Hi, I am a newbie and tried a small stilton ( 2 liters of fresh milk). The result was a small round cheese that soon developed a nice green color. I proceeded to make the holes and put it in the ripening box, closed and humid, at 13C 75-80 RH a month ago.
After two weeks it was looking great. Some white spots but a beautiful look. I had been turning it every day, and opening the box for a while.
Then I read somewhere I should clean the surface with a blunt knife, which I did. Two more weeks have gone by, and no new mold has grown on the surface of my cheese. I still turn it every day, but it is extremely moist and slippery. Why has it stopped developing nicely?
Any ideas would be most welcome.
Odds are it's fine. I guess there's a recipe out there that calls for scraping the mold off of the outside of these. That's ridiculous. I've never scrapped the mold off. It forms the rind.
Does it feel slimy? If so that is probably geo starting to form , this should not hurt it at all as it should almost be ready considering that it is such a small cheese .
I would wipe it down with clean paper towels and see if you can dry the surface off a little by leaving the lid ajar
You also might want to take a core sample with either a straw if the cheese is soft enough or a veggie peeler .
Cut the straw at a long angle and twist as you push it into the cheese pull out and use chop stick to push out curd and taste , use the peeler in a similar manner. Save a little to cover the hole if it needs more time .
And pics are helpful in guiding you
Just seen your replies, many thanks to both.
Yes, it does feel slimy. I will post a photo as soon as I get home, I am now at work.
Ok, so here are the pictures. The first one is how it was at 2 weeks. The other 2 taken today, 2 weeks after I scraped the cold off.
Looks like the humidity may be too high. You also should take these out and air them at room temperature for an hour a day, longer if they feel wet or slimy. The mold should dry up and form the rind. Once this happens it will stop growing mold on the outside. it has also been my experience that these do not lend themselves to small makes. Smallest I do is 4 pounds, 8 is better.
Yes Al, but I live in Hong Kong, and the kitchen is tiny. I don´t even have an oven or microwave, and the max I can make at a time is 4 litres. But I will follow your advice and keep it out at room temperature ( higher humidity than in the wine fridge though) for some time every day. ;)
With such a small cheese a lot of what will work for a larger cheese will be more difficult to do well.
But for sure it needs to dry out on the rind , how you do that is the issue with out drying the whole cheese out
As I mentioned start with paper towels and pat dry , try not to rub too much as this takes the outside rind away. Leave the lid ajar while in cave/ fridge , if possible lower temp to 50 f this will discourage geo , but blue is less bother by low temps after a week when blue start to grow on surface again raise back to normal
I know when I visited hong Kong electronic stuff was expensive but maybe you could find a cheap induction cooker so you can make cheese in a larger pot than would fit on the stove . 8 liters would make a much bigger difference than one would think compared to 4