John's Cheese #048 - Semi-Lactic #1

[Alex]

age them for 3-6 weeks (counting from makeing day), if you have enough cheeses, you may wash part of them twice a week, with beer/sweet white wine/brine solution during the ageing period.
I used to coat part of them with charcoal/ash+salt after unmoulding and let the blooming start.

[DeejayDebi]

Do you wash them after the powdery stuff hardens?

[Alex]

I am not sure what do you mean by "powdery stuff hardens". Look on the middle picture fully bloomed, that is the stage when I start washing. The last picture shows the chese after about 2-3 weeks of washing.

[DeejayDebi]

Well I am guessing that this powdery stuff will get kind of hard or slick like the store bought bries and camemberrt rinds - not stay powdery?

[Alex]

As a result of washing the rind, that's correct Debby.

[siegfriedw]

Alex - those are some beatiful looking cheeses!

[Alex]

Tnx Siegfried

[DeejayDebi]

Ah ... I have been waiting for them to harden. I guess I should wash them then.

[Alex]

Just be gentle with them

[DeejayDebi]

I guess gentle is not my middle name I have squished these poor things everytime I touch them. Do they ever get hard or will they always be a kind of cream cheese texture?

[Alex]

They should get hard. The time it will take depends on how dry they were innitially.

[DeejayDebi]

That makes sense my first batch is still very cream cheesy and the second batch is more like hmmm ... a soft havarti? Hard to describe being my first soft cheeses. 

[Cheese Head]

Last night as my two remaining cheeses in this batch had really really bloomed (see pictures above) I finally beer washed them as recommended by Alex above, info/pictures of washing them here. This morning I cut and ate some of the half squished one as I thought with very thick almost toad-slip skin stage rind. Note interior bluing of cheese in picture below where gaps in interior from when cheese got squished. I added no blue mold, and have not used any for 6 months, must be wild airborne.

Anyway, breakfast sandwhich was much to my surprise wonderful, cheese was soft and creamy with a Gorgonzola taste!

Questions to Alex (or others):

• I should have beer washed earlier right?
• I noticed on your pictures of similar cheeses that you have rind on all sides, I assume you turn cheeses on sides so that bottom also blooms?

Thanks, John.

[DeejayDebi]

Looks really good John Congrats!

[Alex]

Last night as my two remaining cheeses in this batch had really really bloomed (see pictures above) I finally beer washed them as recommended by Alex above, info/pictures of washing them here. This morning I cut and ate some of the half squished one as I thought with very thick almost toad-slip skin stage rind. Note interior bluing of cheese in picture below where gaps in interior from when cheese got squished. I added no blue mold, and have not used any for 6 months, must be wild airborne.

Anyway, breakfast sandwhich was much to my surprise wonderful, cheese was soft and creamy with a Gorgonzola taste!

Questions to Alex (or others):

• I should have beer washed earlier right?
• I noticed on your pictures of similar cheeses that you have rind on all sides, I assume you turn cheeses on sides so that bottom also blooms?

Thanks, John.

I am happy to hear you are satisfied and enjoy you cheese. It looks very young and humid. I think the blue mould is result of too humid/wet cheese+air gaps+some contamination. May be the cheese was not dry enough when it was unmoulded or even brfore moulding. You should wash them after fully bloomed and for 4 weeks at least (to my opinion). You also got a rind that looks strange to me. As for the the overall mold coating, I don't turn them, I put them on elevated wire mash "trays".
Anyway, it looks you are on the track, keep on.