I have just started out with cheese making. As I am a big fan of blue cheeses, I though I would start out with one of these. Unfortunately I started on this before I was introduced to this forum so I was unable to draw from the knowledge of its users.
More picture will follow as the culture starts to develop and the cheese begins to find its true form.
(Sorry for the inverted picture, I don't know why it is doing that).
The inverted cheese is one of the lesser know problems of making cheese here in the antipodes.
By the way, how do you keep it on the mat?
Welcome to the forum!! ;D Not sure how old that is but it doesn't look old enough to pierce. You would normally wait weeks before piercing. Here's your first cheese for your first effort. ;D
I have sterilised the mat, and it is just sitting on the mat. The cheese is currently inside a sealed container with the matt off the bottom and sitting on some upside down jam lids to allow airflow.
I have pierced it after 4 days. I rotated it four times a day throughout this duration. The recipe I was following said this was the time to pierce it. Hopefully it will be ok. I was looking at some Stilton videos online and they pierced once the external mould was established.
Thanks or the Cheese :)
Welcome to the forum Vollebregt! I'll be watching your progress with interest.
Congratulations on your first attempt. Al is correct in that you don't want to pierce too soon or the holes will just close up and not allow the air to do it's job. However, you can re-pierce in a week or so if you want. No harm either way.
If you continue having trouble with rotated pictures, give this a try: https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,15452.msg118238.html#msg118238 (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,15452.msg118238.html#msg118238) - I wrote this utility a while back because of so many rotated / over-sized pictures on the forum!
Thank you Al and Duntov, I have re-pierced my cheese to allow for proper airflow. The cheese is starting to develop a nice blue tinge around the outside. I will take some photos as it develops.