Camembert, After Bloom - Wrapping Required?

[george13]

Can someone shed some light on the science of wrapping a Camembert or Brie after a uniform mold develops.  My camembert has developed a nice coverage as it is day #10 after making it.  I took care in making sure all surface humidity was removed during the early aging so as to avoid slip skin.  I also maintain temp around 49-50F in order to keep the rippening phase a bit on the slower side (since I lost some cheeses in the past).  Overall, this first phase looks very good.  Now, should I lessen the temperature for another week or two and keep the cheese in my container, or should I wrap in the double layered paper now and age for two weeks?  I guess that one of my questions is, if I can avoid wrapping, and bring the cheese to ideal consumption texture, flavor, affinage etc. by just using my refrigerator/cave.

Thanks

[linuxboy]

Sure, the science goes like this:

- Wrap for manufacturing to get that cheese out the door ASAP and into the hands of cheese shops so they can finish aging them out and sell when a point.

The end. Meaning, it's not required to wrap. It's mostly for convenience. You need a good coating to make sure the inner cheese is protected by the rind and it ripens appropriately.