Advice, Forgot to brine or salt my colby.

[adalton]

I made a Colby with raw cow's milk the other day, but ended up pressing in the whey, air dried and waxed it.  As I was taking it to the cave it dawned on me that I never added salt to it.  Obviously, salt will intensify the flavor and preserve it.  I was going to let this one go for 60 days and eat it.  Should I remove the wax and brine it, or will it be OK to let it go?

Andy

[linuxboy]

Unless you use some fancy culture engineering, you need salt in cheese for it to age properly and develop flavor. Take wax off, remelt the wax, brine, dry, and rewax.

[zvisaar]

i thing too its better to dissolve the wax and put it in salted water 15-18% for at least 1-8 hours and then dry and rewax it

[Cheese Head]

Andy, our Wiki: Salt's Function article lists the many ways that salt is needed for cheesemaking.

[adalton]

Thanks everyone, can't believe I forgot such a critical step in the cheese making process.  It's in the brine as we speak.  Live and learn!

Andy

[Cheese Head]

We've all done dafter things . . . my problem is turning the heat on my stockpot vat and not setting a timer to come back and check in 2 minutes .