it has that kind of alcohol tolerance, but maybe I'm wrong???

[paulabob]

I know with the appenzeller you are washing frequently, discouraging all molds.  B linens still shows up, but like most clean Swiss rinds, it's not supposed to be heavy.  I liked my appenzeller, but I think I washed too frequently to enjoy the rind.  It was way too stinky, and not in the same direction as b linens.

[Lancer99]

Mike, I apologise if I was unfair.

If you want to encourage B. linens for stinky feet cheese like Limburger or Taleggio, alcohol is not your friend.  If you want to make an Appenzeller, B.linens is not your friend

An Appenzeller with a stinky rind means something went wrong.

Then there's Epoisses!

-L

[mikekchar]

Ha ha!  Well, it's fair to call me out when I forget to qualify what I'm saying -- especially in areas where I have almost no experience ;-)

I was mostly interested in getting more info.  There are a couple of good appenzeller discussions here, but my understanding (which may be flawed) is that the alcohol content is relatively low.  As for Eppoises, I have yet to get *any* reliable information on the make.  In terms of washing, the information I have is that they start with pure brine and then slowly increase the proportion of Marc de Bourgogne over time.  I've got *no* information on actual proportions, though.

[Boofer]

This discussion would be amiss without this inclusion: Boofer's Fancy

-Boofer-

[bansidhe]

That looks amazing!  Wow...  Maybe I'll try that...  I wonder how some elderflower liqueur would combine with a sharper cheddar type cheese..  I know cheddar is not a washed rind, but what if I did a hybrid.  A cheese that was cheddar but then washed.  Anyone have any experience with such a thing?