Why ladle curds? - Stilton

[MarkShelton]

@Sailor: Haha yes! Imagine the first person who saw that after his cheese was left out, an aggressive green mold had not only covered the outside, but worked its way through the middle of his cheese and started giving off an odd odor. Then he says, "you know what? I'm gonna eat it anyways." That's courage. Or desperation... maybe that's all he had to eat!

@Brie: So that's why there are marbles. I saw a couple pictures you posted with the cheese on marbles and the image of a fish tank kept coming to mind. Seemed like an odd place to store cheese... 

Anyways, if the smoothing is simply cosmetic, I guess it's just a matter of personal choice, but I think I like it that way. It's still a long way from smooth, but I prefer the closed (albeit still quite rough) surface to the pocked and jagged one.

I am getting a little worried, however, that I still have no sign of any kind of mold. I guess it has only been 7 days, and only 4 days out of the hoop, but I was hoping to have some kind of mold starting. It's sitting in my cave now. The temp is set at 52 F with an external thermostat. I don't know what the humidity is, but I'm assuming it's pretty high, as my little fridge has the freezer compartment/cooling coils inside and is constantly dripping water (I have 3 inexpensive hygrometers in transit now). My main worry is that when I was making the cheese (don't laugh) I forgot about the p. roqueforti until halfway through the ripening stage, so it was added to the milk only 15 min before the rennet. I know that the blue mold is pretty aggressive (it has formed on most of my other cheeses at one point or another without encouragement) but might it not have had time to rehydrate properly?

[Brie]

Give it a few more days, Mark, before worrying. Back to the smoothing though--I only smooth once, right out of the hoop and then let magic take it's course. I notice Ricki says to smooth and scrape weekly--that would rob you of all the wonders of Stilton. I do scrape Gorgonzola, but never Stilton. Patience and you will be rewarded.

[MarkShelton]

weekly? no thanks ricki. I think once will suffice, as you do. I didn't use any water on the spatula though. Does it help? I didn't really have a hard time smoothing it out without it.

[Brie]

Then it's fine. Someone had a thread a while back on smoothing stiltons, but I can't remember where or when. I can't wait to hear how yours progresses--I plan to cut mine in about a month.

[MarkShelton]

They have started blue-ing! I'm so happy

[Majoofi]

gonna need a lot of crackers for those.

[Brie]

Hooray--you're on your whey!

[MarkShelton]

Update:
Here's my cheeses at ~4weeks. Both have developed a strong blue bloom. The larger one (but not the smaller one, peculiarly) also has a mottling of brown and white molds. I have pierced the smaller one (destined to be a gift for my gf's mom) but I am waiting for a few more weeks to get the outer crust similar to commercial stiltons before piercing.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Your surface transition from blue to tan looks good, but you have waited way too long to pierce the larger one. Blue mold needs oxygen right after it starts blooming especially with a large cheese. This is even more important since you smoothed the surface.

The pH of most cheeses starts to go up even just a few days after pressing and continues to increase with aging. By waiting, you have also missed the prime pH environment most conducive to interior bluing.

[MarkShelton]

At exactly 5 weeks, I pierced the large stilton. It's a week ahead of schedule, but I think I'm getting anxious more than anything else. The smaller one has been blue-ing for about a week now, and also out of anticipation, I used my new toy, a cheese trier. It has been sitting on top of my cave for about 2 weeks just dying for some action! Here is how the smaller one is coming along:

[Majoofi]

wow it looks great. did you taste it?

[MarkShelton]

Of course! Just a little nibble off the end of the trier, though I really wanted to pop the whole plug in my mouth after I did. Creamy and delicious. I think I'll give this one 3 more weeks before I turn it over to its intended recipient (after another taste of course). Hopefully the large one will get its full eleven weeks to develop a truly fantastic flavor and texture, but I might declare it finished at ten depending on how patient I am.

[BigCheese]

Looks very good. Am I correct in thinking that yours will not develop the kind of extreme brownish rind that most stiltons I have seen get? Just curious as I am planning to do one soon.

[MarkShelton]

The large one is getting progressively more tan as the blue mold on the outside dies off, but since this is my first blue that I have aged for this long, I'm not sure what to expect. It still has plenty of time to develop the brown crust. I'm not sure it will look quite like a commercially produced one, but I'll keep you posted.

[BigCheese]

I have got Stiltion on the calendar for two days from now. Just reviewing all the stilton threads. How has this come along?