Penicillum candidum Cheeses Sticking To Mats

[senorqueso]

Sailor Con Queso - nice name!  It was in the 'sewing and crafts' section where you'll find yarn, needlepoints, etc...

[Tropit]

I use bamboo mats and I don't have a big problem with sticking.  The cheese might stick a little the first time I turn them, but I just carefully cajol them loose.  I swap out fresh mats occasionally.  I also wash the mats in the dishwasher on sani cycle and then use some dairy sanitizer when done. (I have read that coliform bacteria, or yeasts can sometime make freshly made cheese stick to mats, or cheesecloth.)

However, there have been times when I have more cheese than mats.  I then use a cheese basket mold turned upside down over a casserole dish.  It's food safe and works great.

[Baby Chee]

My first camembert was perfectly covered in nice white mold, but the mold quickly consumed the mat it say on and was gripping it.  Took only a day or two, then turning--RIP.  I should have perhaps turned the cheese more on the mat, but lacking experience, the mold wasn't forming at all for well over a week and then exploded out within a short period of time.

[Michelle]

Alex, that wire rack of yours lfrom the hardware shop looks just like a wire cake rack.  Does anyone use one of those for their cheeses?

[Baby Chee]

I use them--Wilton cake racks.

They support the mats, though.  Now I use knitting grids instead of bamboo.  Without the Wilton racks, the cheese would sit in the moisture collecting on the floor of my freezers.

[DeejayDebi]

I use cake racks with crossstich mats on top too.

[Tropit]

Augh....I spoke too soon.  My latest ashy cams just stuck royally to my mats.  I let them go just one day without turning.  But, here's some good news.  I had put some other cams on a "nest" of disposable cheese cloth, because I had run out of mats.  No sticking there!  Maybe I've stumbled onto something.