Hi all! I've been having a consistent problem with my Crottin de Chavignol. All of my batches end up with one end of the cheeses being "bald" aka no geo mold growth. I cannot figure out why this problem is so consistent. I have included pictures below.
The first 3 pictures are from a 3 week old batch. You can see the geo rind has developed on one end, but it abruptly stops towards the other end and the other end of the cheese is bald. The next 2 pictures are from a 1 week old batch. There is beginning mold growth all over the cheese except for one end. The last picture is my ripening setup. I age this in a wine fridge at 52f.
I follow this recipe http://www.cheesemaking.com/Crottin.html (http://www.cheesemaking.com/Crottin.html) and salt/flip just as this recipe directs. All sides feel and look the same after drying before they go in the aging area. Any insight would be appreciated!
One end appears wet.
First get rid of the wooden sushi roller if your going to use wood then use something thicker that can soak up more of the moisture the cheese gives off , I suspect that the sushi roller is keeping the cheese wetter than it likes
Seems unlikely that you could have salted them unevenly on multiple occasions .
Also seperate the newer cheeses from the older cheeses if possible and I think you do not need the water blow in there if you have a lid.
Other than that they look good