Blue Cheese - Room Drying Before Caving?

[Groves]

I know with cheddar it's beneficial to dry them out for a few days (week?) before going to the cave.

Is it the same for blue cheese? A few/several days out before going into the cave?

[linuxboy]

which blue style? Stilton is left for about 5 days in the mold before going to the cave.

[Groves]

I should really know what I'm making before I make it. It's true.

It's made from raw jersey milk, so I guess it's not a roquefort blue, but I did very lightly press it, and didn't smooth it afterwards, so I'm not exactly following stilton practices.

Here they are fresh from the "press".

[Gina]

Have you salted them in any manner yet?

[Groves]

Well, just before going into the hoops they were mixed with some salt. 3TB on curds from 3gal milk. The curds were tossed to distribute.

But no salt since coming out. I didn't want to inhibit the mold too much.

[Gina]

That's what many of the recipes for stilton call for - about 1T /gallon of milk used, though some do use less salt. And that's all the salt you should need. With the roquefort style and f.d'Ambert I made, those had no curd salting, but rather salt applied to the surface after they came out of the mold. One was loose salted by hand, the other brined and dried for 2 days. Then they went into a ripening container at ca 50-55*F. Blue mold needs humidity to develop well.

If those were my non-externally salted cheeses, I'd now put them into a ripening container then into a cool cheese cave before contamination occurs that might hinder the blue mold growth. But there are others here with more experience who might have wiser instruction.

There is variation as to how various blue cheeses are handled so it's helpful to know what sort of cheese you are making.

[Groves]

We opened the smaller blue last night. It is 9 weeks old.

[DeejayDebi]

Great looking cheese hon! Don't forget to save yourself a slice!

[tnsven]

That is beautiful! How did it taste?